Elmaleh, Abraham
ELMALEH, ABRAHAM
ELMALEH, ABRAHAM (1885–1967), Hebrew author and a leader of the Sephardi community in Ereẓ Israel. Born in Jerusalem, Elmaleh fostered Hebrew education among the Sephardi Jewish communities in Palestine, Istanbul, and Damascus before World War i. He was a member of the Asefat ha-Nivharim and of its executive, the Va'ad Le'ummi. Elected to the Jerusalem Municipal Council, Elmaleh served as deputy mayor for some time. In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset on the Sephardi list. A journalist and writer, he was founder and editor in chief of the daily Ha-Ḥerut (1909–10), served on the editorial boards of the daily Do'ar ha-Yom, and edited the monthly magazine Mizraḥ u-Ma'arav (1912–32). In addition to publishing popular works on the history of Palestine and Syria during World War i and on the Jews in Oriental countries, Elmaleh compiled the following dictionaries: Hebrew-French (1923, 1925, 1947), French-Hebrew (1935, and eight other editions), Hebrew-Arabic (1929), Arabic-Hebrew (1930), and a Hebrew-French dictionary in five volumes (1950–57). A list of his Hebrew writings is found in Minhah le-Avraham (1959), 11–43 (Hebrew numerals). Elmaleh also wrote Rishonim le-Ẓiyyon Toledoteihem u-Fe'-ulatam (1970), containing biographies of the Sephardi rabbis of Ereẓ Israel.
bibliography:
Tidhar, 1 (1947), 512–4.