La Epoca (Ladino newspaper)

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La Epoca
Cover page dated 1902
Type
  • Daily newspaper
  • Weekly newspaper
Founder(s)Sadi Levy
Publisher
  • Sadi Levy
  • Samuel Levy
Editor
  • Sadi Levy
  • Samuel Levy
Founded1 November 1875
Political alignment
  • Zionism
  • Socialism
  • Ottomanism
LanguageLadino
Ceased publication1911
HeadquartersThessaloniki
CountryOttoman Empire
Sister newspapersLe Journal de Salonique
Sadi Levi, founder of La Epoca

La Epoca (Ladino: The Era) was a Ladino language newspaper published between 1875 and 1911 in Thessaloniki⁩, Ottoman Empire. Published nearly for forty years it was the leading Ladino publication in the Empire[1] and first Ladino newspaper in Thessaloniki.[2]

History and profile[edit]

La Epoca was launched by Sadi Levy in 1875, and the first issue appeared on 1 November that year.[3][4] He also served as the publisher and editor-in-chief of the paper until 1888.[5] He was the publisher of another paper entitled Le Journal de Salonique, a French language newspaper.[6] The subtitle of La Epoca was Revista comerciala y literaria (Ladino: Commercial and literary newspaper), and the paper had a progressive and avant-garde stance.[3] Its supporter was Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Jewish organization.[3] La Epoca targeted the Sephardi Jews living in Thessaloniki and other towns who could only read Ladino materials.[7]

Following the death of Sadi Levy his son, Samuel, became the editor and publisher of La Epoca.[4] The newspaper was first published on a daily basis, and then, its frequency was switched to weekly.[4] One of the contributors was Mercado Joseph Covo.[1][8] La Epoca and its sister newspaper Le Journal de Salonique both supported Zionism, socialism and Ottomanism.[6] In 1892 La Epoca praised the Ottomans for offering them a land after their expulsion from Spain and described the Empire as the "land where we are eating free bread."[4] Following the Young Turk revolution in 1908 both La Epoca and Le Journal de Salonique focused more on Zionism.[9]

La Epoca folded in 1911.[2][3] The paper was archived by the National Library of Israel.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Devin A. Naar (2014). "Fashioning the "Mother of Israel": The Ottoman Jewish Historical Narrative and the Image of Jewish Salonica". Jewish History. 28 (3–4): 351, 360, 366. doi:10.1007/s10835-014-9216-z. S2CID 254602444.
  2. ^ a b "The Levy Family in Salonica & A Legacy of Notebooks". University of Washington. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Yvette Bürki (Autumn 2010). "The Ottoman Press at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century through the Salonica Newspapers La Época and El Avenir". European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe. 43 (2): 102–116. doi:10.3167/ej.2010.430210.
  4. ^ a b c d e "La Epoka". National Library of Israel. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  5. ^ Olga Borovaya (Fall 2008). "Jews of Three Colors: The Path to Modernity in the Ladino Press at the Turn of the Twentieth Century". Jewish Social Studies. 15 (1): 113. JSTOR 40207036.
  6. ^ a b Yaelle Azagury (12 August 2020). "The story of Jewish Salonica". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  7. ^ Olga Borovaya (2011). "Shmuel Saadi Halevy/Sam Lévy Between Ladino and French: Reconstructing a Writer's Social Identity". In Sheila E. Jelen; Michael P. Kramer; L. Scott Lerner (eds.). Modern Jewish Literatures: Intersections and Boundaries. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 83–103. ISBN 9780812242720. JSTOR j.ctt3fhx44.8.
  8. ^ Julia Phillips Cohen; Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Summer 2010). "Sephardic Scholarly Worlds: Toward a Novel Geography of Modern Jewish History". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 100 (3): 378. doi:10.1353/jqr.0.0092. S2CID 161476964.
  9. ^ Sarah Abrevaya Stein (2002). "Ottomanism in Ladino" (Working Paper). European University Institute. p. 17. hdl:1814/1778. Retrieved 19 February 2022.

External links[edit]