History of the Jews in Tunisia

The location of Tunisia in Africa

Jews of Tunis, c. 1900

Jewish couple in Tunisia, c. 1900

The history of the Jews in Tunisia extends nearly two thousand years to the Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia grew following successive waves of immigration and proselytism before its development was hampered in late antiquity by anti-Jewish measures in the Byzantine Empire. After the Muslim conquest of Tunisia, Tunisian Jews experienced periods of relative freedom or even cultural apogee to times of more marked discrimination; under Muslim rule, Jews were granted legal status as dhimmi, which legally assured protections of life, property, and freedom of religion, while demanding an increased tax burden. The community developed its own dialect of Arabic, although the use of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has decreased due to relocation from Tunisia. The arrival of Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, often through Livorno, greatly influenced the community's composition, inter-group relations, and customs.

The economic, social and cultural position of the community was significant compromised during the Second World War with the occupation of the French protectorate of Tunisia by the Axis powers.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 and following 1948 Arab–Israeli War provoked a widespread anti-Zionist reaction in the Arab world, to which was added nationalist agitation, nationalization of enterprises, Arabization of education and part of the administration. Jews left Tunisia en masse from the 1950s onward because of the problems raised and the hostile climate created by the Bizerte crisis in 1961 and the Six-Day War in 1967. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Jewish population of Tunisia was estimated at 105,000 individuals in 1948. These Jews lived mainly in Tunis, with communities also present on the island of Djerba. The 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom by the U.S Department of State stated that "according to members of the Jewish community, there are approximately 1,500 Jewish citizens in the country".

The Jewish diaspora of Tunisia is divided between Israel and France, where it has preserved its community identity through its traditions, mostly dependent on Sephardic law and customs, but retaining its own specific characteristics. Djerbian Judaism in particular is considered to be more faithful to tradition because it remained outside the sphere of influence of the modernist currents. The vast majority of Tunisian Jews have relocated to Israel and have switched to using Hebrew as their home language. Tunisian Jews living in France typically use French as their first language, while the few still left in Tunisia tend to use either French or Judeo-Tunisian Arabic in their everyday lives.

Historiography

Further information: History of the Jews in Carthage and History of the Jews in Kairouan

The history of the Jews of Tunisia (until the establishment of the French protectorate) was first studied by David Cazès in 1888 in his Essay on the History of the Israelites of Tunisia, André Chouraqui (1952), and later by Haim Zeev Hirschberg (1965), in the more general context of North African Judaism. The research on the subject was then enriched by Robert Attal and Yitzhak Avrahami. In addition, various institutions, including the Israel Folktale Archives in University of Haifa, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Ben Zvi Institute, have collected material evidence (traditional clothing, embroidery, lace, jewelry, etc.), traditions (folk tales, liturgical songs, etc.), and manuscripts as well as Judeo-Arabic books and newspapers. Paul Sebag is the first to provide in his 1991 book History of the Jews of Tunisia: from origins to our days a first development entirely devoted to the history of this community. In Tunisia, following the thesis of Abdelkrim Allagui, a group under the direction of Habib Kazdaghli and Abdelhamid Largueche brought the subject into the field of national academic research. Founded in Paris on June 3, 1997, the Society of Jewish History of Tunisia contributes to the research on the Jews of Tunisia and transmits their history through conferences, symposia and exhibitions.

According to Michel Abitbol, the study of Judaism in Tunisia has grown rapidly during the progressive dissolution of the Jewish community in the context of decolonization and the evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict while Habib Kazdaghli believes that the departure of the Jewish community is the cause of the low number of studies related to the topic. Kazdaghli, however, points out that their production increases since the 1990s, due to the authors attached to this community, and that the associations of Jews originating from one or another community (Ariana, Bizerte, etc.) or Tunisia multiply. As for the fate of the Jewish community during the period of the German occupation of Tunisia (1942–1943), it remains relatively uncommon, and the Symposium on the Jewish Community of Tunisia held at Manouba University in February 1998 (the first of its kind on this research theme) does not mention it. However, the work of memory of the community exists, with the testimonies of Robert Borgel and Paul Ghez, the novels The Statue of Salt by Albert Memmi and Villa Jasmin by Serge Moati, as well as the works of some historians.

Antiquity

Hypothetical origins

Presently, the earliest verifiable record of the presence in Jews in Tunisia is from the second century. However, there are other, mostly speculative, ideas about when Jews first arrived to the land presently known as Tunisia:

Date palm, Byzantine mosaic from the Roman synagogue of Naro in Hammam Lif, 6th century CE, Brooklyn Museum (New York).

View of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon by Hartmann Schedel

• Some historians, such as David Cazès, Nahum Slouschz, and Alfred Louis Delattre, suggest, based on the biblical description of close maritime trade relations between Hiram I (ruler of the Phoenician city of Tyre) and Solomon (king of Israel), that Israelites may have been among the founders of Phoenician trading posts, including Carthage in 814 BCE.

