Benoliel, Joseph
BENOLIEL, JOSEPH
BENOLIEL, JOSEPH (José ; 1888–1937), Portuguese scholar and bibliophile. Benoliel was born and died in Tangiers but spent most of his life in Lisbon. He was a distinguished philologist, fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. After studying in a yeshivah in Morocco and in the Oriental School of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris, he taught for a time at Mikveh Israel in Palestine. He then became professor of French and Hebrew at the University of Lisbon as well as official translator for the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He wrote many books, including French grammars and French and Portuguese dictionaries;, a volume of poetry entitled Echos de solidão which came out in 1897; a volume of liturgical pieces entitled Porat Yosef, published in 1887; and studies on the Lusiadas of Camões, parts of which he translated into Hebrew.
[Moses Bensabat Amzalak]