Makhlouf Nadjar
| Makhlouf Nadjar | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 November 1888 Moknine, French protectorate of Tunisia |
| 💀Died | 1963 Sousse, Tunisia1963 |
| 💼 Occupation |
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Makhlouf Nadjar (November 28, 1888 – 1963) was a Jewish-Tunisian writer, playwright, journalist, and poet. He founded and managed a large printing house where his writings and hundreds of other titles were published.
Biography
Makhlouf Nadjar was born in 1888 in the city of Moknine, Tunisia. During his youth, he lived in the home of his grandfather, Rabbi Mordechai Gez, in the city of Sousse. He was fluent in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Literary Arabic, and French. From a young age, he began writing for various Jewish newspapers in Tunisia in Judeo-Arabic.
In May 1913, he founded an artistic theater company in Sousse, known as ''Jouk Nadjar'' ("Nadjar’s Troupe"). Under his leadership, a theater group composed of Jewish children and teenagers gained fame throughout Tunisia and Algeria. The troupe staged plays by Molière, biblical-inspired dramas, and adaptations of Middle Eastern folktales, which Nadjar himself edited, translated, and wrote. The performances were conducted in French, Judeo-Arabic, Arabic, and Hebrew, depending on the play and the audience.
The troupe's first play, The Sale of Joseph, was performed in Arabic in Sousse on April 14, 1913, and achieved great success during a tour across Sfax, Nabeul, and finally at the Grand Municipal Theater of Tunis. The troupe later staged additional plays, including Queen Esther, David and Goliath (in Hebrew), Moses Our Teacher, Romeo and Juliet, Harun al-Rashid and The Fisherman Caliph, Le Géorgien (in French), and more. The theater company performed in numerous cities in Tunisia and was also well-received in Algeria in 1914.
In 1917, Nadjar purchased and expanded the printing house of the writer and journalist Tzemach Halevy in Sousse. According to the bibliographer Daniel Hadjaj, Nadjar’s press published around eighty literary works, including his own original writings, translations, and works for which he acquired printing rights. Besides literature, Nadjar also printed numerous other titles, including works by contemporary rabbis, Passover Haggadot, and French language textbooks. The poetry collection Ma'adanei Melech (1946) by the renowned poet and paytan Asher Mizrahi was also first published at Nadjar’s printing house.
In 1920, Nadjar founded his influential newspaper Al-Najma ("The Star"), a "political, scientific, literary, and economic" weekly that continued publication for four decades (until 1961). It was the only Jewish newspaper that remained in circulation even after Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Vichy regime halted the newspaper's publication during World War II, but it resumed afterward. The newspaper had subscribers across Tunisia, as well as among Jewish communities in Algeria and Morocco, and it had a Zionist orientation.
Nadjar chose to publish Al-Najma in Judeo-Arabic to preserve the language and its journalistic and literary tradition at a time when most North African Jews were adopting French culture. To maintain readership among French speakers, the newspaper included a final page in French during certain periods. However, in 1961, Al-Najma and Nadjar's printing house ceased operations due to concerns stemming from the Bizerte crisis.
Nadjar passed away in Sousse about two years later, in 1963.
Further reading
- Yosef Tobi and Tzvia Tobi, Judeo-Arabic Literature in Tunisia, 1850–1950, Orot Yehudei HaMaghreb, 2000.
- Yosef Chetrit, Hebrew National Modernity vs. French Modernity: The Hebrew Haskalah in North Africa at the End of the 19th Century, Mikdam U’Mayim, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 11–76.
- Chaim Saadon (Ed.), Tunisia, in the series Jewish Communities in the East in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Ministry of Education and Ben-Zvi Institute, 2005, p. 197.
- Michal Sharff, Daniel Hadjaj and His Work on the History of Judeo-Arabic Literature in Tunisia, 1862–1939, Pe‘amim, Vol. 30, pp. 41–59. https://files.ybz.org.il/periodicals/peamim/30/Article_30.3.pdf
External links
- List of Publications by Makhlouf Nadjar, in the National Library Catalog.
- Makhlouf Nadjar on WorldCat Identities.
- On Jewish Advertisements and Flyers in Tunisia, on the website of the city of Tunis.
- Passover Haggadah with French Translation, Makhlouf Nadjar Printing House, 1948, on HebrewBooks.
- Translation of the Book of Proverbs into Judeo-Arabic, Makhlouf Nadjar Printing House, 1932, on HebrewBooks.
- Makhlouf Nadjar, entry page in the National Library of Israel.
- Mohsen Hamli. "Al-Nijma (L'Étoile) (Sousse)." Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Brill Online, 2014.
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