• Josephus claims that the arrival of the first Jews in North Africa dates back to the 4th century BCE, during the reign of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, who recruited Jewish mercenaries from Alexandria to reinforce Greek garrisons in Cyprus and Cyrenaica. These mercenaries formed the first North African communities, later strengthened by exiles from Judea following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

• One of the founding legends of the Jewish community of Djerba, transcribed for the first time in 1849, relates that the Kohens (members of the Jewish priestly class) would have settled in present-day Tunisia after the destruction of the Solomon's Temple by the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC. They carried away a vestige of the destroyed Temple, believed to be a door, preserved in the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, and would have made it a place of pilgrimage and veneration to the present day.

It is probable that these Israelites would have assimilated into the Punic population and sacrificed to their divinities, like Baal and Tanit. Thereafter, Jews from Alexandria or Cyrene could have settled in Carthage following the Hellenization of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin. The cultural context allowed them to practice Judaism more in keeping with ancestral traditions. Small Jewish communities existed in the later days of Punic domination over North Africa, without it being possible to say whether they developed or disappeared later. Jews had, in any case, settled in the new Roman province of Africa, and enjoyed the favors of Julius Caesar. The latter, in recognition of the support of King Antipater in his struggle against Pompey, recognized Judaism and the status of religio licita, and, according to Josephus, granted the Jews a privileged status under the Roman Empire. These Jews were joined by Jewish pilgrims, expelled from Rome for proselytizing, 20 by a number of defeated in the First Jewish–Roman War, deported and resold as slaves in North Africa, and also by Jews fleeing the repression of revolts in Cyrenaica and Judea under the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian. According to Josephus, the Romans deported 30,000 Jews to Carthage from Judea after the First Jewish-Roman War. It is very likely that these Jews founded communities on the territory of present-day Tunisia.

A tradition among the descendants of the first Jewish settlers was that their ancestors settled in that part of North Africa long before the destruction of the First Temple in the 6th century BCE. After the fall of the Second Temple, many exiled Jews settled in Tunis and engaged in agriculture, cattle-raising, and trade. They were divided into clans governed by their respective heads (mokdem), and had to pay the Romans a capitation tax of 2 shekels. Under the dominion of the Romans and (after 429) of the fairly tolerant Vandals, the Jews of Tunis increased and prospered to such a degree that early African church councils deemed it necessary to enact restrictive laws against them.

Al-Qayrawani relates that at the time of the conquest of Hippo Zaritus (present-day Bizerte) by Hasan ibn al-Nu'man in 698 the governor of that district was a Jew. When Tunis came under the dominion of the Arabs, or of the Arabian caliphate of Baghdad, another influx of Arabic-speaking Jews from the Levant into Tunis took place.

Genetic studies of Jews in Tunisia

Main article: Genetic studies on Jews

Numerous studies have been conducted on the genetics of Jews in general, on North African Jews in particular, and specifically on Jews of Tunisian origin.

They conclude that "the closest genetic neighbors to most Jewish groups were the Palestinians, Bedouins, and Druze in addition to the Southern Europeans". And that :

The findings support the historical record of Middle Eastern Jews settling in North Africa during classical antiquity, converting non-Jews to Judaism and marrying local populations, thereby forming distinct populations that stayed largely intact for more than two millennia. [...] Two major subgroups within this overall population were identified – Moroccan/Algerian Jews and Djerban (Tunisian)/Libyan Jews. The two subgroups varied in their degree of European mixture, with Moroccan/Algerian Jews tending to be more related to Europeans, which most likely resulted from the expulsion of Sephardi Jews from Spain during the Inquisition starting in 1492.

Furthermore, "The Tunisian Jews exhibited two apparent clusters—one with proximity to Libyan and Djerban Jews and the other proximal to the Moroccan and Algerian Jews."

Under Roman rule

Tertullian who fought against the expansion of Judaism

The first documents attesting to the presence of Jews in Tunisia date from the second century. Tertullian describes Jewish communities alongside which Pagan Jews of Punic, Roman and Berber origin and, initially, Christians; The success of Jewish proselytism led the pagan authorities to take legal measures, while Tertullian wrote a pamphlet against Judaism at the same time. On the other hand, the Talmud mention the existence of several Carthaginian rabbis. 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.

"Sinagoga", Roman mosaic, Bardo Museum, Tunisia.

The Jewish community of Carthage was very pious, adhering strictly to traditions, eating kosher, and consuming matzah during Passover. They observed Yom Kippur, gathering outdoors to await the end of the fast. The community celebrated Shabbat with festive meals prepared on Friday evening, lighting a lamp, and holding public Torah readings at the synagogue. They also practiced frequent ritual ablutions. A distinctive feature of Jewish women in Carthage was covering their heads.

To the Romans, Jewish worship was considered a religio, a legal religion under Roman law, where Christians often sought shelter. A tax served as a reminder of Roman authority in the region. It appears that the community was granted a certain level of autonomy for daily affairs: alongside the archisynagogue, the spiritual leader, there was the Archon, a kind of council of elders. For reasons likely both political—Jews were Roman citizens—and proselytizing among local populations, Latin was the predominant language in inscriptions, while Hebrew appeared only in a few phrases, such as greetings (e.g., Shalom).

