Zaki Cohen (Arabic: زكي كوهن) born in 1829 inAleppo in theOttoman Empire, was a Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community inBeirut,Lebanon and a playwright.[1] In 1874, he founded Beirut's first modern Jewish school,[2] calledTiferet Yisrael ("Glory of Israel") in Hebrew andal-Madrasa al-Waṭaniyya al-Isrāʾīliyya ("The National Jewish School") in Arabic, where he served as director.[3] The school continued to operate until 1899, when it was superseded byCollege Alliance Israelite Universelle of Beirut. Cohen died inAlexandria in 1904.
Cohen and his son Selim were among the leading Jewish playwrights active in Beirut in the late nineteenth century. While the others, including Selim Cohen, wrote in Arabic, Zaki Cohen wrote plays in Hebrew. In 1876 one of his works became the first play in Hebrew to be performed in Beirut.[4]
At his school, Tiferet Yisrael, theatre was encouraged and two plays a year were normally staged.[5]