History of the Jews in Djerba

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The interior of the El Ghriba Synagogue

The History of the Jews in Djerba stems back to at least the Middle Ages, although many speculate that it extends back to the Classical Era. The community is one of the last remaining Jewish communities in the Arab world.

The community is typically divided between two villages on the Tunisian island of

2023 Djerba shooting
.

History

Founding of the community

Oral tradition of the Jews of Djerba, as well as the non-Jewish population of the island attest to the antiquity of the Jews in the community, with several founding legends that date the arrival of the Jews to the island in the B.C., although there is a lack of historical evidence to verify their claims. Yet, some traditions among the community give credence to a pre-

Yemen and Tafilalet, which are known for their confirmed antiquity.[1]

The most common local origin story for the Jewish community in Djerba is that

First Temple by Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 B.C. Further claims were made that a door from the destroyed Temple, as well as various stones from the building, were incorporated into the local Temple.[2] The story has resulted in many Jews claiming that the Synagogue, as the sole intact synagogue with pieces of the First Temple, as a unifier of world Jewry, hence its pilgrimage tradition.[3] Dighet, the village in which the synagogue is location, is believed, through this story, to be a corruption of the Hebrew "דלת" (delet), meaning "door". The village was also, until the 20th century, populated exclusively by Cohanim. The first written record of the story dates back to 1849, in the book HaShomer Emet, published by Rabbi Abraham Hayyim Adadi of Tripoli
.

There are also less popular legends that trace the Jewish community of Djerba to a period prior to the destruction of the First Temple, including one that states that Joab, a commander of King David's army, founded a community on the Island following maritime battles with the Philistines. Another story tells that the island was settled following the expedition of the tribe of Zebulun. Another states that local Jews are descendants of survivors who fled Jerusalem following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D.[1]

Middle Ages

The first concrete historical evidence of a Jewish community in Djerba dates to the 11th Century. A merchant letter from the Cairo Geniza dated to 1030 refers to a Jewish man named Abū al-Faraj al-Jerbī (al-Jerbī meaning, The Djerbian) living in Kairouan trading with eastern lands. Other letters from the same timeframe showcase the role of Djerbian Jews in Mediterranean trade routes during the time of the Byzantine Empire. A letter in 1060 is addressed to a Jew named Khalaf ibn Farah al-Zjerbi, living in Egypt and set to depart to Sicily. Another letter is one written by a merchant in Tunisia to a man in Fustat sending him 70 gold dinars entrusted to a Djerbian merchant in exchange for linen. The name of a Jew from the island appears in a list dated to 1107 in a list of persons in need benefitting from alms from Cairo.[4]

Many documents dated from the 12th Century document the raid of the island during the Norman conquest of southern Italy, during which many Jews were captured. A letter dated to 1136 documents the arrival of a ship in Alexandria carrying captives whose freedom was bought by the local community. One of them, "Isaac, son of Rabbi Sedaqa, captive among the captives of Djerba" presented himself freed from captivity in the first known document written by a Djerbian Jew, giving testimony about his time in bonage, writing from Tripoli to the Egyptians who bought his freedom.[4]

Ibadites, who composed a majority of the Muslim population on the island, as "children of the abomination". Arab geographer Al Idrissi, a contemporary of Maimonides, notes the propensity in the Djerbian community to exaggerate the requirements of ritual purity.[6]

Little information is available on the historical events that the community faced during the Middle Ages. Persecution of the

Norman occupation. In 1239, they formed a community separate from the other Jews in the area. The rights to cultivate indigo dye and henna dye were granted to them by King Frederick II. Over the next few centuries, there are instances of Djerban Jews found in the responsa across the Maghreb, such as that of Salomon Duran of Algiers. Many of the responsa deal with economic issues and how Rabbinic law interacted with them. One example includes the entrusting of cattle to Muslims during the Sabbath, which demonstrated economic exchange between Jews and Muslims at the time.[6]