"Judaism, in Carthage as elsewhere, exerted a great influence on local populations: crowds gathered for the Saturday sermon, and pagans and Christians sometimes observed the Shabbat and other festivals and conversions were widespread". Despite some controversies, rivalries, or mockery between Jews and Christians, it appears that Christians (or Judeo-Christians) were accepted in the Jewish cemetery of Gammarth, a necropolis discovered in the late 19th century. The decoration of necropolises and magical tablets, which combine pagan abjurations with sacred Jewish formulas, illustrate the syncretism of the time. The success of Jewish proselytism thus prompted the pagan Roman authorities to take legal measures.

The ruins of an ancient synagogue dating back to the 3rd–5th century CE was discovered by the French captain Ernest De Prudhomme in his Hammam-Lif residence in 1883 called in Latin as sancta synagoga naronitana ("holy synagogue of Naro") and motifs common across Roman Africa, attests to the affluence of its Israelite members and the quality of their interactions with other populations. Another synagogue, dating to the 5th century, was discovered in Clipea (modern-day Kélibia). Other Jewish communities are attested by epigraphic or literary references to Utique, Chemtou, Hadrumète or Thusuros (present Tozeur). As elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the Jews of Roman Africa were romanized after hundreds of years of subjection and would have adopted Latinized names, worn togas, and spoken Latin.

Other Jewish communities are attested by epigraphic or literary references to Utique, Chemtou, Hadrumète or Thusuros (present Tozeur). As elsewhere in the Roman Empire, the Jews of Roman Africa were romanized after hundreds of years of subjection and would have adopted Latinized names, worn togas, and spoken Latin.

According to St. Augustine, only their morals, modeled by Jewish religious precepts (circumcision, kashrut, observance of Shabbat, modesty of dress), distinguish them from the rest of the population. On the intellectual level, they devote themselves to translation for Christian clients and to the study of the Law, many Rabbis were originally from Carthage. From an economic point of view, they worked in agriculture, livestock and trade.

Their situation is modified from the edict of Milan (313) which legalized Christianity. Jews were gradually excluded from most public functions and proselytism was severely punished. The construction of new synagogues was forbidden towards the end of the fourth century and their maintenance without the agreement of the authorities, under a law of 423. Access to civil service positions was also restricted, and it was prohibited to disinherit Jewish children who converted to Christianity, circumcise them, or even own Christian slaves.

However, various councils held by the Church of Carthage, recommending Christians not to follow certain practices of their Jewish neighbors, testify to the maintenance of their influence.

From Vandal peace to Byzantine repression

The arrival of the Vandals at the beginning of the 5th century marked a period of respite for the Jews, since the Arianism of the new rulers of Roman Africa was closer to Jewish monotheism than the Catholicism of the Church Fathers. Some Berber tribes were converted to Judaism. Jews likely prospered economically and supported the Vandal kings against the armies of Emperor Justinian, who sought to reconquer North Africa.

Justinian, a Nicene Christian emperor of the Byzantine Empire, launched severe repression against the Jews in the 6th century.

Justinian's victory in 535 began the period of the Exarchate of Carthage, which favored Nicene Christianity and persecuted Jews, Arians, Donatists, and pagans. Jews were once again stigmatized and excluded from public office. Jewish synagogues and pagan temples were converted into churches, their worship banned, and their gatherings prohibited. The administration strictly enforced the Theodosian Code against them, leading to forced conversions. Although Emperor Maurice attempted to repeal these measures, his successors reinstated them, culminating in an imperial edict mandating baptism.

Some Jews reportedly fled cities under Eastern Roman control to settle in mountain regions or oases at the edge of the desert. There, with the support of Berber tribes, they resisted Roman rule, converting many Berbers to Judaism through proselytism. However, it is possible that the Judaization of the Berbers occurred four centuries earlier, following the arrival of Jews fleeing the repression of the revolt in Cyrenaica. This transition may have happened gradually through a syncretism of Jewish and pagan practices, including the worship of Tanit, which persisted after the fall of Carthage. This supports the legend of the Judeo-Berber queen of the Aurès Mountains, Kahina, who resisted the Islamization of the Maghreb. Regardless of the hypothesis, the 14th-century historian Ibn Khaldun confirmed their existence on the eve of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb based on 11th-century Arab chronicles. However, this version is heavily contested: Haïm Zeev Hirschberg notes that Ibn Khaldun wrote his work centuries after the events, and Mohamed Talbi points out that the French translation is not entirely accurate, as it fails to convey Ibn Khaldun's sense of possibility. Gabriel Camps also asserts that the Djerawa and Nefzaouas mentioned were Christians allied with the Eastern Romans before the advent of Islam.

Regardless, while the hypothesis of mass tribal conversion to Judaism seems fragile, individual conversions appear more likely.

