Albert Antébi

Who was Albert Antébi?

Albert-Abraham Antébi was a Jewish public activist and communitary leader born in Syria, who worked for the defense of the interests of the Jewish old and new settlement in Palestine during the Ottoman rule, especially in the realm of education, philanthropy and estate, as representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and of the Jewish Colonization Association founded by Baron Hirsch. Was engineer and teacher as professional formation.

Son of the Jewish sefardic community of Damascus, he was the scion of an old Jewish family. His grandfather, rabbi Jacob Antebi, had been one of the victims of the infamous Blood Libel associated with the Damascus Affair. After learning the craft of blacksmith at an Alliance professional school in Rue de Rosiers in the Marais - Paris' historic Jewish quarter, he studied engineering at the Ecoles d'arts et metiers in province - at Châlons-en-Champagne, and Angers. In 1896 came in Palestine where he received an appointment as director of the Jerusalem professional school of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a position he held until 1913.