Modern age

Jews can be found referenced in 18th century tax registeris of the

beylical government, which forced Jews to pay jizya, a traditional Islamic task that dhimmis (non-Muslims living in majority-Muslim lands) had to pay under Islamic law. There is evidence that the Jews obliged to the laws with little complaint, and wore different clothes by law to distringuish themselves from Muslims. They were also forbidden from riding on horseback. One source recounts how Rabbi Shaul HaCohen broke down in tears after learning about the emancipation of Tunisian slaves in 1846, telling his followers that he had a premonition in a dream that the emancipation of the Jews would follow the freeing of the black slaves. A few years later, in 1857, the Fundamental Covenant of Mohammed Bey abolished discriminatory measures against Jews.[7]

A religious rivival of Judaism emerged in Djerba in the 18th century, as well as in Tripoli and Tunis. This intellectual revival, in tradition is attributed to three Moroccan rabbis who passed through on travel to

kosher in the town, and instituted the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.[9]

Rejection of secular education

Jews of Djerba in 1920
Jewish pupils with their teacher. Date unknown

While the Alliance Israélite Universelle successfully established a network of schools in Tunisia, the Jews of Djerba, in fear of secularization, refused to open an AIU school in their community, similar to their boycott of secular schools under the French protectorate. This is in spite of pressure from notable Jews in Tunis and the local Qaid. The decision is a unique example in the history of the alliance. Djerban rabbis excommunicated any member who cooperated with the AIU,[10] because they perceived a decline in knowledge and religious practice following secularization. They promoted traditional education, which consisted of male-only compulsory rabbinical education.[11] The Djerbans were labelled "backwards communities, kept in abdjection and ignorance by rabbis refractory to any progress." by local authorities.[12]

Success of printing press

The quantity of Jewish books printed in Djerba since the 20th-century establishment of the printing press has been remarked as exceptional. There are no less than 600 books published for a population that has never exceeded 4,500.[13] The books were primarily intended for the local community, as well as other Jewish communities in southern Tunisia and the Maghreb. Some books were written by professional scholars, but many were written by regular artisans.[14]

Prior to the introduction of the printing press to Djbera, the community had to import religious works via trading necessary for the study of Judaism. Hence, books were rare and expensive on the island.[14] To publish their own works, they had to outsource printing to Livorno, Italy's printing presses, or even as far away as Palestine. In 1903, Rabbi David Aydan had the first printing press installed, and was popular throughout the 30s. The works of sages of previous generations in the region were also published, and there were as many as five printing presses belonging to Jews on the island. Most books were published either in Hebrew or Judeo-Tunisian Arabic. There were still two Hebrew printing presses in Djerba by the 1980s.[15]

Departure

Ghriba Synagogue
pilgrimage in 2019

Although there is still a community in Djerba in the 21st century, many mass departures have taken place since the 1950s, primarily to Israel, and some to

establishment of the State of Israel. The three waves of departure, the first in 1948 after Israeli independence, the second in 1968-1969 under pressure of President Habib Bourguiba following the Six-Day War, and the third wave inn the 1980s, due to deteriorating relations, all significantly depleted the Jewish population of the island.[13]

In 1985, a Tunisian soldier stationed in Djerba

opened fire into the synagogue during the annual pilgrimage, killing five people, two of whom were worshippers, before another National Guard member shot the shooter.[18]

Demographics

The Jewish community of Djbera numbered 3,800 in 1926, and had gone up to 4,300 by 1946. If the growth had continued at the same rate as the general Tunisian population, the island would have had 15,000 Jews by the 1980s. However, by the second half of the 20th century, waves of emigration emptied the community. The number of Jews in Djberba fell significantly in the coming decades.[19]

Historical population of History of the Jews in Djerba
(Source: Haṭal, Avraham, ed. (1979). Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie. Présences du judaisme. Paris: Michel.
ISBN 978-2-7605-1224-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
).)
Year190919211926193119361946195619762003
Population3,000 (est)3,7793,8284,0984,1094,2942,8641,100700 (est)

Geography

Location of Hara Kbira and Hara Sghira in Djerba
Daughter communities of Djerba and other migrations of Djerbians forming an archipelago around the island

The Jewish population of Djerba is divided between two

Houmt Souk, the largest city on the island.[20] While the Jewish population of the Maghreb was generally concentrated in specific neighborhoods of predominantly Muslim cities, Djerba could be, according to Jacques Taïeb, "the only Jewish area in the Maghreb to have two entirely Jewish towns, a bit like the shtetls of Eastern Europe."[21]

According to an interpretation by

Kohanim
. Kbira's residents say that their origins are based in migration from the West. In the 19th century, Djerban migrants populated cities around Tunisia, forming an archipelago radiating around Djerba.