Middle Ages

New status of Jews under Islam

Main article: History of the Jews under Muslim rule

With the Arab conquest and the arrival of Islam in Tunisia in the eighth century, the "People of the Book" (including Jews and Christians) were given a choice between conversion to Islam (which some Jewish Berbers have done) and legal status as dhimmi. The dhimmi is a term for non-Muslims, originally Jews and Christians as People of the Book, living an Islamic state and refers to the state's obligation to protect the lives of these communities as well as their freedom of religion and right to administer their own laws in certain regards (i.e. the Jewish halakhic courts), in return for the payment of the jizya, the poll tax. Jews were economically, culturally and linguistically integrated into society, while retaining their cultural and religious peculiarities.

However, it seems these measures were seldom enforced, according to Khaled Kchir, and refraining from building new places of worship. Additionally, dhimmis were forbidden to engage in proselytism and could not marry Muslim women, although the reverse was permitted if the Jewish or Christian wife converted to Islam. Finally, dhimmi individuals were required to treat Muslims and Islam with respect and humility. Any violation of this pact could result in expulsion or even death.

In 788, when Idris I of Morocco proclaimed Mauritania's independence of the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, the Tunisian Jews joined his army under the leadership of their chief, Benjamin ben Joshaphat ben Abiezer. 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. The victorious Idris avenged this defection by attacking the Jews in their cities. The Jews were required to pay a capitation-tax and provide a certain number of virgins annually for Idris' harem. The Jewish tribe 'Ubaid Allah preferred to migrate to the east rather than to submit to Idris; according to a tradition, the Jews of the island of Djerba are the descendants of that tribe. 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.

Under the rule of this dynasty, which lasted until 909, the situation of the Jews in Tunis was very favorable. As of old, Bizerta had a Jewish governor, and the political influence of the Jews made itself felt in the administration of the country. Especially prosperous at that time was the community of Kairouan, which was established soon after the foundation of that city by Uqba bin Nafi in the year 670. 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. The patch for Jews had the image of an ape, an image based on Quranic interpretation that became standard in-anti-dhimmi propaganda and was polemic when referring to Jews. It is not clear how long these humiliating decrees remained in force, but it is clear that the purpose of the patch was not merely ghiyār, but also dhull (humiliation) in keeping with the Quranic injunction (Sura 9:29) that non-Muslims should be humbled.

A period of reaction set in with the accession of the Zirite Al-Mu'izz (1016–62), who persecuted all heterodox sects, as well as the Jews. The persecution was especially detrimental to the prosperity of the Kairouan community, and members thereof began to emigrate to the city of Tunis, which speedily gained in population and in commercial importance.

The conquest of Tunisia by the Almohad Caliphate in the 1150s proved disastrous to the Jews of Tunis. The rise of the Almohad Caliphate shook both the Jewish communities of Tunisia and the Muslims attached to the cult of the saints, declared by the new sovereigns as heretics. Jews were forced to apostasy, flight, or death by Caliph Abd al-Mu'min. Many massacres took place, despite many formal conversions by the pronunciation of the Shahada. Indeed, many Jews, while outwardly professing Islam, remained faithful to their religion, which they observed in secret, as advocated by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon. Jewish practices disappeared from the Maghreb from 1165 to 1230. Still they were saddened by the sincere adherence of some to Islam, fears of persecution and the relativization of any religious affiliation. This Islamization of the morals and doctrines of the Jews of Tunisia, meant they as 'dhimmis' (after the disappearance of Christianity in the Maghreb around 1150) isolated from their other coreligionists, and was strongly criticized by the Maimonides.

The first Almohad, 'Abd al-Mu'min, claimed that Muhammad had permitted the Jews free exercise of their religion for only five hundred years, and had declared that if, after that period, the messiah had not come, they were to be forced to embrace Islam. Accordingly, Jews as well as Christians were compelled either to embrace Islam or to leave the country. 'Abd al-Mu'min's successors pursued the same course, and their severe measures resulted either in emigration or in forcible conversions. Soon becoming suspicious of the sincerity of the new converts, the Almohadis compelled them to wear a special garb, with a yellow cloth for a head-covering.

Cultural heyday of Tunisian Jews

Main article: History of the Jews in Kairouan

Letter from Houshiel ben Elhanan reproduced in the Jewish Quarterly Review (1899)

The living conditions of the Jews in Tunisia were relatively favorable during the reign of the Aghlabids and then Fatimid dynasties. Of the three principal Jewish communities that came into prominence by the 10th century, Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia) was the first to flourish, beginning with the establishment of the Shi'ite caliphate of the Fatimids in 909. The Fatimids, in general, were more tolerant towards dhimmi subjects than interpretations in orthodox Sunni Islam. Jews were employed in the civil service, sumptuary laws for non-Muslims were repealed, and the discriminatory tariffs were not imposed.

