Benzion Taragan (1870–1953), writer, teacher, and journalist in Erez Israel and Egypt. Born in Jerusalem, he received a traditional education at the Bet-Midrash Doresh Zion and yeshivot, learned printing, and began to work in the printing press of E. Ben-Yehuda. When the latter was imprisoned, Taragan became manager of the press, and, after Ben-Yehuda was freed, helped him in preparing his dictionary. Taragan also contributed to Ben-Yehuda's periodical Hashkafah. In 1906 he left for Alexandria, where he worked as secretary of the rabbinate and as a teacher of Hebrew in the first school to use the teaching method of Ivrit be-Ivrit (Hebrew in Hebrew) in Egypt. Taragan took an active part in Jewish communal life, especially among the youth of Alexandria. He also served as a reporter-correspondent for Hebrew periodicals in the Diaspora. Taragan published textbooks on teaching Hebrew. However, more important are his histories of the Alexandria community - Les communautes israelites d'Alexandrie; aperqu historique depuis les temps des Ptolemees jusqu' a nos jours (1932); and Korot ha-Kehillah ha-Yehudit be-Alexandria, 1906–1946 (1947) - as an eyewitness record of contemporary trends and developments there.