14 Facts About Avraam Benaroya

Avraam Eliezer Benaroya was a Jewish socialist, member of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party, later leader of the Socialist Workers' Federation in the Ottoman Empire.

Avraam Benaroya was raised in Vidin by a family of small merchants.

Avraam Benaroya studied at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, but did not graduate, becoming rather a teacher in Plovdiv.

Avraam Benaroya founded here a group called Sephardic Circle of Socialist Studies and was in connection to the Bulgarian left-wing faction, close to the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, called People's Federative Party, as well as to some Bulgarian socialists, who worked there.

Avraam Benaroya's influence grew, as he argued that any socialist movement in the city must take the form of a federation in which all national groups could participate.

Idealistic and pragmatic at the same time, in Thessaloniki Avraam Benaroya played a leading role in the creation, in 1909, of the mainly Jewish Socialist Workers' Federation, or in Ladino, Federacion.

From 1910 to 1911 Avraam Benaroya edited its influential newspaper, the Solidaridad Ovradera, printed in Ladino.

Indeed, its leaders initially supported the Young Turks, and Avraam Benaroya participated in the "Army of Freedom" march on Istanbul to help put down the Countercoup of 1909.

Avraam Benaroya was interested in the Jewish Question since the beginning of his career and made efforts to promote Jewish causes throughout it.

Avraam Benaroya played a leading role in the creation, in 1909, of the mainly Jewish Federacion.

Avraam Benaroya envisaged a state free from any ethnic divisions where Jews could exist unpersecuted and free, retaining their religion.

Avraam Benaroya was always very interested in combating anti-Semitism, while over later years he shifted his emphasis to reflect the sizable Thessaloniki Jewish community that chose to remain within the Greek state.

Avraam Benaroya remained politically active after 1924 but as he stayed outside the principal political formations of the left, the communists and Papanastasiou's socialists, his capacity for action was increasingly restricted.

Avraam Benaroya left to Israel in 1953, to Holon, where he ran a small convenient store.