~725-675 BCE - Homer mentions Djerba, then known as the Island of Lotophagi (the Island of Lotus Eaters) in The Odyssey ~586 BCE - Legend tells it that kohenim fled Jerusalem after the destruction of the First Temple —> Founding of the Hara al-Kabira (the “Big Quarter”) ~ 46 BCE - Possession of land by Romans means a newly prosperous economic structure with the introduction of new agriculture (olive trees) and a road to the mainland ~ 70 CE - According to (a different)local tradition, a family of priests transports one of the Temple Gates which is enclosed in the al-Ghariba synagogue in the new Hara al-Saghira (the “Small Quarter”) —> This synagogue becomes the site of the annual Lag B’omer pilgrimage —> Another legend says the synagogue is built on the site of the death of Ghirbra, a poor young Jewish woman who lived isolated on Djerba from the rest of the Jewish community. After her death, they found her alone and the community recognized her as a saint. —> The community has many kohenim and other Jews, notably no Levites, tradition says, because Ezra cursed Levites in Djerba after the community refused to send any to Eretz Israel and they all died ~ 3rd Century CE - The approximate dating of the Borj El Ghazi Mustapha, and the first time we find the island referred to by the name ‘Girba’ which eventually became ‘Djerba’ ~ 5th Century CE - Vandal Invasion of Djerba ~ 534 CE - Byzantine invasion ~ 667 CE - Island is conquered by Muslim Arabs, and the majority of inhabitants convert to Islam
~ 11th Century CE - First written record of Jews on Djerba, as merchants ~12th Century CE —> Jews from Tripoli arrive, seeking refuge from disturbances in city —> Maimonides notes Djerban Jewry is incredibly faithful, though too preoccupied with superstitions for his liking —> The first of three serious persecutions of the Jews, by the newly ruling Almohads ~ 1135-36 CE - Written record of Jews by Normans after they captured the island ~ 16th Century CE - Scene of series of conflicts between the Ottomans and Spanish, which ends with Ottoman victory with the help of the native Djerban population ~ 1519 CE - The second of three serious persecutions of the Jews, by the Spanish ~ 1605 CE - Djerba becomes part of Tunisia —> This is still the time of broader Islamic rule in Tunisia, which meant Jews existed as a dhimmi population — this was enforced less strictly in Tunisia than in other Islamic countries, however they stilll had to wear identifying clothing, pay the jiyza (head tax), and remain living in their separate quarters (in Djerba, Hara al-Kabira and Hara al-Saghira) ~ 18th-19th Centuries CE - Yeshivot are established in Djerba, cementing the place and practice of the many rabbis and writers who live there and enticing more to join ~ 1881 CE - Establishment of French protectorate —> Other Tunisian Jews saw potential for increased freedoms through the possibility of citizenship and increased opportunity in engaging in new economic professions, Djerban Jewry largely denied acculturation in favor of maintaining their unique Judeo-Arabic tradition, language, and occupations
~ 20th Century CE - Modern cultural solidification and increased persecution —> 1912 CE - Hebrew printing press, HaDfus HaZioni, is established by David Idan — this was a part of a greater boom in the printing of Tunisian-Jewish periodicals in the 1920s, of which those in Hebrew were mainly published in Djerba —> 1919 CE - Establishment of Zionist community, Ateret Zion, in Djerba by Idan —> 1943 CE - Thrid serious persecution of the Jews with the brief Nazi rule over Tunisia which meant bombing (from both sides), being forced to provide labor for the Nazis, and the German confiscation of Jewish property — before this during World War II, Tunisian Jewry was still at the mercy of the rule of Vichy France —> 1979 CE - a fire “breaks out” at al-Gharība, seven Torah schools, the ark, and prayer books are destroyed —> 1985 CE - A guard positioned outside al-Gharība by the Tunisian government shoots at the congregation, 5 are killed and 11 wounded ~ 2002 CE - A group linked to al-Qaeda takes responsibility for the explosion of a natural gas truck outside the outer wall of al-Gharība, 21 are killed, most of which are German tourists ~ 2019 CE - about 6,000-7,000 people (Muslim and Jewish) attend the Lag B’Omer pilgrimage, prompted by the Tunisian tourism ministry newly headed by an Orthodox Jew, after a period of decline in involvement in the pilgrimage due to perceived threats to safety beginning in the 1990s ~ Today - Only about 1,500 Jews live in Tunisia, with about 1,300 in Djerba (a young, growing population) and 200 in Tunis (an older, dying one); There are many active synagogues, Jewish schools and businesses in the Jewish quarters; The community is largely Zionist and Orthodox; The community lives in peace with their Muslim neighbors
