Jacob Chemla (Arabic: يعقوب شملا), (1858-1938) was a

Tunisian Jewish The history of the Jews in Tunisia extended nearly two thousand years and goes back to the Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia is no doubt older and grew up following successive waves of immigration and proselytism before its deve ...

ceramic artist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

, as well as an author, journalist and translator in

Judeo-Tunisian Arabic Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, also known as Judeo-Tunisian, is a variety of Tunisian Arabic mainly spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Tunisia. Speakers are older adults, and the younger generation has only a passive knowledge of the language. ...

Biography

While the Chemla family was originally from

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...

, Jacob Chemla served as a legal representative for litigants of the

Beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, i ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. Chemla was an active philanthropist in the Jewish community of Tunis, serving as a founding member of the Jewish Hospital of Tunis among other ventures.

Journalist, author, translator

Le_Comte_de_Monte-Cristo_in_Judeo-Arabic

In 1878, Chemla began a career in journalism with his brother-in-law, Messaoud Maarek. For over thirty years, until 1925, he helped bring in a period of growth in

literature. He published two novels, ''Amour et malice'' (Love and Malice) in 1912 and ''Les Cœurs purs'' (The Pure Hearts) in 1923. Chemla translated multiple titles into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

, including ''The Jews of Spain at the Time of the Inquisition'' and

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with '' The Three Musketeers''. L ...

, which he originally released as a serial and later in full during the 1880s.

Ceramics

Chemla is perhaps most well known around Tunisia for his activities in ceramics. His father Haïm Chemla was named by the

Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

during the 1860s as the tax collector for the Artisans of Tunis (who would often pay in kind with donations of pottery). Haim Chemla would often pay the Bey the equivalent tax in cash while re-selling the pottery he had collected. Jacob Chemla followed in his father's footsteps around 1880, when he opened a shop in the Place des Potiers à Tunis,.Le papier à en-tête commercial de son entreprise indique 1881 comme date de fondation. In 1887, the Tunisian government contracted him to help revive traditional ceramics. In the Interwar period, production was moved to

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and the company presented at expositions in 1925, 1931 and 1937. Chemla's ceramic tiles decorated the homes of the rich in Tunis,

Sidi Bou Said Sidi Bou Said ( ar, سيدي بو سعيد ') is a town in northern Tunisia located about 20 km from the capital, Tunis. Named for a religious figure who lived there, Abu Said al-Baji, it was previously called Jabal el-Menar. The town its ...

and

La Marsa La Marsa ( aeb, المرسى ') is a coastal town in far north eastern Tunisia near the capital Tunis. The population is estimated as 92,987, as of 2014. The old summer capital of pre-colonial Tunisia, it is today a popular vacation spot for many ...

. He brought in his sons Victor (1892-1954), Albert (1894-1963) and Moïse (Mouche) (1897-1977) to the family business. After the death of Victor and Albert's departure for

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

in the 1930s, Moise succeeded his father and renamed the business ''Les fils de J. Chemla'' (Sons of Jacob Chemla), which operated as a family business until 1966. In the 1960s,

President of Tunisia The president of Tunisia, officially the president of the Tunisian Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية التونسية), is the head of state of Tunisia. Tunisia is a presidential republic, whereby the president is the head of state ...

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of ...

contracted the company to install ceramic panels at

Carthage Palace Carthage Palace ( ara, قصر قرطاج), is the presidential palace of Tunisia, and the official residence and seat of the President of Tunisia. It is located along the Mediterranean Sea at the current city of Carthage, near the archaeologic ...

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chemla, Jacob 1858 births 1938 deaths Judeo-Arabic writers Tunisian translators Tunisian writers Tunisian journalists Tunisian artists Tunisian ceramists Tunisian Jews People from Djerba People from Tunis Tunisian male writers 19th-century Tunisian people 20th-century Tunisian people