Élie Halévy ( Ḥalfan/Chalfan), or Élie Halfon-Halévy (

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

1760 –

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

5 November 1826), was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

author who composed his works, most notably his poetry, in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. He is the father of

Fromental Fromental (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region in west-central France. Geography The river Semme flows through the commune's northern par ...

and

Léon Halévy Léon Halévy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a French civil servant, historian, and dramatist. Early life Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Léon was the son of the writer and chazzan Élie Halévy and the younger brother of the ...

Life and work

Born at Fürth (in present-day

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

), at an early age Halévy went to Paris, where he became

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and secretary to the Jewish Consistoire of Paris. His knowledge of the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

and his poetical talent earned him the esteem of many French scholars, particularly the well-known Orientalist Sylvestre de Sacy. His first poem was "Ha-Shalom", a hymn composed on the occasion of the

treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...

; it was sung in the synagogue of Paris, in both Hebrew and French, on the 17th Brumaire (8 November) 1801. The poem was praised in Latin verses by Protestant pastor Marron. In 1808, Halévy composed a prayer to be recited on the anniversary of the

battle of Wagram The Battle of Wagram (; 5–6 July 1809) was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars that ended in a costly but decisive victory for Emperor of the French, Emperor Napoleon's French and allied army against the Austrian Empire, Austrian arm ...

; in 1817, with the help of some of his co-religionists, he founded the French weekly ''L'Israélite Français'', which, however, expired within two years. To this periodical he contributed a remarkable dialogue entitled "

Socrate ''Socrate'' is a work for voice and piano (or small orchestra) by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". Wolfgang Rathert and Andreas Traub, "Zu einer bi ...

et Spinosa" (ii.73). His ''Limmude Dat u-Musar'' (

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, 1820) is a text-book of religious instruction compiled from the Bible, with notes, a French translation, and the decisions of the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

instituted by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. Halévy left two unpublished works, a Hebrew-French dictionary and an essay on Æsop's fables. He attributes the fables to Solomon (comp. I Kings v. 12-13 . V. iv.32-33, and thinks the name "

Æsop Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...

" to be a form of " Asaph".

Bibliography

* , By

Isidore Singer Isidore Singer (10 November 1859 – 20 February 1939) was an Austrian-born American encyclopedist and editor of '' The Jewish Encyclopedia'' and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man. Biography Singer was born in 1859 in ...

, M. Seligsohn ** '' Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums'' 1839, Beiblatt No. 1; **

, in ''Univ. Isr.'' xviii. 274-276; **

Heinrich Grätz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

, ''Gesch.'' 2d ed., xi. 217-218; **

William Zeitlin William Zeitlin (; – 1921) was a Russian scholar and bibliographer. Biography William Zeitlin was born in Gomel, Mogilev Governorate, into a prominent Jewish family from Shklov. His major work was ''Kiryat Sefer'', or ''Bibliotheca Hebraica P ...

, ''Bibl. Post-Mendels.'' pp. 133–134

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halevy, Elie 1760 births 1826 deaths People from Fürth 19th-century French writers French religious writers Hebrew-language poets Jewish poets Hazzans 18th-century German Jews German emigrants to France French male poets 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers 18th-century French Jews 19th-century French Jews