Born in 1878 into a family of Jewish notables in Damascus, Joseph David Farḥi was a maskil, educator, merchant, and pillar of the Jewish community of Beirut from 1908 until his death in 1945. Members of his family often filled high positions in the courts of local Ottoman rulers. After receiving a traditional elementary education, Farḥi attended the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) school in Damascus and in 1893 entered the teacher-training program at the Ecole Normale Israélite Orientale in Paris. Until 1903 Farḥi served as vice-director of the AIU schools in Izmir, Sossa, and D…