SEBBAG family

SEBBAG (Samech-Beth-Aleph-Gimel) is a widely used surname in North Africa, particularly Morocco. (See Encyclopedia Judaica 22 Volume Set , vol. 4, p. 591.) The family originated in Southern Morocco near the oasis of Goulimine. Following the massacre of Nisfratim in Oufran (1790) the family took refuge in Mogador and then spread out into a number of cities including Meknes.

According to Les Noms des Juifs du Maroc by Abraham I. LAREDO, the names ASSABAG, ESSEBAGH, ESSEBAKH, ESEBAG, SABAG and SEBAG all from the Arab word for dyer.

Dying wool and silk was a Jewish specialty since antiquity. During the middle ages, it was a sort of Jewish monopoly to such a degree that the tax on the Jews in Southern Europe was often called Tincta Judaeorum. This tradition is still preserved in Morocco, but is disappearing in the face of modern industry. During talmudic times this occupation was used as part of a person's name in the Armenian form Tzadik-Vet-Ayin-Aleph.

Reuven SEBBAG

Reuven SEBBAG married Yacot. Reuven is related to the SEBBAG-MONTEFIORE family. They lived in Meknes.

• Eliezar SEBBAG
• Messoda SEBBAG
• Saadia SEBBAG
• Haïm SEBBAG
• Negma SEBBAG
• Freha SEBBAG

David SEBBAG

David SEBBAG was the brother of Reuven SEBBAG (above) according to one source (?). According to David WEIC and Marc-Olivier SEBBAG, David SEBBAG was the son of Reuven SEBBAG.

David SEBBAG had four children by his first wife.

• Nessim SEBBAG (d. 1966). Lives in Paris.
  • Vidal SEBBAG (b. 27 December 1932 Meknes)
    • Laurent SEBBAG (sebbag at univ-lyon1.fr) cardiologist at the Hopital Cardiologique de Lyon, flutist. Married Hagar LEVY
      • Eden SEBBAG
      • Maureen SEBBAG
    • Hugo SEBBAG, surgeon. Married Nathalie ??. Lives in Nancy, France.
    • Marc-Olivier SEBBAG lives in Paris. Children: Anna SEBBAG and Elias SEBBAG.
  
  
• Moïse SEBBAG
  
• Joseph SEBBAG (died young)
  
• Freha SEBBAG

After his first wife died (giving birth), he married his second wife Freicha TOBI. Together they raised the first 4 children and they had:

• Elie SEBBAG
  
• Abraham SEBBAG
  
• Haïm SEBBAG married ZOHARA IBEN-EZRA.
  • David SEBBAG married Yvonne COHEN. They live in Paris, France.
    • Nethanel SEBBAG
  • Simone SEBBAG married David ASSAYAG. They live in Bordeaux, France.
    • Dan ASSAYAG
    • Michel ASSAYAG
    • Sylvie ASSAYAG
    • Joel ASSAYAG
  • Meir SEBBAG married Lea BENICHOU They live in Marseilles, France.
    • Haim SEBBAG Thanks to Haim from information on this branch of the family tree.
    • Shoshana SEBBAG
    • Esther SEBBAG
    • Gabriel Avraham SEBBAG
    • Moche Menachem SEBBAG
    • Arye Yehouda SEBBAG
  • Rachel SEBBAG married Eyal KADMON. Until the withdrawal from Gaza (2005) they were living in Gush Katif.
    • Maayan KADMON
    • Stav KADMON
    • Noam KADMON
    • Shachar KADMON
    • Ben KADMON
  • Hugette SEBBAG married Ronen STEINBERGER. They live in Afula, Israel.
    • Zohar STEINBERGER
    • Tal STEINBERGER
    • Nir STEINBERGER
  
  
• Maitre Salomon SEBBAG, politician following Moroccan independance from France. Elected secretary of Ryad (New Mellah) district on the F.D.I.C. list (front democratique pour les institutions constitutionnelles) following resigning from the Istiqlal royalist party. In 1963, he was named to the chambre des conseilles (equivalent of Senate) as representative of the municipal council of Meknes. Despite his reluctance as a Jew, he was named to the foreign affairs commission of the chambre.
  