Map from OrangeSmile.com DJERBA, first noted in our historical record by the Greeks as the Island of Lotophagi (Island of the Lotus Eaters), is an about 197 square mile large island situated —in modern statist-national terms— with the boundaries of Tunisia, two miles off of it’s southeastern coast. Though we have record of the Island being called ‘Djerba’ dating to the third century CE on the Ghazi Mustapha fort, we also know the island held the name ‘Phla’ in the fifth century BCE and Meninx in the fourth century BCE. What, I think, this long-term use of the name ‘Djerba’ for the island and people who inhabit it points to is the lasting particularity of both. In this regard, the qualification I made in the first sentence of this section is important: until the founding of the modern Tunisia nation-state in 1956, the people who lived on Djerba maintained a degree of autonomy from hegemonizing nationalism (even throughout the other regimes which claimed control of the Island beginning in 46 BCE— including the Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, groups of Muslim Arabs, Ottomans, and French). That is to say, they existed together but distinctly, within their respective religious and cultural communities.
Picture of Berber ritual from travelto5.com In an article on the island written in 1971, fifteen years after the founding of Tunisia and the midst of this consolidation of national identity, Karabenick notes both the beginnings of the end to Djerba as an island of particularity —the restoration of the causeway to the mainland, which last existed in the time of Roman occupation— and the remnants of that specificity which remained —“the persistence of the Berber tongue after more than a millennium of exposure to the surrounding Arabic language” (Karabenick, 52). In this article, Karabenick also notes the religious distinctiveness of the Island,not only in the Jewish community discussed more later, but also in the sect of Berber-Islam practiced, which continues through the modern day, “the rare, austere, and unpopular Ibadite sect,” as opposed to the Sunni-Islam practiced through the rest of Tunisia (Karabenick, 52). This, however, has shrunk in recent years with the aforementioned increased connection with and integration into the Tunisian nation — in 2010, it was estimated that only about 20% of the population remained Berber speakers, as, “since the eighteenth century … the population has slowly adopted the Arabic language and Sunni practice, following the general trend in North Africa” (Stillman, 15). Jewish Bride and Mother,by Keren T. Friedman
Neifar, 1
The shrinking specificity is seen in other areas, as well, such as commerce. While once, and still, an agricultural basin (for olive trees, palm trees, and fruit trees) and locus of craftspeople (fishers, weavers, and potters), Djerba has recently been recrafted as a tourist destination (Stillman, 15). Bassem Neifar has done an analysis of the modification of the internal space of Djerba since the development of the island as a tourist destination beginning in 1960, the years after the establishment of the Tunisian state (Neifar, 1). Neifar locates the beginnings of this phenomena at the exterior of the island: the beaches. The opening of the Club Méditerranée in 1954 and the 1961 opening of the island’s first hotel, Aljazira led the process then taken up by the state itself (Neifar, 2). In the modern day, tourism spans the entirety of the beaches and has proliferated the interior of the previously specifically insular island, and become one of the primary economic industries that the population takes part in.
For this section, I’ll be exploring the history of the Jewish community in Djerba through four categories of characteristics of their community that enable us to explore its development through time: their myths (particularly regarding the origins of their community); their religious rituals; their relations to the nonJewish communities they live amongst; and their perspectives on Israel and broader Jewish community. Through these categories, broader historical happenings and their effects will become clear. For a more brief, concurrent outline of these events see the timeline at the beginning of this booklet. Ultimately, I hope to lay out an understanding of the Djerban Jews as an intensely particular sect of both Jewish and Tunisian communities, and to establish that they uphold this particularity through crafting, telling, and maintaining histories and practices of difference from all others as their communal status-quo. That is, perhaps unsurprisingly and simply, the persistent declaration of difference by the community itself has been the positive force which has kept this community alive in its particularities — though that clear difference has sometimes also been used as a tool by dominant powers of imperial homogeneity to oppress them.
