VENTURA, MOÏSE

VENTURA, MOÏSE (1893–1978), rabbi and scholar. Born in Smyrna, Ventura, studied at the rabbinical seminary at Istanbul and at Paris University. In 1938–48 he served as chief rabbi at alexandria , egypt ; lectured at Yeshiva College, New York, 1951–53; and was head of Montefiore College, Ramsgate, England, 1953–55. In 1955 he settled in Israel. Apart from a number of textbooks of Hebrew and religious instruction in French, Ventura wrote Le livre du Kuzari (1932); Le Kalam et le peripatétisme après le Kuzari (1934); and La philosophie de Saadia Gaon (1934). He also prepared a critical edition of the Hebrew text (and part of the Arabic original) of Maimonides' Millot ha-Higgayon (La terminologie logique de Maimonide, with French translation and commentary, glossary, etc., 1935); and published a series of homiletical talks on biblical books and Avot.