Politicsאברהם אלמליח

Avraham Elmalih

Avraham Elmalih was a Jerusalem-born journalist, linguist and public figure who served in the first Knesset from 1949 to 1951.

1885 to 1967Hebrew and Ladino journalismFounding the journal Mizrah u-MaaravSephardi public leadershipMember of the first Knesset

Died: 2 April 1967, Jerusalem
Occupation: journalist, politician, pedagogue, writer
Party: Sephardim and Oriental Communities
Education: French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem
Founded: Doar HaYom (1919)

Avraham Elmalih was born in 1885 in Jerusalem

Elmalih was born in Jerusalem in 1885 and grew up in the old Sephardi community. His father, a rabbinic judge and scholar, had come to the land from Morocco.

He studied at a Talmud Torah in the Old City and at yeshivas in Jerusalem. He also attended the Alliance Israélite Universelle school and the French biblical and archaeological school in the city.

From 1902 to 1912 he taught at the Alliance school in Jerusalem, and he later worked in Constantinople, Damascus and Jaffa. He edited and wrote for several Hebrew and Ladino papers, including Ha-Herut and Doar HaYom, and founded the journal Mizrah u-Maarav in 1919. During World War I he was exiled to Damascus.

He was active in Sephardi public life, sat in the Assembly of Representatives and the Jewish National Council, and was elected to the Jerusalem city council. In 1923 he spent about a year in North Africa on behalf of the Jewish National Fund.

In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset for the Sephardim and Oriental Communities list. He lost his seat in 1951 and died on 2 April 1967.