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Galante, Abraham

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Abraham Galante (1873-1961) was a Jewish educator, Turkish politician, journalist, social activist and historian of Ottoman Jews and Eastern peoples. He began his career as a teacher and an inspector in Jewish and Turkish schools in Rhodes and Izmir (Smyrna). In 1904 he moved to Egypt and founded in Cairo the Ladino biweekly journal La Vara. Abraham Galante actively promoted Jewish adoption of the Turkish language. In 1914 he was appointed professor of Semitic languages and later of History of the Ancient Orient at the University of Istanbul. He supported the Turkish nationalist movement and served as a deputy in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and was a member of the Parliament which met in 1943. Galante wrote many articles and books dealing with different aspects of Ottoman Jewish history and culture, as well as with a wide variety of other topics. The majority of his voluminous works were first published in the 1930s. The collection contains materials connected with various facets of Abraham Galante’s public, educational and scholarly activities. It includes: his biography and personal documents; pocket diaries; Galante’s correspondence with his family, friends, scholars, politicians and rabbis; correspondence with various Jewish and non-Jewish institutions and organizations including the Council of the Jewish community and the Chief Rabbinate in Istanbul, Council of the Sephardi Committee in Jerusalem, Jewish educational institutions, Turkish and Egyptian government institutions, Young Turks, the Spanish consul in Istanbul and the University of Istanbul; correspondence of the Alliance israélite universelle; correspondence with Jewish organizations and public figures abroad; telegrams regarding candidacy of Jews to the Ottoman House of Representatives; notes related to various scholarly works; manuscript of a Hebrew-Ladino dictionary; historical documents on the history of the Jewish people; and newspapers. An important part of the collection are Galante’s reports as inspector in various Jewish schools --

Reference Code
P112
Dates
1895-1961
Consists of
370 files..
Languages
ota; tur; Ladino; French; Hebrew; gre; Arabic; English; Spanish ; por;
Description
Abraham Galante's private collection consists of his correspondence, personal documents and other numerous records connected with his public, political, educational and scholarly activities. The collection contains his biography after 1900 and personal documents including identity papers, Ottoman certificate for school graduation in Izmir, certificate of election as a member of the Turkish Parliament in 1943, and his will from 1949. An important part of the collection are Galante's pocket diaries and notebooks in which he referred to various historical events. The collection contains extensive correspondence of Galante with public figures and different organizations including correspondence of the Alliance israélite universelle and correspondence with other Jewish educational and learned societies (Société des études juives, Jewish Encyclopedia); correspondence with family, friends, scholars, politicians and rabbis (for instance with Rabbi Haim Moshe Bejarano in Istanbul and the Chief Rabbi of Cairo); correspondence with Turkish and Egyptian government institutions, Young Turks, the Spanish consul in Istanbul and the University of Istanbul; correspondence with various Jewish public and communal organizations in Turkey and abroad including Council of the Jewish community and the chief rabbinate in Istanbul, Council of the Sephardi Committee in Jerusalem, Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) in Paris, Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden in Berlin, Jewish Terittorial Organization in London and the American Jewish Committee. The collection also holds Galante’s correspondence with academic institutions abroad and telegrams regarding candidacy of Jews to the Ottoman House of Representatives. The collection includes notes related to Galante’s scholarly works on Jewish history, texts of his lectures and numerous historical records related to the history of the Jews. For example, the collection includes: a manuscript of a Hebrew-Ladino dictionary, a manuscript on the preparation of medicines and prayer against diseases, papers of the Chief Rabbinate in Istanbul, records of the ‘Mahzikei Torah’ society (1950-1956) and various newspapers in different languages. There are also parodies from 1906 on the Passover Haggadah and the Book of Lamentations that strongly criticized the leaders of the Jewish community in Istanbul. Especially valuable are Galante’s reports as inspector in various Jewish schools.
Title Galante, Abraham.
Additional Titles Vara
Contributors Enrique,Bejarano 1846-1931
Mahzikei Torah Congregation (Izmir, Turkey)
Alliance israélite universelle
Société des études juives (France)
Istanbul Üniversitesi
Ṿaʻad ʻadat ha-Sefaradim bi-Yerushalayim
Jewish Colonization Association
Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden (Germany)
Jewish Territorial Organization
American Jewish Committee
Host Item Galante, Abraham - Private Collection
Level of Description Fonds Record
Biographical summary Abraham Galante was born in 1873, in Bodrum, Ottoman Turkey. He studied at Jewish schools in Rhodes and Izmir, and later was a teacher and an inspector in Jewish and Turkish schools. With the support of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, he established a modern Jewish school in Rhodes. There he joined ‘Young Turks’ movement, criticized the Jewish community policies and chief rabbinate in Istanbul. In 1904, he left for Egypt, where from 1905 to 1908 he established and edited the Ladino biweekly journal ‘La Vara’, and also contributed to Arabic, French, and Turkish newspapers and periodicals. He was an ardent supporter for the promotion of Turkish language among Ottoman Jews. In 1909 Galante left for England and later moved to Germany. In Europe he concentrated on different academic projects, but in 1914 he returned to Turkey and was appointed professor of Semitic languages and history of the Ancient Orient at the University of Istanbul. He was a member of Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and served in the Turkish parliament (1943-1946) as Rebuplican People’s Party (CHP) deputy. Abraham Galante published numerous works on the history of Ottoman and Turkish Jewry as well on other topics. He died in Istanbul in August 1961.
Language Note Ottoman Turkish
Turkish
Ladino
French
Hebrew
Greek
Arabic
English
Spanish
Portuguese
Credits With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims AgainstGermany Sponsored by the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance
National Library system number 990043435660205171
Links פרטים על מיקום החומר/Location&access
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With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims AgainstGermany Sponsored by the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance

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