• Hassiba SEBBAG. Thanks to Hassiba's grand-daughter's husband David WEIC david.weic@free.fr for information on this branch of the family tree.

My original source listed two other daughters:

• Myriam SEBBAG married AZOGUI.
  
• Esther SEBBAG married DANNINO.

Early SEBBAGs

• Hananiah SEBBAG (d after 1570) was a wealthy merchant in Fez. Inheritance preoccupations brought the family to Meknes and Marrakesh and in Mogador.
  
• Isaac ben Abraham SEBBAG, was a scholar, poet and dayyan in Meknes. In 1735, he wrote a long poem in the collection Shir Yedihout about the honest maguid (director of the community named by the Sultan Moulay Abdallah) Samuel LEVY ben Yuli.
  
• Salomon SEBBAG fils de Messod est né en 1783 à Mogador. Sa famille s'était réfugiée dans cette ville après un des plus tragique évènement de l'histoire des juifs du Maroc : celui des "Nisrafim d'Oufran",les brulés d'Oufran. Oufran est une ville du sud du Maroc dans la région du Sous. Un jour, un sorcier usurpateur du nom de Bou Halassa souleva une partie de la population du Sous. pour rehausser son prestige de chef religieux, il voulu frapper un grand coup en opérant une conversion de masse parmi les juifs. Il s'empara alors d'un groupe de 50 commerçants d'Oufran pour les forcer à se convertir à l'Islam. Il usa d'abord de la persuasion en leur promettant honneurs et richesses, puis devant leur refus obstiné, il éleva un grand bucher en menaçant de les y jeter s'ils persistaient dans leur erreur. Leur rabbin, Rabbi Naftali Afriat, raffermit leurs coeurs, les implorant de préférer le martyr au reniement de la foi de leurs ancetres. Ils se jetèrent alors les uns après les autres dans les flammes, rabbi Yéouda restant le dernier pour s'assurer qu'il n'y aurait aucune défaillance. Les restes des 50 martyrs appartenant aux familles AFRIAT, KNAFO, CHRIQUI, SEBBAG et AMSELLEM furent enterrés dans une grotte qui devint sacrée avec interdiction absolue d'y entrer, "Méarat hamakhpéla". Messod SEBBAG serait un descendant de cette famille SEBBAG d'oufran. Cette histoire a été rapportée par Rabbi Yaacov Tolédano auteur de la première histoire des juifs du Maroc.
  
• Solomon Ben Shalom SEBBAG (d. 1780) dayyan in Marrakesh, was well known as a talmudist and legal authority.
  
• Solomon SEBBAG (d. before 1790) a leader of the Meknes community, was wealthy and one of the benefactors of his community.
  
• Solomon Ben Mas'ud Ben Abraham SEBBAG (early 19th century), born in Mogador, rich trader from Meknes, and friend of the Sultan Side Mohammed Ben Abdallah. He was sent to London in 1799 to manage the family's business. His success enabled him to publish several works in English and Hebrew by Moroccan authors. He was also the official secretary to his uncle Meir MACNIN, the Moroccan ambassador. In 1813 he married Sarah, the elder sister of Sir Moses MONTEFIORE.
  His son Joseph added MONTEFIORE to his own name, thus founding the SEBBAG-MONTEFIORE family.

  From page 9f of the London Times of 1885-09-05:
  THE LATE SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. - The Queen has granted to Mr. Joseph SEBAG, nephew and residuary legatee of the late Sir Moses MONTEFIORE, and his successor in the East Cliff estate, Ramsgate, her Royal license to use the surname of MONTEFIORE after his own paternal name, and to bear Sir M. MONTEFIORE's arms.

  See A family patchwork: five generations of an Anglo-Jewish family by Ruth SEBAG-MONTEFIORE (1987) Weidenfeld and Nicolson, or the website of Tony MARTIN-JONES,
  
  Simon SEBAG-MONTEFIORE (b. 1965) (website, wikipedia) married is the author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. 
  
• Prof. Salomon SEBAG (b. 1828 Morocco, d. 1892 London) son of Rabbi Essebagh of Meknes. Salomon was a Hebrew writer, taught at the school Sha'are Tiqvah and became Hazan of the Bevis Mark synagogue of Sola. Wrote Hebrew textbook in 1852 used as primary textbook in Hebrew education in England for many years. Many of his poems have been printed.
  
