Description
| Product ID: | 9780804786942 |
| Product Form: | Paperback / softback |
| Country of Manufacture: | US |
| Series: | Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture |
| Title: | A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica |
| Subtitle: | The Ladino Memoir of Sa'adi Besalel a-Levi |
| Authors: | Author: Aron Rodrigue, Isaac Jerusalmi, Sarah Abrevaya Stein |
| Page Count: | 432 |
| Subjects: | European history, European history, History, Social groups: religious groups and communities, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Jewish studies, Greece, c 1800 to c 1900 |
| Description: | This book, a vivid first-hand account of a lost Jewish world, represents the translation of the first Ladino-language memoir known to be written: its author was a leading journalist and publisher in the Ottoman city of Salonica. This book presents for the first time the complete text of the earliest known Ladino-language memoir, transliterated from the original script, translated into English, and introduced and explicated by the editors. The memoirist, Sa''adi Besalel a-Levi (1820–1903), wrote about Ottoman Jews'' daily life at a time when the finely wrought fabric of Ottoman society was just beginning to unravel. His vivid portrayal of life in Salonica, a major port in the Ottoman Levant with a majority Jewish population, thus provides a unique window into a way of life before it disappeared as a result of profound political and social changes and the World Wars. Sa''adi was a prominent journalist and publisher, one of the most significant creators of modern Sephardic print culture. He was also a rebel who accused the Jewish leadership of Salonica of being corrupt, abusive, and fanatical; that leadership, in turn, excommunicated him from the Jewish community. The experience of excommunication pervades Sa''adi''s memoir, which documents a world that its author was himself actively involved in changing. |
| Imprint Name: | Stanford University Press |
| Publisher Name: | Stanford University Press |
| Country of Publication: | GB |
| Publishing Date: | 2012-12-12 |
