Isaac S. D. Sassoon (born 1946) is an

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

rabbi (

hakham ''Hakham'' (or ''chakam(i), haham(i), hacham(i)''; he, חכם ', "wise") is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He ...

), scholar and educator. Hakham Sassoon, who is currently one of the leading scholars in the Sephardic world, was born into the Sassoon family of London and grew up speaking

Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic dialects (, ; ; ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encomp ...

Biography

His initial education was under the tutelage of his father, the scholar Rabbi

Solomon David Sassoon Solomon David Sassoon (1915–1985) was an educator, Rabbi, philanthropist, fundraiser, and collector of Jewish manuscripts. Biography Early life Solomon David Sassoon was born in August 1915 in London.William D. Rubinstein, ''The Palgrave Dic ...

, Hakham Yosef Doury, and others. Later studies were at the Gateshead Yeshiva and various yeshivoth in Israel. He holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

. Continuing his family's academic tradition, Hakham Sassoon has published on topics ranging from Scriptural commentaryTorah Readings De Lange The Expository Times.2003; 114: 177 and history, to issues of current concern to the Jewish community. Hakham Sassoon teaches at the Institute of Traditional Judaism and lectures widely. Highly esteemed in the Sephardic community, Hakham Sassoon has contributed to the maintenance of the heritage of the Babylonian Jewish community and has provided the Syrian Jewish community with an updated and corrected siddur (Jewish prayer book) reflecting that community's traditions. In 2011 he published a book called ''The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition'' addressing the particular religious tradition's outlook on women. He primarily refers to the Torah, Talmud, and Dead Sea Scrolls in exploring the authentic position on the "continuum of patriarchal condescension." His goal, in writing the book, was to give authentic answers to a popular question.

Selected works

*''The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition,'' Cambridge University Press (2011) *''Destination Torah: Notes and Reflections on Selected Verses from the Weekly Torah Readings'', a commentary on the Pentateuch on the light of critical studies (Hebrew language edition Ve-ha'arev Na), *''

Uriel da Costa Uriel da Costa (; also Acosta or d'Acosta; c. 1585 – April 1640) was a Portuguese philosopher and skeptic who was born Christian, but returned to Judaism and ended up questioning the Catholic and rabbinic institutions of his time. Life Many de ...

, Examination of Pharisaic Traditions'', ed. and trans. with

Herman Prins Salomon Herman Prins Salomon (1 March 1930 - 31 January 2021) was a Dutch-American linguist and historian who specialized in the history of the Portuguese Jews, the New Christians, and the Inquisition. Salomon was a professor of the Department of Languag ...

, Brill, Leiden, (1993) rig. ed. Amsterdam, 1623*''The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536-1765'',

Antonio Jose Sariava Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(Author), Herman Prins Salomon (Translator), I. S. D. Sassoon (Translator), Leiden, 2001. *''Siddur Ve-ha'arev Na'' (2007), a prayerbook according to the Syrian

nusach Nusach can refer to: * Nusach (Jewish custom) In Judaism, Nusach ( he, נוסח ''nusaħ'', modern pronunciation ''nusakh'' or ''núsakh''), plural nuschaot () or Modern Hebrew nusachim (), refers to the exact text of a prayer service; sometimes ...

. *"Siddur עָלַץ לִבִּי"

Articles

*''The Relevance for Today of Uriel Da Costa's 'Examination of Pharisaic Traditions' '', Studia Rosenthaliana, vol. 28, no. 1 (1994) *''Et Lirpoh (A Time to Heal)'', Hadoar, vol. 82, no. 4 (2004). *Review essa

on

Agunot An ''agunah'' ( he, עגונה, plural: agunot (); literally "anchored" or "chained") is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by ''halakha'' (Jewish law). The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey ...

entitled ''Ra'ah Ma'aseh Ve'Nizkar Halakhah'', Judaism, vol. 54, nos. 1-2 (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sassoon, Isaac S.D. English religious writers Sephardi rabbis British Orthodox rabbis Living people

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

1946 births British people of Indian-Jewish descent Baghdadi Jews British writers of Indian descent Union for Traditional Judaism