André Chouraqui

Who was André Chouraqui?

Nathan André Chouraqui was a French lawyer, writer, scholar and politician.

Chouraqui was born in Aïn Témouchent, Algeria. His parents, Isaac Chouraqui and Meleha Meyer, both descended from Spanish Jewish families who, as early as the 16th century, acted as judges, theologians, rabbis, poets and scientists in North Africa.

From 1935 he studied Law and Rabbinical Studies in Paris. He was active in the French Resistance in the Maquis of Central France. Lawyer and later judge in the district of the Algiers Court of Appeal, Chouraqui became a Doctor of Law in 1948.

In 1958, he married Annette Lévy. They have five children: Emmanuel, Elisabeth, Yaël, David and Mikhal, as well as fourteen grandchildren.

From 1947 to 1953, Chouraqui served as Assistant Secretary General of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, then as Permanent Delegate for the Alliance israélite Universelle, under the presidency of René Cassin. He travelled extensively throughout the world, lecturing in over 80 countries. From Jerusalem, where he lived since 1958, he acted as a spokesman for French culture in Israel and as an ambassador for Judaism the world over.