David Bensoussan (born 1947) is a Moroccan-Canadian author and educator. Bensoussan has worked in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the

École de technologie supérieure École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) is a public engineering faculty in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974, the École de technologie supérieure is a constituent of Université du Québec system. Specialized in applied teaching in ...

of the Université du Québec since 1980. He is best known for his histories of the Jewish community of Morocco and for his leadership roles in the Sephardi Jewish community. He has served as President of the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée du Québec (United Sefardic Community of Quebec).

Biography

Bensoussan holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. He was born in

Mogador Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Morocco, Moroccan region of Marrakesh-Safi, Marakesh-Safi, on the ...

, and lived there until the family moved to a larger city when he was eight. His family left Morocco for Israel in 1965 when he was a teenager. He earned his first degree in Israel, and moved from Israel to Canada in 1976. In addition to his work as a professor and occasional employment in the tech sector, Bensoussan is author of a self-published, three-volume study of the Bible, ''La Bible Prise au Berceau,'' prefaced by biblical scholar André Chouraqui, in which he claims to have integrated historical, archaeological, and ethical analysis of the text.

Civic involvement

Until 2012, Bensoussan served as a sitting member of the

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

and

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

government's Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security. Established in 2005, the panel brought together prominent members from a number of Canada's cultural communities and government entities to discuss policy and program issues, and to promote dialogue and strengthening understanding between the national authorities and its electorate. Bensoussan actively supported Irwin Cotler when he stood for Parliament. He has served as vice president of the

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...

Writing

Bensoussan won the ''Prix Haïm Zafrani'', a literary prize, in 2012 for his 2010 book, ''Il était une fois le Maroc''. A second edition of the book was published, with more lavish illustrations. Bensoussan's books about and knowledge of the Jews of Morocco are referred to by the growing number of scholars and other groups interested in the history and ethnography of the Moroccan Jewish community. He has testified on the subject at Parliamentary inquires in Canada. Bensoussan frequently publishes essays in ''La Presse''., Huffington Post Québec , La voix sépharade, his own blog and many more publications. Bensoussan has published two novels (''La rosace du roi Salomon'' and ''L'énigme du roi Salomon''), a memoir (''Le fils de Mogador''), two historical essays (''L'Espagne des trois religions : grandeur et décadence de la convivencia'' and ''Il était une fois le Maroc''), and, with Asher Knafo, an art book about illuminated Jewish marriage contracts (''Mariage juif à Mogador'').

Books

*''La Bible prise au berceau''
Éditions Du Lys

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, 2002 , 388p. Ouvrage en trois volumes préfacé par André Chouraqui. *''Témoignages - Souvenirs et réflexions de oeuvre de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle'', in collaboration with Edmond Elbaz, Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2002, *''L'Espagne des trois religions : grandeur et décadence de la convivencia'', L'Harmattan,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 2007 * ''Mariage juif à Mogador'' Éditions Du Lys,

, 2004 *''Le fils de Mogador'', Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2002, *''Il était une fois le Maroc - Témoignages du passé judéo-marocain'', Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2010, , Editions

iuniverse iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is an American self-publishing company based in Bloomington, Indiana.Kevin Abourezk"iUniverse to move to Indiana" incoln Journal Star, January 22, 2008 History iUniverse focuses on print-on-demand self-publi ...

2012, * ''L'âge d'or sépharade en Espagne'' Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, ,202 p., 2006 *''La rosace du roi Salomon'', Les Éditions Du Lys, 2011, *''L'énigme du roi Salomon'', iuniverse, 2012, *''Antologie des écrivains sépharades du Québec'', Éditions Du Marais, Montréal, 2010, *''Isaie - Lecture commentée'', Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2014, , Éditions Du Marais, Montréal, 2014, *''Va mon bien-aimé - Lekha Dodi'', Éditions Du Lys, Montréal, 2016,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bensoussan, David 1947 births People from Essaouira Canadian engineers Writers from Quebec Moroccan writers in French Moroccan engineers Living people 21st-century Canadian novelists Moroccan emigrants to Israel Moroccan emigrants to Canada 20th-century Moroccan Jews Canadian people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Canadian novelists in French Université du Québec faculty Canadian male novelists 21st-century Canadian male writers