Ezra Dangoor

Ezra Dangoor was a prominent rabbi and publisher who lived in Baghdad, Iraq. He was born in 1848 to a family of sayyids who traced their lineage to Imam al-Sajjad (a). He studied under Rabbi Abdallah Somekh and became a ritual slaughterer, circumciser, and scribe. He was the Chief Rabbi of Rangoon, Burma from 1893 to 1895, but had to return to Baghdad due to ill health. In 1904, he opened the first printing press in Baghdad, which printed Arabic textbooks as well as books in Hebrew. He was the author of several books and commentaries on the Torah, such as Ecclesiastes with a new Judaeo-Arabic translation and two commentaries. He was also the Chief Rabbi of Baghdad from 1923 to 1926. He died in 1930. He was the grandfather of Sir Naim Dangoor, the philanthropist and patron of education, and the great-grandfather of David Dangoor, the businessman and philanthropist.