The Djerban Jews have a plethora of origin myths for their community and practices, all of which confer upon them and their actions a noteworthy, specialized status, Udovitch even goes so far as to describe it as forcing the perception of Djerba as, “the original and first diaspora” (Udovitch, A Long History). The most widely accepted is that which is also a myth for the origins of the Ghriba synagogue, which I give more detail about in the section on the synagogue in this booklet. This narrative locates the first Jewish settlement of Djerba in the arrival of the kohenim from Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple of Solomon in 586 BCE, when they brought with them “a door and some stones from the Jerusalem sanctuary” which they used to build the Ghriba synagogue (Udovitch, A Long History). As legend tells it, this group of priests then settled the Dighet (another name for the smaller Jewish settlement of Hara Sgheira), while the larger, market-connected Hara Kebira was settled later. This legacy of status specifically attached to those who live in the Dighet, who until recently were all presumed to be priests, has led to tension between the inhabitants of the villages, specifically concerning the concessions to traditional practices made for tourists and others who visit the Ghriba. This myth first appears in modern literature in the book Hashomer Emet, published by rabbi Abraham Addadi of Tripli in Livorno in 1849 (Udovitch, A Long History).
Djerbans intensely assert these “claims to antiquity and authenticity” by not having just one origin myth — one could easily fill a novel with the tales of their particular beginnings, however there are a few others worth noting. The first is an account which also locates their arrival around the first temple period, “Joan Ben Zeruyya, one of King David’s generals who battled the Philistines, is supposed to have pursued them as far west as Jerba … and to have founded the Jewish settlement on the island,” proof, a stone with an inscription of Ben Zeruyya’s name, of this legend was last seen in the 19th century (Udovitch, A Long History). Another legend positions habitation of Djerba around the same time, as part of the alleged North African land-settlement of the seafaring Israelite tribe of Zevulun. The Djerbans point not only to alleged and existent physical artifacts, but also to the artifacts that are their rituals as evidence of this, which I’ll explore more in the next section. What is most important about these narratives and the many others, Udovitch explains, is that they situate, “the Jews of Jerba primarily as part of the Jewish people and … assigns them an honorable place,” within that community. These legends function similarly to situate the Djerban Jewish relationship to broader Djerban community, with some asserting Jews as first settlers of the island and thus that, “before converting to Islam, all the inhabitants of the island were originally Jewish” (Udovitch, A Long History). This legend positions Djerban Jews as not only especially Jewish, but especially Djerban, as they were the first!
Unfortunately, these legends don’t hold up as well in scientific-history as the history of the communal mind (memory?). It is doubtful that the Jews were in Djerba in the time of antiquity, and a mere possibility that some migrated after the destruction after the first temple. We know that a migration West definitely happened after the destruction of the second temple, but cannot be sure that the Jewish settlement of Djerba was a part of this moment. Ultimately, the first reliable record of the existence of Djerban Jews comes in the eleventh century, in a letter found in the Cairo Geniza regarding a bag of coins carried by a Jew from Djerba (bi-yad al-yahudi al-jerbi) (Udovitch, A Long History).
In the late 12th century, Maimonades wrote to his son Abraham: “you should always be extremely cautious of the people who lives between Tunis and Alexandria in Egypt and who also live in the mountains of the Barbary, for they more stupid in my opinion than other men, although they are very strong in faith; God is my witness and judge that in my opinion they are like the Karaites, who deny the Oral Law… Some of them are dayyanim (rabbinic judges) but their belief and actions in matters of ritual uncleanliness are those of the sons of abomination… many … stories may be told of their customs and their doings” (Udovitch, A Long History) The Djerbans are definitely who Maimonades is referring to, at least in part, in this letter — not only are they between Tunis and Alexandria, but also the ‘sons of abomination’ he mentions are the Berbers who live alongside the Jews on Djerba. Regardless of Maimonides’ negative perception of their stubbornness, the strength of faith and difference of practice described here continue through the present day. Unlike the origin stories, there isn’t only questionable evidence of this truth: Rabbis effectively codified the Djerban ritual particularities through Responsa and other legal decisions
One example of such a Rabbi is expanded on in detail in the pages looking at Rabbi Moshe ha-Kohen Khalfon and his Brit Kehuna. Another can be seen in Rabbi Aharon Peretz, subject of another legend regarding religious revival in the Maghreb expanded on by Udovitch in the chapter “A Long History.” Regardless of this legend, Rabbi Peretz made practical and long-term changes to Jewish religious ritual observance in Djerba, “it was he who forbid the eating of Lucas it’s in the two communities of Djerba… he established the manner in which the ram’s horn (shofar) is sounded during the New Years’ service” (Udovitch, A Long History). Udovitch argues that, “by codifying local customs, the rabbis, in effect, concluded a covenant between God and the community,” thus, these codifications seem to be a further representation of the special status the Djerban Jews feel they have.
