Isidore Kahan was born in Tiszabergel, Hungary in 1887. He served as Rabbinical Director of the Rabbinical College at Rodi on the Isle of Rhodes from 1932-1933. He then went on to work as the Orthodox Rabbi at the Tempio Israelitico in Rome. In 1939, Rabbi Isidore Kahan emigrated to Seattle with his wife and two daughters to serve as rabbi for both Ezra Bessaroth and Sephardic Bikur Holim congregations. The arrangement only lasted for a short time, and Rabbi Kahan continued to serve as the rabbi for Ezra Bessaroth until his retirement in 1959.
The collection includes images of Rabbi Isidore Kahan in Seattle and abroad in Egypt and Greece.
Forms part of the Washington State Jewish Archives.
Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries’ Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.
Collected by the Washington State Jewish Historical Society.
Donor: Toni Kahan via Meta Buttnick, 1985.
Processed by Jack Falk, Don Romero; processing completed in 2013.
These materials form part of the Isidore Kahan Papers, which are described in the guide to the
Rabbi Isidore Kahan was Rabbinical Director of the college from 1932-1933.
Rabbi Isidore Kahan on far right; Mrs. Kahan to left of Rabbi Prato.
At far right (with beard) is an officer of the school and on the committee of the Jewish Community, Dr. Gaon next to an Italian Carabinieri policeman The bald man at left is school committee member Joe Menoshe talking to Lago's secretary. The students in Rabbinical College are giving Governor Lago the fascist salute.
The Temple was built in 1904; the Orthodox worshiped upstairs, while the Reform worshiped downstairs. Isidore Kahan was Orthodox Rabbi here from 1933-1938, until foreign Jews were expelled from Italy.