Abraham Danon (; 15 August 1857 – 22 April 1925) was a Turkish rabbi,

Hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

, writer, and poet.

Biography

Abraham Danon was born into a rabbinical family in

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, in 1857. He attended the

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...

in that city, pursuing his Talmudic studies at a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

. In 1879 he founded the

Maskilic The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

society ''Ḥevrat Shoḥare Tushiyya'' ('Society of the Proponents of Wisdom'), also known as ''Dorshe ha-Haskala'' ('Seekers of Enlightenment'), which promoted the study of Jewish literature and history. After having presided over a small seminary at Adrianople, in 1897 he was appointed director of the rabbinical seminary founded by the

Alliance Israélite Universelle The Alliance israélite universelle (AIU; ; ) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jewish self-defense and self-suffi ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. That same year, he went to Paris to represent Oriental Jewry at the Congress of Orientalists. Danon moved to

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 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in August 1917, and began teaching at that city's . He died there in 1925.

Work

Under the title ''Toledot bene Abraham'', Danon published a Hebrew translation of

Théodore Reinach Théodore Reinach (3 July 186028 October 1928) was a French archaeologist, mathematician, lawyer, papyrologist, philologist, epigrapher, historian, numismatist, musicologist, professor, and politician. Academic career Educated at the Lycée Co ...

's ''Histoire des juifs'' (Presburg, 1888), completing the story, as he says in the preface, by extracts from Graetz, Geiger,

Kalman Schulman Kalman Schulman (1819 – 2 January 1899) was a Jewish writer who pioneered modern Hebrew literature. Life Schulman was born in 1819 in Bykhaw, Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire, Russia. He came from a Hasidic Judaism, Hassidic family. Schul ...

, and others. Under the title ''Maskil le-Edan'' ('Edan's Poem', abbreviation of 'Abraham Josef Danon'), he published a series of Hebrew translations of the poems of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

, and Saadi, together with some original contributions (Adrianople, 1888). Danon's main achievement was his initiative in founding at Adrianople in 1888 the historical review ''Yosef da'at'', or ''El Progresso'', which was published in Hebrew characters in

Judæo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading t ...

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 ...

, and Turkish. The aim of the review was to collect all the documents relating to the history of the Oriental Jews. But the Ottoman government censorship suppressed this review, together with all others published in Turkey. Danon published a collection of fifty-five Judæo-Spanish ballads which are sung in Turkey, each ballad being accompanied by its French translation. They first appeared in the '' Revue des études juives'', and were published separately by Durlacher in Paris in 1896. Danon also published some studies on the Jews of Adrianople and of

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, which appeared in the same review.

Partial bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danon, Abraham 1857 births 1925 deaths Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century French Jews 20th-century Turkish rabbis Sephardi rabbis Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to France French-language writers Hebraists Hebrew-language poets Judaeo-Spanish-language poets Jewish orientalists People from Edirne People of the Haskalah Translators to Hebrew Turkish orientalists