
Asher Mizrahi
Asher Mizrahi (1890-1967), poet and musician, born in Jerusalem, Israel (then part of the Ottoman Empire). He became a prominent figure in the Jewish Sephardi community of Jerusalem in the beginning of the 20th century. As a young man he moved first to Malta in order to avoid being recruited to the Ottoman army during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). He then moved to Tunisia living there until 1919 when he returned to Jerusalem. In 1926, Mizrahi declined an offer of serving as cantor of the Great Synagogue of Alexandria, Egypt. He returned to Tunisia in 1929 living there until immediately after the Six-Day War in 1967. In Tunisia he spread the Jerusalem-Sephardi musical tradition among the local Jewish communities. Shortly after his return from Tunisia he died in Jerusalem.