Isak Levi as a lecturer at Sofia University

In this picture I am holding a lecture at Sofia University in the Faculty of Classical and New Philologies. The picture was taken in Sofia in 1999. I am explaining to students the symbolism of the letters in Ivrit and the Old Jewish language. It was a great honor for me, as I was invited by the famous professor of linguistics, Ivan Kanchev, to assist in his course.

During my retirement I became guest lecturer in historical grammar at the Faculty of classical and new philologies at Sofia University in the specialty ‘Spanish Philology.’ Following my idea, the Professor of Spanish philology, Kanchev, initiated a course for studying the different Jewish writings. I examined the basic kinds of ancient scripts, which Jews used to write in – such as Meruba, Rashi, and first of all, Solitreo.

Solitreo resembles the Turkish alphabet and it was practically used in Bulgaria till the 1920s. My father used to correspond with his friends in Dupnitsa through this alphabet. It is interesting that Solitreo was also spread among some Bulgarians, who needed to have some knowledge in it in order to trade with Jews. There are around 600 documents preserved in the National Library in Sofia in Solitreo.

During the course we exercised converting texts in Latin letters into Solitreo. I have an article entitled ‘Ladino in Three Alphabets – Latin, Rashi and Solitreo.’ The most difficult thing in reading Solitreo comes from the various writing out of the vocals in the different countries.