Jacob Bensabat (Gibraltar, September 22, 1823 - Porto, November 10, 1898) was no ordinary man. He spoke fluent Portuguese, English, French, Italian, and Haketia. His appointment to teach English at the Central High School of Porto, now the Rodrigues de Freitas High School, took place on November 5, 1880. The Porto Jewish Museum would not fully fulfill its mission if it could not find, purchase, and exhibit the author's great books. They were found and exhibited to the public.
His parents settled in Portugal, as did other groups of Jews, mainly from Tangier, Tetouan, Mogador, and Gibraltar, at the dawn of the 19th century, even before the abolition of the Inquisition. They cautiously maintained their British citizenship, as Jews were still considered a foreign colony.
Jacob inherited the name of his paternal great-grandfather, referred to as a "complete sage," in the ketubah of his great-granddaughter Reyna Bensabat Saragga, wife of Francisco Aarão Saragga, born in Algeria.
Nephew of Salomon Pacífico, Bensabat had siblings: Moheluf, Reyna, Eliezer, Emília, Rebeca, Salomon, and Dayna. His father, Levy Bensabat, was a writer and poet who directed the Sha'ar ha-Shamayim synagogue in Lisbon and distinguished himself in the struggle against the government of Dom Miguel (1828-1834).
Jacob Bensabat was taken to London to study before the age of 8. At 24, he began teaching English, his native language, ando very soon wrote a theoretical and practical English grammar. His work achieved success and warranted multiple editions. It was in this context that, during a visit to Porto, he was invited to teach English.
The unstoppable production of teaching manuals he authored was impressive. His works were written at his home on Rua de Santa Catarina, where he lived happily with his wife, Emma Bensabat, née Santos, born in the Italian city of Livorno, whom he married in Lisbon, and with whom he had an only son: Levy Bensabat (January 31, 1875 – Alcobaça, 1946).
Bensabat was probably the only Portuguese polyglot of his time. His last books became conversational treatises, or practical courses, among which the English, French, and Italian guides entitled "Without a Teacher" stand out. At the same time, his monumental work "The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" by Washington Irving, with its grammatical notes of great cultural significance, caused astonishment in Portugal. Today, no one even knows his name.
