Hakham ''Hakham'' (or ''Chakam(i), Haham(i), Hacham(i), Hach''; ) 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 who says a wise th ...

Ezra Reuben Dangoor (1848–1930) was the Chief Rabbi of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

from 1923 to 1926, and the founder of the first publishing company in Baghdad.

Early life

Ezra Sasson ben Reuven Dangoor was born in 1848 in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. He was educated in Baghdad, where he studied under Rabbi

Abdallah Somekh Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813 – September 13, 1889) was an Iraqi Jewish hakham, rosh yeshiva and posek. Early life Abdallah Somekh was born in 1813 in Baghdad to Abraham Somekh, himself a descendant of Nissim Gaon; he was the eldest of eigh ...

Career

Dangoor worked as a ritual slaughterer and ritual circumciser, before from 1880 to 1886 working as the scribe in charge of writing documents issued by the Baghdad's Bet Din. Dangoor was the Chief Rabbi of

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

from 1893 or 1894, but had to return to Baghdad in 1895 due to ill health. In 1904, Dangoor opened the first printing press in Baghdad, which printed Arabic textbooks as well as books in Hebrew. Dangoor was the author of several books and commentaries on the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. From 1923 to 1926, Dangoor was Chief Rabbi of

Personal life

Dangoor had five children: Sion, Abdulla Joseph, Farha (who married Shaul Basri), Eliahou and Moshe.

Death and legacy

Dangoor died in 1930. He was the grandfather of Sir Naim Eliahou Dangoor (1914–2015), and of the wife of the latter and Iraq's first beauty queen, Renée Dangoor, and also the great-grandfather of the philanthropist David Dangoor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dangoor, Ezra 1848 births 1930 deaths 19th-century rabbis from Ottoman Iraq 20th-century Iraqi rabbis Rabbis from Baghdad Mohalim Dangoor family Chief rabbis of populated places