The community of Tatouine was founded by miragnts from Shira, while the communities of Ben Gardane, Medenine, and Zarzis were founded by Kbirans. The divergent filtration implies that until reforms during Tunisian independence, religious jurisdiction was done independently of the other stud farm village.[20]

Synagogues

Synagogue of the Dightiya in Hara Kbira surmounted by a drum with twelve windows symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.

Djerba had as many as 20 synagogues for its peak population of 4,500. About one for every 100 worshippers, with women remaining absent from places of worship. There were still 17 in operation in the 1980s. A synagogue in Houmt Souk is named after its founders, the Parientes, a family of

Granas [fr] Jews from Italy. There are eleven others from Kbira named after rabbis, such as Rabbi Betsalel, Eliezer, and Brahem, or after their founding families (such as Dightiya from Sghira and trabelsiya from Tripoli). In Sghira, there are five synagogues that have yeshivot.[22]

Apart from

hekhal where the Torah scrolls are kept. In the richer synagogues, the walls are covered with blue earthenware and have alcoves where books are placed, and benches covered with a mat run along their length for study and rest. Closed tzedekah boxes hang on the wall, corresponding to various charities for the rabbis of Israel and the maintenance of schools. On the wings of the hekhal are silver plaques in the shape of a fish, a hand, and a censer on which are inscribed the names of deceased members of the community, along with candles lit in their memory. It is typically in synagogues, rather than cemeteries, where Djerbans recall the memory of deceased relatives. Some synagogues are surmounted by a drum with twelve windows symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.[22]

There are often other smaller structures surrounding synagogues, often cemeteries. There are also sometimes libraries and study facilities nearby.[22]

Genetic studies

The Jewish community on the island of Djerba is of particular interest to researchers, with traditions dating back to the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Two studies have attempted to test the antiquity of the community:

  1. The first was conducted by Gérard Lucotte and his colleagues in 1993.[23]
  2. The second was by anthropologist Franz Manni and his colleagues in 2005.[24]

The studies concluded that the paternal genetic heritage of the Jews on the island differed from the Arabs and Berbers present. Lucotte showed that 77.5% of the samples tested are haplotype VIII (similar to haplogroup J). The second showed that 100% of Jewish samples are haplogroup J2. The Manni's study suggests it is unlikely that there was an early colonization of Djerba, while Lucotte states that it is difficult to determine whether the high frequency of J represents an ancestral relationship with pre-exile Jews. Both studies suggest that the paternal genetic heritage of North African Jews in Djerba mainly comes from the middle east, with a significant minority of Berber DNA.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 8.
  2. ^ Taïeb 2000, p. 24.
  3. ISBN 9781400849130
    .
  4. ^ a b Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 11.
  5. ^ Hirschberg, Haim Zeev (1974). A History of the Jews in North Africa. Vol. I: From Antiquity to the Sixteenth Century. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 165. Moses Maimonides, Iggarot u-Sh'elot u-Techubot, Amsterdam, 1712, p.3a,
  6. ^ a b Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 12-13.
  7. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 14.
  8. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 16-17.
  9. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 18.
  10. ISBN 978-2-85056-632-5
    .
  11. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 90-92.
  12. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 20-21.
  13. ^
    ISSN 1148-2664. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2021-11-27.
  14. ^ a b Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 88-89.
  15. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 94-95.
  16. ^ "Jews of Tunisia". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  17. ^ "Berserk Tunisian opens fire on group". Miami Herald. 1985-10-09. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
  18. ^ "Vidéo. Attaque en Tunisie: cinq morts dans une synagogue à Djerba". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  19. ^ Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 61.
  20. ^ a b Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 29-31.
  21. ^ Taïeb 2000, p. 99.
  22. ^ a b c Valensi & Udovitch 1984, p. 124-125.
  23. PMID 8935325
    .
  24. ISSN 0037-8984
    .

Sources
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