Clear showings of the significance of Djerban Jewish ritual are in their peculiar celebrations of the holidays of Purim and Lag B’Omer. Stone offers an analysis of the interesting Djerban practice of burning the effigy of Haman on Purim, which she paints as a startlingly violent practice. Stone perceives the burning to be representative of broader social relations, and understands that for the Djerban Jews Purim does not only represent survival, but also the possibility of vengeance in their status as currently living under an oppressive power, thus crafting, “the identification between Haman as foe and the Muslims as foe” (Stone, 82). Lag B’Omer is the sight of the famous pilgrimage (full of traditions that exist no where else) and the legends that accompany it. However, through this particularity it is also a surprising opportunity for inclusion, “[contrasting] starkly with the typical observance of Jewish holidays, during which the community becomes particularly impermeable to outsiders” (Stone, 95). The adherence to ritual particularities is not only upheld by these codified Responsa, but also the communal mindset. That is to say, “the threat [to ritual purity] does not emanate from non-Jews… The inara (evenly eye) can only come from within the community, from Jews themselves” (Udovitch, Communal Life: “Building a Wall Around the Torah). This hyper superstition means the introduction of even more particular ritual observances: Djerban Jews fill their lives with protective symbols such as symbolic naming, talismans, and pictures.
As opposed to the articles regarding tourist experiences which tought Djerba as a remarkable example of a JewishMuslim coexistence within a worldwide context where that seems evermore an archaic fantasy, and even the experience my parents recount from their 1998 visit to Djerba during Lag B’Omer, studies such as Naomi Stone’s in which personal viewpoints of Jewish Djerbans are exposed show a different reality. Stone argues that this shift from coexistence to parallel existence developed over the course of the twentieth century, with the rise of a Tunisian Nationalism that Djerban Jews felt isolated from and a Jewish Nationalism (Zionism) that Djerban Muslims felt attacked their Palestinian bretheran (Stone, 6). Additionally, though the Djerban-Jews specifically never specifically advocated this reliance, larger Jewish allyship with Western powers (such as colonial France) meant the Jews allies were the Tunisian enemies, “the Jews and Western imperialists were seen as working toward the same project, the occupation of Muslim lands” (Stone, 29).
Stone analyzes this shift by first establishing the once normative state of Other-based coexistence. Describing that, as, “Most Djerban Muslims are a Berber minority within Tunisia’s Arab majority population … The Jews thus lived ‘among another minority group that was also on the defensive,’” with a group that likewise shared a, “profound appreciation for strict religious observance and social conservatism” (Stone, 20). This shared appreciation for these facets of life fostered a friendly coexistence for centuries, “Jews and Muslims of Djerba relied on each other profoundly, creating a web of interdependencies. Each craftsman and merchant occupied a known role, contingent upon others' fulfillment of their roles … The result was both a logistical and an emotional series of bargains between the two groups” (Stone, 40).
As stated earlier, the possibility of assimilation for Djerban non-Jews presented by both the imposition of the tourism industry and the Tunisian nationalist decolonial movement alongside the further fracture of Djerban Jews from the want to engage in this possibility presented by the tangible possibility of a religiousmessianic-vision fulfilling Zionism (discussed in the next section) changed these dynamics. In Stone’s interviews with previous (those who lived there pre-1948 and then emigrated to Israel) and modern Jewish residents of Djerba (from the mid-2000s) this change in dynamic is clear. She writes, “in my first set of interviews … examples of friendships had not been uncommon, [but] not a single Jew I interviewed in the Hara in 2003-5 ever described Muslims as heir ashaab (friends)” (Stone, 68). A young secular DjerbanMuslim, Anis, told her, “The Jews do not feel comfortable enough around the Muslims, and the Muslims do not feel comfortable enough around the Jews. But before 1948, it was otherwise; that, they tell me, was another era” (Stone, 69). Similarly, the Djerba being a haven of Jewish-Muslim coexistence may be alive in tourism narratives, but is in reality of another era.
