Moshe Attias (1898-1973)

Moshe Attias was born in Thessaloniki on the 9th of January 1898 to Palomba and Daniel, descendants of a family of publishers from Amsterdam. Moshe was one of the founders of the “Bar Kochba” society in Thessaloniki, a society that worked to cultivate the physical and spiritual fitness of youth, and encouraged them to take an interest in Hebrew literature and culture.​

Attias was active in public service. He worked as the secretary of the National Council in Jerusalem and stood at its head from the year 1928 until the establishment of the State. During the Mandate years, as part of Yishuv leadership, he stood out in his common sense and was revealed to have great organizational abilities, a sense of responsibility and vision. Working with him were David Yellin, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Pinhas Rutenberg, and David Remez. He wrote about those years in his books, The Book of Documents of the National Council, and The Israeli Knesset in Eretz Yisrael: Its Foundation and Organization.

Attias was active in the Council of the Sefardi Communities, among the Middle Eastern communities and in founding the Organization of Sefardi Youth in Jerusalem. There is not enough space here to list all of his many projects- we will only mention for our purposes, that Attias was a member of the Committee of the Israeli Institute for Folklore and Ethnology. Indeed, an important part of his life was his interest in the folklore of the Jews of Spain- their traditions and customs. Attias collected songs, stories, legends, idioms and customs related to the holidays. He published many articles on the subject.

With the establishment of the State he was appointed to the administration of the Education Department in the Jerusalem Municipality and served in that role for 15 years. His two books, his masterpieces, Romancero Sefaradí (1961, Kiryat Sefer) and Cancionero Judeo-Español (1973- The Institute for the Study of the Jews of Thessaloniki) represent a rich look into the repertoire of the traditions of Spanish Jewry.

The NLI holds the Moshe Attias Collection, that contains not only Romansas, but also songs of other types; The recordings collection represents the completion of Attias’s legacy – an addition to his two books and his many articles.