Simeon ben Elijah Hakham

Simeon ben Elijah Hakham was born in Bukhara, then the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara. His father was a religious scribe from Baghdad, who also worked as a ritual slaughterer. Simeon studied Jewish sources and, in 1870, opened an academy in Bukhara, which he called the Talmid Hakham yeshiva. Simeon then endeavored to translate Hebrew religious books into Bukhori (also known as Bukharian, a Judeo-Persian dialect), for the benefit of Bukharan Jews who were not comfortable reading Hebrew. He began translating and moved to Jerusalem, where there were printing presses, to have his translations printed. He also edited and published works prepared by others. After returning to Bukhara at least once, he finally settled in Jerusalem and continued translating a wide variety of Jewish books into Bukharian. Among his important translations was the Hebrew Bible, which he completed up to Isaiah 41.