Zaki Cohen (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: زكي كوهن) born in 1829 in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, was a Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and a playwright. In 1874, he founded Beirut's first modern Jewish school, called ''Tiferet Yisrael'' ("Glory of Israel") in Hebrew and ''al-Madrasa al-Waṭaniyya al-Isrāʾīliyya'' ("The National Jewish School") in Arabic, where he served as director. The school continued to operate until 1899, when it was superseded by College Alliance Israelite Universelle of Beirut. Cohen died in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

in 1904.

Theatre

Cohen and his son Selim were among the leading Jewish playwrights active in Beirut in the late nineteenth century. While the others, including Selim Cohen, wrote in Arabic, Zaki Cohen wrote plays in Hebrew. In 1876 one of his works became the first play in Hebrew to be performed in Beirut. At his school, Tiferet Yisrael, theatre was encouraged and two plays a year were normally staged.Matti Moosa, ''The Origins of Modern Arabic Fiction'', p. 31 & p. 380
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Zaki 1829 births 1904 deaths Lebanese rabbis People from Aleppo Rabbis in Ottoman Syria

Theatre

See also

References