Jews worked in the service of the dynasty, as treasurers, doctors, or tax collectors but their situation remained precarious. Kairouan (Qayrawan), now the capital of the Aghlabids, was the seat of the most important community in the territory, attracting migrants from Umayyad, Italy, and the Abbasid Empire. This community would become one of the major poles of Judaism between the ninth and eleventh centuries, both economically, culturally and intellectually, ensuring, through correspondence with the Talmudic academies in Babylonia. The Kairouan community became an important intermediary between communities in Spain and the Geonim of the Babylonian academies.

Many major figures of Judaism are associated with the city. Among them is Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, a private doctor of the Aghlabide Ziadet Allah III and then of the Fatimids Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah and Al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah and author of various medical treatises in Arabic which would enrich the medieval medicine through their translation by Constantine the African, adapting the teachings of the Alexandrian school to the Jewish dogma. Israeli's works in Arabic were studied in their Hebrew and Latin translations in both medieval and Renaissance Europe. Dunash ibn Tamim, his disciple, was the author (or final editor) wrote, along other works, a philosophical commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah, where he developed conceptions close to his master's thought. Another disciple, Ishaq ibn Imran is considered the founder of the philosophical and medical school of Ifriqiya. 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. Jacob ibn Shahin was succeeded by his son, Nissim ben Jacob, considered the greatest of the Qayrawan sages. Another academy was founded by Chushiel ben Elchanan, originally from Bari, developed the simultaneous study of the Talmud of Babylon and the Jerusalem Talmud. His son and disciple Chananel ben Chushiel was one of the major commentators of the Talmud in the Middle Ages. After his death, his work was continued by another disciple of his father whom Ignác Goldziher calls Jewish mutazilite: Nissim ben Jacob, the only one among the sages of Kairouan to bear the title of Gaon, also wrote an important commentary on the Talmud and the Hibbour Yafe Mehayeshoua, which is perhaps the first tales collection in Jewish literature.

On the political level, the community emancipated itself from the exile of Baghdad at the beginning of the eleventh century and acquired its first secular chief. Each community was placed under the authority of a council of notables headed by a chief (naggid) who, through the faithful, disposes of the resources necessary for the proper functioning of the various institutions: worship, schools, a tribunal headed by the rabbi-judge (dayan), etc. The maggid of Kairouan undoubtedly had the ascendancy over those of the communities of smaller size.

The Jews participate greatly in the exchanges with Al-Andalus, Egypt, and the Middle East. Grouped in separate quarters (although many Jews settled in the Muslim districts of Kairouan during the Fatimid period), they had house of prayer, schools and a court. 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, and their communities participated in these economic and intellectual exchanges. Monopolizing the goldsmiths' and jewelers' crafts, they also worked in the textile industry, as tailors, tanners and shoemakers, while the smallest rural communities practiced agriculture (saffron, henna, vine, etc.) or breeding of nomadic animals.

The departure of the Fatimids to Egypt in 972 led their Zirid vassals to seize power and eventually break their bonds of political and religious submission in the middle of the eleventh century. The Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym, were sent in retaliation against Tunisia by the Fatimids, took Kairouan in 1057 and plundered it, which empties it of all its population then plunges it into the doldrums. Combined with the triumph of Sunnism and the end of the Babylonian gaonate, these events marked the end of the Kairouan community and reversed the migratory flow of the Jewish populations towards the Levant, with the elites having already accompanied the Fatimid court in Cairo. Jews have migrated to the coastal cities of Gabes, Sfax, Mahdia, Sousse and Tunis, but also to Béjaïa, Tlemcen and Beni Hammad Fort.

Under the Hafsids, Spanish and Ottomans (1236–1603)

Under the Hafsid dynasty, which was established in 1236 as a breakaway from the Almohad dynasty, the condition of the Jews improved. Jews could again practice their religion and thus reconstituted the communities that existed before the Almohad period. Systematic persecution, social exclusion and hindrance to worship disappeared, but the dhimma was strict, especially in matters of dress. 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. The yellow patch Tunisian Jews wore from this time until the nineteenth century became so emblematic that they became commonly referred to as shikliyyun.

Besides Kairouan, there were at that time important communities in Mehdia, Kalaa, the island of Djerba, and the city of Tunis. Considered at first as foreigners, the Jews were not permitted to settle in the interior of Tunis, but had to live in a building called a funduk. 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. This quarter, called the "Hira," constituted until 1857 the ghetto of Tunis; it was closed at night. In 1270, in consequence of the defeat of Louis IX of France, who had undertaken a crusade against Tunis, the cities of Kairouan and Ḥammat were declared holy; and the Jews were required either to leave them or to convert to Islam. From that year until the conquest of Tunis by France (1857), Jews and Christians were forbidden to pass a night in either of these cities; and only by special permission of the governor were they allowed to enter them during the day.