Alongside this narrative of the disintegration of Jewish-Muslim coexistence, Stone, as does Udovitch, sketches the motivations for the prominent Zionism of Djerban Jewry, a truth which must be reconciled with understandings of Djerban Jews as firmly, and happily situated on the Island. Stone articulates the difference between Djerban Zionism and Zionism as it is often understood from the European secular Jewish perspective, “Whereas Zionism was often the political tool of secularized segments in Europe, in the Middle East, it was generally a more organic outgrowth of traditional messianic thought … Israel was likely understood as the fulfillment of their religiosity as opposed to a strictly political movement” (Stone, 17). The Djerban Judaism that intensely embraces this strand of messianism is founded in Kabbalah, and other Jewish mystical ideas which were popular in the region. Stone notes the specific condition of the Djerban Jews in this belief system, tied to their specialized origin myths, “Poised between Temple period and the Messianic Age, they are people who remember and wait” (Stone, 9).
As briefly touched on in my explorations of Rabbi Khalfon and Rabbi Idan, the first tangible iteration of this messianism-based Zionism was in the foundation of the group Ateret Israel in 1919. This group didn’t only show support for the Zionist project, but actively organized to help Djerban Jews make aliyah (emigrate to Israel) by, “[organizing] agricultural training and education in modern Hebrew in the [1940s],” (Stone, 28). In Stone’s interviews with the Djerbans who had immigrated, she notes that this messianic-grounded fervor for Israel has not diminished for those actually living in the state, Louisa Boucharis told her “Once all the Jews are in Israel, and they come from everywhere, from America too, the Messiah will come” (Stone, 49). Thus, the Djerban specialness seems paradoxical: both grounded in what differentness the specific, isolated nature of the land of Djerba helped the group maintain from both other Djerbans and Jews, and the ultimate hope in a Jewish oneness in the image of this specificity represented by the rise of the Jewish state and, they believe, the messiah of their legends that will come with it.
National Library of Israel
Rabbi Khalfon’s life coincided with the French colonial period, from 1881-1956. This is interesting to consider, as his life's work seems to be occupied with the maintenance of Djerban Jewish particularity, a trend counter to the popular adoption of Frenchness among broader Tunisian Jewry in this time period. Many clear examples of Khalfon’s urge to protect, and further entrench, the particularities of his community can be found in the over seventy haskamot (agreements), legal decisions, and books he published in a mix of Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. The most well known of these texts is his Brit Kehuna, published in four volumes in Djerba (on the press of David Idan) from 1941-1962, which codifies seven hundred civil and religious rules and customs (minhagim) of Djerban Jewry. The Brit Kehuna is a startling RABBI MOSHE HA-KOHEN KHALFON, also assertion of Khalfon’s belief in the known by his rabbinic acronym supremacy of Djerban Judaism, as it, Ramach, is broadly considered to be “insisted that local customary the most famous rabbi to come from practices took precedence over the Djerba. He was born in the Hara Shulhan Arukh,” the legal code of Kebira neighborhood on January 1, Joseph of Caro widely accepted as 1847 and died on January 7, 1950 holding the title of chief rabbi of preeminent by Jews the world-over (Stillman, 143). The Brit Kehuna Hara Kebira, though he served as continues to be, “a standard work of the effective rabbinic authority reference and guidance for Djerban for the whole of the Jews on the Jews” (Udovitch, A Long History). island (Stillman, 143).
