History of the Jews in Tunisia

[citation needed] A traditional account of the history of the descendants of the first Jewish settlers states that their ancestors settled in that part of North Africa long before the destruction of the First Temple in the 6th century BCE.

In addition, Alfred Louis Delattre demonstrates towards the end of the nineteenth century that the Gammarth necropolis, made up of 200 rock chambers, each containing up to 17 complex tombs (kokhim), contains Jewish symbols and funerary inscriptions in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

[citation needed] They soon withdrew, however; primarily because they were loath to fight against their coreligionists of other parts of Mauritania, who remained faithful to the caliphate of Baghdad; and secondarily, because of some indignities committed by Idris against Jewish women.

[citation needed] In 793 Imam Idris was poisoned at the command of caliph Harun al-Rashid (it is said, by the governor's physician Shamma, probably a Jew), and circa 800 the Aghlabite dynasty was established.

[citation needed] Nevertheless, the attitude of Islamic authorities regarding ghiyār (differentiation of non-Muslims from Muslims) begun to harden and in the late ninth century the Aghlabid ruler but also Maliki qadi of Kairuoan issued decrees that ordered dhimmis to wear a white patch on the shoulder of their garment.

Jacob ben Nissim ibn Shahin, rector of the Center of Studies at the end of the tenth century, is the official representative of the Talmudic academies of Babylonia, acting as intermediaries between them and his own community.

The port cities of Mahdia, Sousse, Sfax and Gabès saw a steady influx of Jewish immigrants from the Levant to the end of the eleventh century,[66] and their communities participated in these economic and intellectual exchanges.

The Hafsids followed late Almohad practice and forced the Jews, who were the only non-Muslim religionists left, to wear yellow turban and garments and caliph Muhammad I al-Mustansir renewed these regulations in 1250.

Subsequently, however, a wealthy and humane Muslim, Sidi Mahrez, who in 1159 had rendered great services to the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min, obtained for them the right to settle in a special quarter of the city.

In the fifteenth century, each community was autonomous – recognized by power from the moment it counts at least ten major men – and has its own institutions; Their communal affairs were directed by a chief (zaken ha-yehudim) nominated by the government, and assisted by a council of notables (gdolei ha-qahal) made up of the most educated and wealthy family heads.

During the Spanish occupation of the Tunisian coasts (1535–74) the Jewish communities of Bizerte, Susa, Sfax, and other seaports suffered greatly at the hands of the conquerors; while under the subsequent Turkish rule the Jews of Tunis enjoyed a fair amount of security.

[84] The Granas, due to their European origins and higher standard of living, but also to their economic, family and cultural ties with Livorno,[93] found it difficult to cope with their indigenous coreligionists, the Tuansa, who were considered less "civilized".

[102] These allow him to pay for his services, those of his deputies and the rabbis-judges[105] and finance the synagogues, the schools linked to them, the ritual abattoir, the cemetery, the relief fund for the needy and the sick and the rabbinical court, which were only in large cities[93] under the presidency of the Grand Rabbi.

[105] From the reign of Abu l-Hasan Ali I (1735–1756), he also served as treasurer of the Bey[97] and many of the key posts in the administration of finance – collection of taxes and customs duties, scheduling of expenditure, handling of cash, keeping books of account or paying the salaries of the Janissaries – were occupied by Jewish agents.

[96] However, some questioned the authority of the religious leaders: a Jewish broker, working for a French trading house and condemned to beating in May 1827 for invoking the name of God,[107] appealed the decision to the consul of France.

[120][118] However, this concession contradicted a relatively strict policy adopted by the authorities during the early decades of the century, as reported by the bey’s physician, Louis Franck, and the United States consul Mordecai Manuel Noah.

"[124] It was even reported that some Jews, including Granas following the example of their co-religionists in Italy, wore a tricolor cockade, an act harshly repressed by Hammouda Pasha, who refused any attempt by France to place its Jewish subjects originating from Tuscany, newly conquered by Napoleon I, under French protection.

In this context, article 2 of the treaty signed on 10 July 1822 with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany set the duration of the Granas’ stay in Tunisia to two years; beyond this period, they fell under the sovereignty of the bey and were considered equal to the Twansa.

[134] The Sfez affair in 1857 illustrates this new context and provided an opportunity for France and the United Kingdom to intervene in the name of defending human rights and fighting absolutism and fanaticism to advance their interests.

[133] The ruler Mohammed Bey sought through this act to appease resentment stemming from the execution of a Muslim accused of killing a Jew and to demonstrate that his justice system treated all subjects fairly.

[137] Moreover, the historian Ibn Abi Dhiaf referred to Tunisian Jews as "brothers in the homeland" (Ikhwanoun fil watan), although he criticized some for excessively seeking the protection of foreign consuls.

[19] The school offered instruction in French; while it included Jewish religious and cultural material as part of the curriculum, it marked a turning point for the community as children began to receive a secular education.

[170] The universalist culture it transmitted offered an escape from national questions while providing a path out of domination through socio-professional advancement after centuries of relative stagnation, leading to the acquisition of a more valued social status.

[171] The relative opening of society, with the emergence of independent social spaces such as schools, cafés, theaters, and sports clubs, contributed to the emancipation of individuals from their groups and religion[172] and the decline of traditional Judeo-Arab culture,[173] which nevertheless persisted in rural communities.

[189] Thus, discriminatory legislation defined the Jews, restricted them in the public service, in educational institutions and journalism, and in liberal professions (numerus clausus), counted them (Jewish census), and forced them to register their property to be subsequently aryanized.

"[201] The Jews of Vichy-French North Africa were relatively fortunate because their distance from Nazi concentration camps in Central and Eastern Europe permitted them to avoid the fate of their coreligionists in Metropolitan France.

[219] Despite President Bourguiba's condemnation of the events, apologies to Tunisia's chief rabbi Mordekhai Meiss Cohen ,[citation needed] and promises the same evening to uphold the rights and safety of the community,[219][221] an additional 7000 Jews emigrated to France and 2,362 to Israel.

[citation needed] According to Frédéric Lasserre and Aline Lechaume, the shooter was a policeman on duty outside a synagogue on the island who, officially described as acting "in a fit of madness," killed two worshippers and injured six.

[236] In October 2023, during riots sparked by blame on Israel for the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital bombing, a historic synagogue in Tunisia, Al Hammah, was destroyed and set on fire, with videos showing people attacking it without police intervention.

[237] During pro-Palestine protests on 17 October 2023 during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, hundreds of rioters set fire to the former El Hamma synagogue, hammered away the building's walls, and planted Palestinian flags at the site.