• Judah Ben Mas'ud (1832-1923), born in Lisbon, lived in Brazil and amassed a considerable fortune. In about 1890, he settled in Mogador and became one of its prominent leaders. His coreligionists benefited from his generosity.

Other SEBBAGs

• Anita SEBAG (b. 7 Apr 1932, d. 4 Jan 1996 Queens NY ??)
  
• David S. SEBBAG
  
• Eliezer SEBBAG married Simcha
  • Asher SEBBAG married Rebecca
    • Avigail SEBBAG Gail2480 at aol.com
  
  
• Rabbi Gavriel SEBBAG, 9 Av Colignon Bati, Toulouse 31200, France, Tel: 61234558
  
• Georges SEBBAG, author
  
• Guy SEBBAG, author
  
• Isaac SEBAG (some sort of merchant) married Blida AMZALAG (also Jewish, but she had a Berber element in her family). They lived in Safi and Meknes, Morocco.
  • Rachel SEBAG (lives San Jose, CA)
  • Feby SEBAG (d. Israel)
  • Claire SEBAG (d. 1968 San Jose, CA)
    • Bernard GERMAIN bgermain at nyc.rr.com
  • Nissim SEBAG (immigrated to Israel)
  • Ouri SEBBAG (immigrated to Israel). Youngest child. He went to Israel alone (he was the first in the family) at age 14. He became quite active in politics, and during the early seventies was actually the General Secretary of the Labor Party (Histadrut). I believe he was also a member of the Knesset, representing BeerSheba. He may have also been an attache to the French govt. of Francois Mitterand.
  • 5 or 6 other daughters
  
  
• Isaac SEBBAG, prestigious teacher. Ran Keter Torah Yeshiva, created in 1944 by Rabbi Shalom MESSAS.
  
• Jakov SEBAG
  • Chaim SEBAG from Mogador married Chana ??.
    • Jakov SEBAG
    • Meir SEBAG
    • Felix SEBAG. Daughter: Michael SEGEV izak at nur-il.com
    • David SEBAG
    • Marcel SEBAG
    • Roze SEBAG
    • Victor SEBAG
  
  
• Dr. Jerry SEBBAG, M.D., Huntington Beach, CA
  
• Jonathan SEBBAG married Mirriam. Live in Sydney, Australia.
  • Michael SEBBAG, Western Australia, currently completing a masters in mineral economics at Curtin University.
  • Gil SEBBAG (He is currently travelling in Spain on a working Holiday)
  
  
• Joseph SEBAG (b. 10 Oct 1927, d. 10 Apr 1991 Floral Park, NY ??)
  
• Marina SEBBAG, author
  
• Michèle SEBBAG, computer scientist. Coauthor of Evolutionary Identification of Macro-Mechanical Models
  
• Michelle SEBBAG (born 4 November 1944 Meknes) married (23 December 1965) Robert/Rubin CHICHEPORTICHE. Children: Valerie CHICHEPORTICHE and Didier CHICHEPORTICHE.
  
• Paul SEBBAG, author of The Great Mosque of Kairouan. Macmillan, 1965.
  
• Pinchas SEBBAG married Annie/Simy CHICHEPORTICHE in Paris. Children: Paulette CHICHEPORTICHE, Vered CHICHEPORTICHE and Jonathan CHICHEPORTICHE .
  
• Salomon SEBAG (b. 1 Sep 1917, d. 4 Nov 1996 Bronx NY ??)
  
• Ochoa & SEBBAG C.P.A., Long Island, New York.
  
• Sheik R. Yaacov SEBAG father of R. Isaac SEBBAG Magid (Sheik Itshak) in Mogador father of R. David SEBAG father of Isaac SEBAG father of Jacky SEBAG
  
• Yehuda SEBAG married Sylvia Rae Brudne. Son: Chaim SEBAG. Family lives in Israel. Half second cousin once remove of Susan Fifer suef at dial.pipex.com
  
• Yvon SEBBAG caught 283 pound 4 ounce Tarpon, 16 April 1991 at Sierra Leone

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