From Kedem Auction House, is, “A receipt letter signed by ten rabbis of the “Ohel Ya'akov” Yeshiva and the “Beit El” Yeshiva that confirms that: "We, the undersigned… after fasting today and we all went together to the holy place, the Western Wall, and after reciting Psalms and all the seder written in the book Sinsan L'Yair… we have received from the Rishon L'Zion… Rabbi Ya'akov Meir… one half lira Eretz Yisrael. We bless the people of the community of Djerba and at their head Rabbi Kalfon Moshe HaCohen". Jerusalem, 1932. ”
The work of Rabbi Khalfon to solidify the existence of Djerban Judaism in the face of looming threats of assimilating modernity didn’t stop at his personal intellectual development and imposition of it on others. Beginning in 1894 or 1895, Rabbi Khalfon began raising money through a fund eventually named the Or Torah Society, to support a campaign to make Jewish education an external, communal practice, rather than an individual one. The stated goal of the Or Torah Society was “‘to spread and strengthen the study of Torah in Jerba’ by making such study accessible to every male child in the community,” which Udovitch argues was a great success, judging by the fact that the ‘society’ has continued to exist through the modern day (Udovitch, Ahl al-Kitab People of the Book). In order to achieve this goal, Rabbi Khalfon effectively advanced a policy of public (Jewish) education, as it suddenly became available to all in the community regardless of monetary status. This public education did not only serve to encourage Jewish knowledge, but also protect against the encroaching knowledge systems of the French, thus seemingly achieving similar ends as the Brit Kehuna. Interesting to note alongside this, Rabbi Khalfon was an ardent, early Zionist: he founded the first Zionist organization in Djerba, Ateret Israel, in 1919 and promoted pre-state Aliyah among the community. In the section on the Djerban community as a whole, I delve more deeply into the grounding of this trend among Djerban Jewry, found in the specific strain of messianism that exists on the island.
RABBI DAVID IDAN, born in 1873, was the son of well-respected Tunisian Kabbalist, Moshe Idan, and thus inherited a life entrenched in Judaism and committed to advancing it. He studied with Rabbis on Djerba such as the previously mentioned Moshe HaCohen Khalfon through his young life, and by the age of 17 had become a teaching assistant to a well-respected rabbi. It was also at this age that Rabbi Idan’s father died, forcing him to learn a profitable trade early on in order to support his mother and brother. Despite this, Rabbi Idan maintained the position of the family in the Djerban religious order, marrying Mazal Tov, the daughter of the previous president of the rabbinic court in Djerba. Though faced early on with the struggle of a familial crisis, Rabbi Idan continued to act in the interest of broader Djerban Jewry through the rest of his life. In addition to being a learned Rabbi and expert mohel (person who conducts circumcisions), Rabbi Idan founded the first Hebrew/Judeo-Arabic language printing press in Djerba in, various sources disagree, 1912 and 1903 (HaCham HaYom and Rabbi Idan’s children, S. And H. Aydan, in his post-mortum published work Mazkeret Nezah say the first, Udovitch the second). Regardless, the press, established with a machine bought in Tunis, was called Defus Ziyyoni (The Zion Press): the first work printed was Me’il Ya’akov by the local Rabbi Jacob ha-Kohen.
“Sefer Tehilim,” Printed in 1926 on an Idan printing press in Djerba, from Henry Hollander, Bookseller
This, the printing of the local, was precisely the importance of the press. Once again, Jewish learning was made more accessible to a community threatened by secularizing modernity, as opposed to, “before the twentieth century, the Jerban community was compelled to import from distant places all the Hebrew books for its educational and religious needs. The community was poor, the books expensive and their number insufficient for its requirements” (Udovitch, Ahl al-Kitab People of the Book). This not only communally-sustaining but also commercially viable venture had an impressive effect, with over 1,000 locally written books published, and continued through the recent past in Djerba, with the last of the three printing presses that Rabbi Idan eventually founded continuing to operate through the 1960s.