Although the difficulty of the economic context leads to a surge of probabilism, the triumph of Maliki Sunnism with little tolerance towards the "people of the book" meant material and spiritual misery. The massive settlement of Jewish-Spanish scholars fleeing from the Castile in 1391 and again in 1492 was mainly carried out in Algeria and Morocco, and the Tunisian Jews, abandoned by this phenomenon, were led to consult Algerian scholars such as Simeon ben Zemah Duran.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Jews of Tunis were treated more cruelly than those elsewhere in the Maghreb. While refugees from Spain and Portugal flocked to Algeria and Morocco, only some chose to settle in Tunis. The Tunisian Jews had no eminent rabbis or scholars and had to consult those of Algeria or Morocco on religious questions.

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. The chief's functions consisted in the administration of justice among the Jews and collection of Jewish taxes.

Three kinds of taxes were imposed on Tunisian Jews:

1. a communal tax, to which every member contributed according to his means;
2. a personal or capitation tax (the jizya);
3. a general tax, which was levied upon the Muslims also.

In addition to these, every Jewish tradesman and industrialist had to pay an annual tax to the guild. After the 13th century, taxes were collected by a qaid, who also served as an intermediary between the government and the Jews. His authority within the Jewish community was supreme. The members of the council of elders, as well as the rabbis, were nominated at his recommendation, and no rabbinical decision was valid unless approved by him.

Jewish communities of Tunis under the Ottoman Empire

During the conquest of Tunis by the Spaniards in 1535, many Jews were made prisoners and sold as slaves in several Christian countries. After the victory of the Ottomans over the Spaniards in 1574, Tunisia became a province of the Ottoman Empire led by deys, from 1591, then by beys, from 1640. In this context, Jews arriving from Italy have played an important role in the life of the country and in the history of Tunisian Judaism.

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. They were free to practice their religion and administer their own affairs. Nevertheless, they were subject to the caprices of princes and outbursts of fanaticism. Petty officials were allowed to impose upon them the most difficult drudgery without compensation. They were obliged to wear a special costume, consisting of a blue frock without collar or ordinary sleeves (loose linen sleeves being substituted), wide linen drawers, black slippers, and a small black skull-cap; stockings might be worn in winter only. They might ride only on asses or mules, and were not permitted to use a saddle.

Beginning of the Modern Era

From the 16th century Tunisia and more particularly Tunis had an influx of Sephardi Jewish families, who initially settled in Livorno (Tuscany, Italy), and who later moved to work in other trading centers. These new settlers, called granas in Arabic or gorneyim (Hebrew: גורנים) in Hebrew after the name of the city in both languages, were wealthier than the Jewish natives called tuansa. They spoke and wrote in Italian but gradually adopted the local Arabic while introducing their traditional liturgy to their new host country. According to a 1710 agreement, the Grana were considered Italian citizens; only the Tuansa were subject to the dhimmi restrictions.

Under the Muradids and Husainids (1603–1857)

From the beginning of the 18th century the political status of the Jews in Tunis improved. This was due to the increasing influence of the political agents of the European powers, who, while seeking to ameliorate the condition of the Christian residents, had to plead also the cause of the Jews, whom Muslim legislation classed with Christians. Haim Joseph David Azulai, who visited Tunis in 1772, praised this development. In 1819, the United States consul in Tunis, Mordecai Manuel Noah, gave the following account of the situation of the Tunisian Jews:

With all the apparent oppression, the Jews are the leading men; they are in Barbary the principal mechanics, they are at the head of the custom-house, they farm the revenues; the exportation of various articles, and the monopoly of various merchandise, are secured to them by purchase, they control the mint and regulate the coinage of money, they keep the bey's jewels and valuable articles, and are his treasurers, secretaries, and interpreters; the little known of arts, science, and medicine is confined to the Jews. If a Jew commits a crime, if the punishment affects his life, these people, so national, always purchase his pardon; the disgrace of one affects the whole community; they are ever in the presence of the bey, every minister has two or three Jewish agents, and when they unite to attain an object, it cannot be prevented. These people, then, whatever may be said of their oppression, possess a very controlling influence, their friendship is worthy of being preserved by public functionaries, and their opposition is to be dreaded.

Granas and Tuansa

Marrano families, which have been settling in Livorno from the end of the fifteenth century, converted back to Judaism at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and left Tuscany to settle in Tunisia, in the framework of the establishment of commercial relations. They spoke and wrote Tuscan and sometimes Spanish, and constituted a highly influential economic and cultural elite in the rest of the Italian community. Their surnames recalled their Spanish or Portuguese origin.

Tunisian Jewish woman in ceremonial attire (1908).

Quickly introduced to the Beylic Court, they performed executive functions of court – collectors of taxes, treasurers and intermediaries without authority over – and noble professions in medicine, finance or diplomacy. Even if they settled in the same neighborhoods, they had virtually no connection with the Tuansa, to which Jews from the rest of the Mediterranean Basin have assimilated. The Tuansa spoke the Judeo-Tunisian dialect, and occupied a modest social position. This is why, contrary to what was happening elsewhere in the Maghreb, these new populations were hardly accepted, which gradually leads to the division of the Jewish community into two groups.

