Journalist, translator, author, and feminist, Esther Azharī Moyal was born in Beirut in 1873 to a Sephardi family of modest means whose name had been corrupted from Lazari to Azharī. She was educated in classical Arabic, French, and English and studied with a prominent Arab writer. In 1890 she received an academic degree, probably from the American College for Girls, after which she taught at Christian and Jewish schools in Beirut. In 1891, Azharī joined Bakūrāt Sūrīyā (The Dawn of Syria), an association of Syrian women; in 1896 she co-founded another society, Nahḍa…