Rabbi Idan was ultimately the president of the Jewish community of Djerba for 15 years, mediating between the communities and local authorities. Despite this evidence of engagement in his physical situation in Djerba, like Rabbi Kalfon, Rabbi Idan also engaged in Zionism with a messianic zeal. He was one of the other co-founders of the Zionist Ateret Israel in 1919, and attempted to immigrate before his death in 1955, though his application was declined due to poor health. Rabbi Idan left behind, as I wrote, a still functioning printing press, and at least three (locally) well-known books: Shivkei Tzaddidkim (stories on the rabbis of Tunis and Djerba), Maskil Le David (his sermons and ethics), and Mazkeret Netzach which was published in his memory after his death by his children. (Information not cited in text was sourced from HaCham HaYom and Mazkeret Nezah)
The sisters at the eventual site of Kanfei Yonah, Wall Street Journal. KANFEI YONAH (Hebrew for ‘the wings of a dove’) is a school for Jewish girls education located in Djerba, in the Hara Kebira neighborhood, established gradually since 2006 by Djerban sisters, and now principals, Alite and Hanna Sabban. This institution is remarkable for a number of reasons, the primary being that it marks a clear evolution, though pointedly not a total departure, from previous conceptions of gender roles. Djerban Judaism is an Orthodox one, which has traditionally maintained utmost segregation between and differentiation of roles of men and women (noticeable as extreme even compared to other Orthodox communities) due to the weight given to ideas of the necessity of gender purity. It was with this context that the system of Jewish public schooling started by the Or Torah Society of Rabbi Moshe ha-Kohen Khalfon pointedly advocated for the extension of religious education to all young men. Efforts to change this have had to deal with a widespread belief that the maintenance of Djerban Judaism has been precisely because of strict adherence to ritual norms left behind by those Jews that no longer exist, the inferior role of women being a primary one. Haim Bittan, the Chief Rabbi and President of the Djerban Jewish community, asserts, “Djerban Jews have done better than other Arab Jews precisely because they have fought against the lure of modern times — including assimilation and the changing role of women” (Lagnado).
So how was Kanfei Yonah established? This school is not the first attempt at bringing literacy to Djerban girls and women. The first was that of a man, David Kidouchim, in the early 1950s, who, “started a part-time school for girls teaching them to read and write in Hebrew. Though it was only two hours a day, his school was seen as transformational” (Lagnado). This schooling continued through at least 2015, though about ten years before that Djerban women had decided these two hours a day were not enough. The Sabban sisters, specifically, began organizing more intensive, full-day educational programs for the schoolaged population of girls. The sisters started small, faced many challenges (particularly regarding funding and communal red tape), and for the first years hosted their school in, “three seperation locations — including a basement and a large converted garage of a private home [forcing] Teachers [to] run through the streets every couple of hours to their different classes” (Lagnado). In 2016, the sisters bought a crumbling house and converted it into a permanent school building with the aid of funding from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee— in a report from 2021, the organization said that the school served over 100 students and had 22 teachers. The community has gotten used to the concept overtime, though many in the community still regard it with a critical eye. An interesting perspective is expressed by Rabbi Bittan, again, “A school within the Hara would elimate the need to send girls to public school” (Lagnado). The school might be an evolution, a change, but at least it is one controlled by the community.
Students at Kanfei Yonah (American Jewish Joint Distrbution)
Mansour and Geva
THE GHRIBA SYNAGOGUE is located centrally within the island of Djerba, half a mile from Hara Sghira and four miles from Hara Kebira, “Its proximity to the Jewish village of Hara Sghira, whose inhabitants are considered to be closer to God and to the Holy Land due to their priestly descent from the kohanim, serves as a sign of sanctity” (Mansour and Geva, 226). According to legend, and an inscription on the side of the building, the synagogue was built in 586 BCE, after the first temple fell. Temporal-history based estimates note that the synagogue was first mentioned in documents dating to the sixteenth century, though regardless there have been multiple rounds of renovations and restoration since (Mansour and Geva, 231). This synagogue holds an abundance of meanings in its name, its physical space, and the activities that take place in relation to it. The name, in Judeo-Arabic, ‘El Ghriba’ literally means ‘the miraculous’ or ‘the strange.’ Beneath this surface level meaning lie a plethora of myths which define the name otherwise. Some speak of the synagogue as being built on the site of the death of a little girl, eventually named a saint, named ‘Ghriba’. Others assert that the name was coined by the kohenim fleeing Jerusalem after the destruction of the first temple, who were so overjoyed to find a new home on the island that they named it a miracle, and later passed the name to the synagogue. (Stone, 89).
