Person

Lévy, Isaac

1835–1912

French rabbi; born 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.