In this context, the Jews played a major role in the economic life of the country, in commerce and crafts, but also in trading and banking. Despite the tariffs being higher than those paid by Muslim or Christian traders (10% vs. 3%), the Granas managed to control and prosper trade with Livorno. Their trading houses also engaged in credit banking activities and participated in the purchase of Christian slaves captured by privateers and resold. The Tuansa saw themselves conceding the monopoly of the leather trade by the Muradid and then Husainid beys. Jews who were traveling as Tunisians worked in the retail trade in the souks of Tunis, thus shipping imported products from Europe under the leadership of a Muslim amine, or in the Jewish quarter.

In 1710, a century of friction between the two groups led to a coup de force of the Livornese community, with a tacit agreement of the authorities. By creating its own community institutions, it creates a schism with the indigenous population. Each of them had their council of notables, their grand rabbi, their rabbinical court, synagogues, schools, butcher's shop and a separate cemetery. This state of affairs was endorsed by a takkanah (rabbinic decree) signed in July 1741 between the great rabbis Abraham Taïeb and Isaac Lumbroso. This agreement was renewed in 1784 before being annulled in 1899. This takkanah sets, among other rules, the fact that every Israelite from a Muslim country was attached to the Tuansa, while every Israelite from a Christian country was from the Granas. Moreover, the Granas – a richer community, although only 8% of the total population – then accounted for one third of the payment of the jizya against two-thirds for the Tuansa. This last point indicated that the Livornese community, previously protected by the European consuls, has sufficiently integrated into Tunisia so that its members were considered dhimmis and taxed like the Tuansa.

The socio-cultural and economic differences between these two communities have increased in the nineteenth century. The Granas, due to their European origins and higher standard of living, but also to their economic, family and cultural ties with Livorno, found it difficult to cope with their indigenous coreligionists, the Tuansa, who were considered less "civilized". The Granas were an important contributions whereas they represented only a minority of the Jews of Tunisia. On the other hand, indigenous elites didn't wish to give up their power to newcomers, unlike their Maghreb neighbors, probably due to the later arrival of the Granas in Tunisia. The Granas also differed geographically from the Tuansa, settling in the European district of Tunis, thus avoiding the Hara, and more culturally approach the Europeans than their co-religionists. However, the two groups keep the same rites and uses with only a few variants and, outside Tunis, the same community institutions continue to serve all the faithful. Moreover, all the Jews remain under the authority of a single qaid chosen from the Tuansa, presumably to avoid interference with foreigners.

Harassment and discrimination

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jews were still subjected to harassing and discriminatory measures, particularly on the part of the judicial system which was arbitrary in their regard, with the exception of the more tolerant Hanafi courts. Jews were still subjected to the collective payment of the jizya – the annual amount of which varied according to the year, from 10,332 piastres in 1756 to 4,572 piastres in 1806 – and had to pay additional taxes (ghrâma) whenever the sovereign's treasury was in difficulty, as the Muslims sometimes did. Moreover, they were periodically obliged to carry out public works and were subjected to forced labor which affected mainly the poorest of the communities. Regarding dress code, the chechia that served as their headdress had to be black and wrapped in a dark turban, unlike the Muslims who wore a red chechia surrounded by a white turban. The Granas, dressed in European fashion, wore wigs and round hats like Christian merchants.

El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the political status of the Jews improved somewhat thanks to the growing influence of the political agents of the European powers who, seeking to improve the living conditions of the Christian residents, also pleaded the Jews. But if the wealthy Jews – who held positions in administration or trade – succeeded in being respected, especially through the protection of influential Muslim personalities, poor Jews were often victims of bullying and even murder, and the authorities didn't seem to intervene. An observer declared that the Jews were recognized "not only in their black costume, but also in the imprint of a curse they carry on their foreheads".

However, despite this difficult climate, Jews were not subjected to outbreaks of religious fanaticism or racism leading to massacres. Although looting accompanied by violence was occasionally reported, it always occurred in the context of unrest affecting the broader population, such as in June 1752 and September 1756 in Tunis. Furthermore, there were no instances of mass expulsions, and Jews enjoyed an almost complete freedom of religion — often involving their Muslim neighbors in their celebrations — in contrast to the practices in Europe at the time.

At the end of the eighteenth century, Hammouda Pasha denied Jews the right to acquire and possess real estate properties, while the learning of literal Arabic and the use of the Arabic alphabet was also prohibited during this period. Finally, the behavior of the Muslim population towards the communities varied from the will to rigorous application of the dhimma by the Ulama to the absence of hostility of the rural population, marginalized urban fringes but assured of impunity.

Internal split and development

Leaders

Communities were structured under the authority of a leader of the "Jewish nation" with the title of hasar ve ha-tafsar, a prestigious and powerful post containing both the qaid charge of the Jews (qdyd el yihud) and that of Receiver General of Finance under the authority of the Treasurer of the Kingdom (khaznadar). He was an intermediary between the bey and his community and therefore enjoyed entry to the court. He had a very important bureaucratic power over those co-religionaries in whom he apportioned the payment of the jizya – of which they were collectively liable – according to the resources of each household. It also refers to those who performed the duties imposed by the authorities.