I’ll highlight a couple of important facts about the physical space of the synagogue — the first being the artifact it holds. As I’ve begun to explain, legend says that the building of the Ghriba has incorporated the remains of a door and some stones from the Temple of Solomon post destruction in 586 BCE, carried over by kohenim (Udovitch, A long history). This imbues the building with worldwide religious significance for Jewish communities, and is a big motivation for the yearly Lag B’Omer pilgrimage. Also of importance to note, this synagogue is only one of two on the island which holds a Torah, and thus, despite the numerous other synagogues local to the Hara Sghira and Hara Kebira, many must make the trek to the Ghriba multiple times a week to hear and read Torah (Udovitch, Pilgrimage to Jerba). Lastly, this synagogue is one of the only on the island which allows women inside, primarily because of the extra-religious meaning it holds and tourism it promotes (Udovitch, Communal Life: “Building a Wall around the Torah”). In terms of activities, the Ghriba hosts many, though most notably the yearly Lag B’Omer pilgrimage, called the ‘ziyarat el Ghriba’ (the visit to the Ghriba) (Carpenter-Latiri, 39). This pilgrimage is a rare moment of inclusion of the Jews surrounding Muslim neighbors, in which they even welcome them into the physical space of the synagogue, which Stone writes, “obscures some of the harsher realities of day to day coexistence,” (Stone, 94). An example of this harsher reality can be seen in the recent history of the Ghriba, itself — specifically, the 2002 explosion of a natural gas truck on its peripheries which killed about 21 people, for which al-Qaeda took responsibility (Encyclopedia Judaica).
Mansour and Geva
BIBLIOGRAPHY All uncredited photos were taken by my parents, Rachel Kalikow and David de Graaf, on a trip to Djerba for the Lag B’Omer Pilgramage in 1998. Administrator. “A History of the Island.” Museum of Djerba, http://www.djerbamuseum.tn/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=66&Itemid=79&lang=en. Attal, Robert. “Djerba, Centre De Diffusion Du Livre Hébraïque.” Communautés Juives Des Marges Sahariennes Du Maghreb.1982. Azouz, Josh, and Daniel Lee. “Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia.” Almeida Theatre, London, Almeida Theatre, https://almeida.co.uk/tunisia-in-1943. Brinner, William M, et al. “The Last Arab Jews: The Communities of Jerba, Tunisia.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 109, no. 1, 1989, pp. 134–134. Corcos, David, and Rachel Simon. "Djerba." Encyclopaedia Judaica, edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed., vol. 5, Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, p. 722-723. Ivri, Noam. “The Jews of Djerba.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, 22 Nov. 2018, https://www.jpost.com/injerusalem/the-jews-of-djerba-572586. Karabenick, Edward. “Djerba: A Case Study in the Geography of Isolation.” Edward Journal of Geography, vol. 70, no. 1, 1 Jan. 1971. Lachmann, Robert, and Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim. “Archives of oriental music . Jewish Cantillation and Song in the Isle of Djerba”. Archives of Oriental Music, the Hebrew University, 1940. Laskier, Michael. “From Hafsia to Bizerte: Tunisia’s Nationalist Struggle and Tunisian Jewry, 1952-61”. Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 31, no. 3, 2008, p. 188-222. Lee, Daniel. “How Tunisia Is Trying to Resurrect a Jewish Pilgrimage to the Island of Djerba.” The Conversation, 22 Jan. 2021, https://theconversation.com/how-tunisia-is-trying-to-resurrect-a-jewish-pilgrimage-to-the-islandof-djerba-117481. Neifar, Bassem. “Jerba: Les Mutations Recentes d’Un System Insulaire.” Maison Mediteraneenne Does Sciences De l’Homme, Aix-En-Provence, 2005. Mansour, Nesrine, et al. “Djerban Culture and Climate as Expressed in a Historic Landmark: The Case of El-Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia.” Synagogues in the Islamic World, Edinburgh University Press. Simon, Reeva S., et al. “Tunisia.” The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times, Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 2003, p. 444. Stillman, Norman Arthur. “Ifriqiya (Tunisia).” The Jews of Arab Lands, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia (Pa.), 1976, p. 42. Stillman, Norman Arthur. “North Africa (The Maghreb).” The Jews of Arab Lands, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia (Pa.), 1976, p. 76. Stone, Naomi. Bilad Al Haqaniya?: Otherness and Homeland in the Case of Djerban, Tunisian Jewry. 2006. St Antony's College, University of Oxford. Masters in Philosophy Thesis. https://users.ox.ac.uk/~metheses/StoneThesis.htm Udovitch, Abraham, Lucette Valensi, and Jacques Perez. The Last Arab Jews. 1st ed. Taylor and Francis, 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2021.