Isaac Shalom

Isaac I. Shalom (September 15, 1887 – July 24, 1968), was an American businessman, philanthropist, and one of the leaders of the Sephardi and Syrian Jewish communities in New York.

Life and career

Isaac Shalom was born in Aleppo, Syria on September 15, 1887. In 1907[1] he emigrated to the United States and settled in New York′s Lower East Side. He started his career as a textile peddler and soon became a supplier to other Syrian Jewish immigrants.[2] In 1921 he established the handkerchief firm of I. Shalom & Co., which developed into one of the leading manufacturers in its field in the United States.[3]

Known as a philanthropist supporting Orthodox Jewish causes, particularly educational institutions, he helped found synagogues, a youth center and institutes of Jewish learning in the United States such as Magen David Yeshivah in New York, a private school which provides a secular and Jewish education to about 2,400 students from preschool to high school established in 1946.[4] He was instrumental in 1945 in founding Ozar Hatorah, an organization that provides Orthodox Jewish education for Jewish children in the Muslim countries of North Africa and the Middle East and in France.[3]

Shalom was an active Zionist who established enterprises in Israel and was one of the leaders of the Sephardi and Syrian communities in New York City.[3]

Shalom lived in Brooklyn, New York. He died on July 24, 1968 and is buried on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem.[5] He was married to Alice Shalom née Chabot.[2] The couple had three sons and two daughters.[6]

Criticism

According to David Shasha of the advocacy group Center for Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, Shalom′s pedagogical approach led to the importation of a form of Ashkenazi Orthodoxy and leadership into the Brooklyn Sephardi community,[7] tearing it forcibly away from its historical culture.[8]

See also

References
  1. Shalom, Issac Richard. Keeper of the Flame: The Life and Times of Issac Shalom. p. 58.
  2. Sarina Roffé (2012). "Shalom, Isaac". Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  3. Hillel Halkin (2007). "Shalom, Isaac I." Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Volume 18 Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  4. "Magen David Yeshivah homepage". Magen David Yeshivah. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  5. "Isaac Shalom, Brooklyn Philanthropist, Eulogized in Meeting Attended by 1,000". JTA. August 20, 1968. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  6. "Paid Notice: Deaths. Shalom, Joseph". The New York Times. June 12, 2001. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  7. David Shasha (July 31, 2009). "On the Syrian Jewish Scandals: Cultural Erosion Leads to Moral Corruption". JVoices.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  8. David Shasha (October 31, 2009). "American Sephardim: No Place at the (Ashkenazi) Jewish Table". The American Muslim. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
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