Samuel Alatri

Samuel Alatri (1805 in Rome – May 20, 1889 in Rome) was an Italian politician, communal worker, and orator. For more than sixty years he led the Jewish community of his native city, and bore the brunt of its contests for religious and political freedom. His public career began at an early age. When only twenty-three years old he was called upon to enter the council of the community, the material and spiritual interests of which he thereafter served with zeal and devotion. From 1840 to 1865 he made annual tours to foreign countries, coming thereby in contact with prominent Jews in France and in England, who inspired him with new hopes and encouraged him to persevere in the struggle for justice. Knowing, however, that, in order to lead to happiness, freedom must be supplemented by education, Alatri devoted his special attention to foreign scholastic institutions, accumulating experience which he used for the benefit of the Talmud Torah in Rome. The Roman Jews looked upon him as their legitimate leader and chose him spokesman of the deputations that annually waited on the pope (Pope Gregory XVI). The latter, though hostile to all progress, could not help being charmed by the oratorical gifts of Alatri, whom he nicknamed "our Cicero," and to whom, on one occasion, he said: "Whenever you have to defend a case of liberty and humanity, come to me." Alatri's influence with the pontiff proved effective only in individual cases, the general position of the Jews remaining as precarious as before.