YULY

YULY (Aben-Yuly, Yulee, Levy-Yuly ), Moroccan family whose first known member was R. samuel levy abenyuly (d. after 1740), scholar, financier, and statesman. He was one of the Jewish favorites of the sultan Moulay Ismā ʿ il (1672–1727) and the counselor and then all-powerful secretary of the sultan Moulay Abd-Allah (1729–1757), who appointed him *nagid of Moroccan Jewry. He added the name Yuly, the initial letters of "they shall come and bow down before Thee," Ps. 86:9, to his original name Levy. He died in *Meknès. His son, judah aben-yuly, was one of the founders of the Jewish community of *Mogador, where he was appointed "merchant of the sultan" about 1767. Samuel Aben-Yuly's brother, judah levy-yuly (d. after 737), was a powerful international merchant in *Salé and *Rabat, where he also managed the financial interests of various sultans and as head of these communities was known as sheikh. His serious conflicts with the rival *Ben-Kiki family disturbed the communities of northern *Morocco for a long time.

His son, elijah levy-yuly (d. c. 1799), also held the position of "merchant of the sultan" in Mogador and *Tangier; at the end of Muhammad b. Abd-Allah's reign (1757–1790) he became a vizier, in which function he wielded extensive political influence. Samuel *Romanelli, who was acquainted with him and refers to him simply as Elijah Levy, criticizes him at length in Massa ba-Arav and asserts that, in order to escape the death penalty which was decreed against him by the sultan Moulay Yazīd (1790–1792), he converted to *Islam, only to die a few months later. Elijah, in fact, took refuge in England, where he died a Jew. His son, moses levy-yuly (b. c. 1782), who was born in Mogador, left England for the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean in 1800. He amassed a considerable fortune in the wood trade and in 1816 established himself in Havana (Cuba), where he became an army purveyor. In 1819 he settled in Florida, becoming an influential pioneer when he set up immense plantations. His son David *Yulee was the first U.S. senator from Florida and the first U.S. senator of Jewish origin.

R. samuel ben baruch levy aben-yuly (d. after 1840) was dayyan in Meknès, Tangier, and then Gibraltar. He wrote two works on various religious subjects, Hadar Zekenim ("Splendor of the Elders") and Kol Kallah ("Sound of the Rabbinical Assembly," 1835), and traveled to Leghorn, where he published R. Pethahiah *Berdugo's Rosh Mashbir (1840). R. solomon levy aben-yuly and R. joseph levy abenyuly of Meknès were among the most influential religious leaders of Moroccan Jewry before 1850. samuel levy-yuly (1798–1872), born in Mogador, was sent to London as ambassador of Morocco and held this position until 1825. He was a business partner of Judah Guedalla of London and died in Portsea, England. judah levy-yuly (1805–1878), born in Portsea, was an influential and wealthy merchant and one of the defenders of the rights of the Jews in Morocco. When Mogador was bombarded by the French in 1844, he was one of the most active organizers of the committee which was formed in London under the presidency of Sir Moses *Montefiore and Baron Anthony Rothschild to bring relief to the town and reestablish its Jewish community. He died in Mogador.

bibliography:

E. de Avila, Be'er Mayim Ḥayyim (1806), 56b–70b; S. Romanelli, Ketavim Nivḥarim: Massa be-Arav, ed. by J.H. Schirmann (1968), index; Voice of Jacob, no. 93 (March 1, 1845); L. Huehner, in: ajhsp, 25 (1917), 1–29; J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Ma'arav (1911), 132, 199, 229; Miège, Maroc, 2 (1961), passim.

[David Corcos]