Lévy, Isaac

French rabbi; born Jan. 20, 1835, at Marmoutier, in the old department of Bas-Rhin (Alsace). When sixteen years old he entered the rabbinic school of Metz, and was graduated thence at the age of twenty-three, receiving the diploma of a chief rabbi. In Feb., 1858, he was called as rabbi to Verdun (Meuse); in 1865 to Lunéville (Meurthe); and in 1869 to Colmar as chief rabbi of the district of Haut-Rhin.

When Alsace was annexed by Germany, Lévy decided to remain a Frenchman; and the French government created a new chief rabbinate for him at Vesoul (Haute-Saône). Here he officiated for fifteen years, and then (1887) went as chief rabbi to Bordeaux. Lévy is a chevalier of the Legion of Honor and an officer of public instruction. Besides a number of single sermons he has published the following: "Veillées du Vendredi" (2d ed., Paris, 1869); "Récits Bibliques" (2d ed., Paris, 1873); "Défense du Judaïsme" (ib. 1867); "Histoire Sainte" (ib. 1869 et seq.); "Alsatiana" (ib. 1873); "Nathan le Sage" (Vesoul, 1881); "Les Récréations Israélites" (2d ed., Paris, 1899); "Développement des 13 Articles de Foi" (ib. 1895); "Heures de Recueillement" (ib. 1898).

Lévy edited also a supplement, entitled "Le Foyer Israélite" (1862-65), to the periodical for the young, "La Vérité Israélite."

S.