David Elnecave, dean of Jewish Journalists in Latin America, died here this weekend. He was 81. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, he was one of the founders of the Zionist organization of Turkey and in 1909, of “El Judio,” a Zionist weekly published in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language of the Turkish Jewish community.
His activities on behalf of the Zionist cause, in which he worked closely with the late Nahum Sokolow, Zeev Jabotinksy and Victor Jacobson, caused Mr. Elnecave to be charged with high treason by the Turkish Government. He fled to Bulgaria in 1922, where he continued publishing “El Judio,” in Sofia, Arriving here eight years later, Mr. Elnecave founded “La Luz,” a magazine now circulated among Jews throughout Latin America.
Mr. Elnecave came to be known in Latin America as the “patriarch of the Sephardim” and toured the continent on numerous occasions to lecture to its Jewish communities. He was the author of several books, among them “An Introduction to the Bible,” and “The Good Shepherd,” which also deals with the Bible.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
