Abraham Cohen Bucureșteanu

Abraham Cohen Bucureșteanu
Born1840 (1840)
Bucharest, Wallachia
DiedJanuary 24, 1877(1877-01-24) (aged 36–37)
Bucharest, Wallachia
Resting placeBucharest Sephardic Jewish Cemetery[1]
SpouseLuțica Căhănescu[2]

Abraham Cohen Bucureșteanu (1840 – January 24, 1877) was a Romanian poet, songwriter, and publicist. He is credited as the first Jew to write verse in the Romanian language.[1][3]

Biography

Abraham Cohen Bucureșteanu was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Bucharest in 1840.[1][4] His father, Moise Elias Cohen, was a wealthy banker.[3][5] Bucureșteanu initially pursued a career in theatre and obtained some success as an actor, but at the urging of his family he shifted his focus to commerce.[6]

Between 1860 and 1874, Bucureșteanu wrote numerous satirical poems, epigrams, love songs, theatrical sketches, and anecdotes that were well received by the public across social classes. While his songs were included in numerous popular collections, he himself only published two works during his lifetime: Urdubelea și Norocul (Bucharest, 1873) and Buchetul, Culegere de Anecdote (Bucharest, 1874).[6]

Alongside Benjamin F. Peixotto and others, Bucureșteanu was in 1872 a founder of the Infratirea Zion Jewish fraternal association, and served as its first president.[1] The organization later affiliated with the Order of B'nai B'rith as the Zion Grand Lodge.[6]

Bucureșteanu led a turbulent personal life, which ultimately contributed to his physical decline and premature death from tuberculosis in 1877.[1][6]

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; Schwarzfeld, M. (1902). "Bucuresteanu (Bucureshteanu), Abraham Cohen". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 415.

  1. ^ a b c d e Schwarzfeld, Moses (1887). "Abram Cohen-Bucureşteanu, 1840–1877" (PDF). Anuarul pentru israeliţi (in Romanian). 10. Bucharest: Eduard Wiegand: 144–153.
  2. ^ Iacob, Eugen; Tașcu, Valentin (2002). Culisele memoriei (in Romanian). Clusium. p. 27. ISBN 978-973-555-349-4.
  3. ^ a b Wininger, S. (1925). "Cohen, Avram Bucureşteanu". Große jüdische National-Biographie (in German). Vol. 1. Cernăuți: Orient. pp. 561–562.
  4. ^ Iancu, Carol (2004). "Les juifs de Roumanie entre tradition, Haskala et israélitisme". In Cabanel, Patrick; Bordes-Benayoun, Chantal (eds.). Un modèle d'intégration: juifs et israélites en France et en Europe (XIXe–XXe siècles) (in French). Paris: Berg. p. 237. ISBN 978-2-911289-68-2.
  5. ^ Critzman, Emil I. (November 7, 1914). "Trubadurul Acabe: Avram Cohen Bucureşteanu, 1840–1877". Egalitatea (in Romanian). 25 (43): 1–2.
  6. ^ a b c d  Singer, Isidore; Schwarzfeld, M. (1902). "Bucuresteanu (Bucureshteanu), Abraham Cohen". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 415.