Writer
(b. 1883, İstanbul - d. 6 March 1933, İstanbul). His father was the Rabbi of
Hasköy. He received his primary education at the Şule-i Maarif in Hasköy and at
Commando School in Piri Paşa, where education was given in Turkish. After
graduation from Vefa High School and Hukuk Mekteb-i Ali (Law School), he went
to Paris where he received his doctorate. He had duties in various offices such
as a member of the İstanbul Court of Appeal and Public Prosecution. Later, he
left his duties as an official and began to work as a lawyer. However, during
the republican period he was one of the nineteen Jews whose attorney licenses
were cancelled (Levi, p.33), there might have been legitimate reasons for this
cancellation although it is said he might have continued working as a lawyer
for some time after.
İsak Ferrera Efendi remained as one of those among
the Jewish society in Turkey, who insisted on writing in Turkish. He adopted
the idea of writers from the Scientific Wealth Movement, and accepted “Art is
for art” as his understanding of art. It has been pointed out that he went on
to write until the last days of his life, but could not attain originality in
his poetry, which, in time, he wrote in an even more simplistic style.
Although
he was interested in literature all his life, except for two, most of his works
remain unknown. The first one of these discovered works is the 112-page Ebr-i
Bahar (Clouds of Spring), which was published by İstanbul Modern Press in
1902, which consists of forty four poems. It is registered as number
