Abraham Lévy-Cohen was born to a Jewish family in Tangier in 1844 and raised in Essaouira (Mogador). He was educated in England and became a naturalized British citizen.[1] He also spent eight years in France.[1] He returned to Morocco and worked as a lawyer, a businessman, and a journalist, in addition to serving as a member of the Tangier regional committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a member of the Freemasons, and a representative of the Anglo-Jewish Association in Tangier.[1][3] He also served as a correspondent for Jewish newspapers based in London, such as The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish World.[3] Although he was a naturalized subject of the British crown, he was a member of the Francophilic Jewish elite of Morocco, and worked to further French culture and interests in Morocco.[1]
On 14 July 1883 he began publishing the first francophone newspaper in Morocco: Le Reveil du Maroc.[1][2]