Tunis Jewish Hospital (1912).

A state farmer, surrounded by some of the most fortunate and educated notables, also collected taxes such as the tithes, the tax on kosher meat and the offerings of the faithful. These allow him to pay for his services, those of his deputies and the rabbis-judges 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 under the presidency of the Grand Rabbi. Administrator of the affairs of the community designated the local secular or religious leaders – with the written approval of the Tunisian authorities – and gives them broad orientations. From the reign of Abu l-Hasan Ali I (1735–1756), he also served as treasurer of the Bey 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.

Religious authorities

Jewish tomb in the royal mausoleum of the Tourbet el Bey

Despite the split between the groups, the figure of the Grand Rabbi had considerable authority among his followers. By virtue of his function as president of the rabbinical court, he watches over Jewish law, relying on the Shulchan Aruch, the standard legislative code, and the Talmud. The rabbinic jurisdictions deal with personal status matters, but also with civil and commercial cases when only Jews were concerned, whether the faults were religious or secular. In small towns, the dayan was responsible for rendering justice, with the rabbinical court serving as a chamber of appeal. One of the most rigorous penalties that the latter could pronounce was the herem, the Jewish version of excommunication, made public in the synagogue.

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, appealed the decision to the consul of France. Following the protest of the latter to the bey, it was decided that the rabbinical court would no longer pronounce sentence for religious offense to a Jew placed under French protection.

Renewal of ideas

On the intellectual level, the growing exchanges between Jews from Tunisia and Livorno facilitated the circulation of printed works in Tuscany and their widespread distribution in Tunisia and the rest of the Maghreb. This led to an important revival of the Tunisian Hebrew studies at the beginning of the eighteenth century, embodied in particular by the rabbis Semah Sarfati, Abraham Ha-Cohen, Abraham Benmoussa, Abraham Taïeb and Joseph Cohen-Tanugi. Among the works of the Chumash, the Talmud or the Kabbalah of note include:

• Toafot Re'em (1761–1762) and Meira Dakhiya (1792) by Mordecai Baruch Carvalho, commentary on the work of Elijah Mizrachi and a collection of glosses on various Talmudic treatises;
• Zera Itshak (1768) by Isaac Lumbroso, an important Talmudic commentary;
• Hoq Nathan (1776) by Nathan Borgel, an important Talmudic commentary;
• Migdanot Nathan (1778–1785) by Élie Borgel, series of commentaries on Talmudic treatises;
• Yeter ha-Baz (1787) by Nehorai Jarmon, new on the Talmud and the Mishneh Torah of Moses Maimonides
• Erekh ha-Shoulhan (1791–1891) by Isaac Taïeb, a book dealing with the laws and commenting on the Shulchan Aruch
• Mishha di-Ributa (1805) by Messaoud-Raphael El-Fassi, an important commentary by Choulhan Aroukh, accompanied by works by his sons Haym and Solomon;
• Mishkenot ha-Roim (1860) and Hayyim va-Chesed (1873) by Ouziel El-Haik, a collection of 1,499 responses on the most diverse subjects and a collection of homilies and funeral eulogies pronounced from 1767 to 1810.

With the exception of Isaac Lumbroso's Zera Itshak, all the works were printed in Livorno, Tunis, which didn't have a well-known printing press, the only attempt to make one was in 1768 was considered a failure because of the lack of knowledge on the subject. Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, who visited Tunis in 1773–74, noted that the city had some 300 young talmudists and considered that the rabbis he met "had very extensive knowledge".

Aborted reforms of the nineteenth century

Inventory

By the middle of the century, the Jews of Tunisia barely knew how to read in Arabic, and few of them read and wrote Hebrew. In addition, they generally lived with their precepts, because of their only religious instruction and they have little knowledge of the Arab-Muslim letters, unlike the Jews of other Muslim countries. Nevertheless, the comings and goings between Tunis and Europe contributed to a certain desire for emancipation and freedom in wearing the clothes assigned to them; in January 1823 Mahmoud Bey has ordered all Jews living in Tunisia to wear a cap.

One Jew originally from Gibraltar who refuses to measure, was the victim of a bastinado; his protest to his consul led to a strong reaction from the United Kingdom. This situation was beneficial to the Granas, who obtained permission to pay to replace the chechia with a white cap (kbîbes) and the wearing of a sefseri specific for their women, as a way to distinguish themselves from the Tuansa who still had to wear the black cap. However, this concession contradicted with a relative hardening of the authorities during the first decades of the century, as reported by the doctor of the bey, Louis Franck, or the consul of the United States Mordecai Manuel Noah.

Entrance to Souk El Grana in Tunis

On the socio-economic level, the Jewish population was very heterogeneous. In the country ports, Jewish merchants of European origin control, along with Christians, the exchange of goods with foreign countries and dominated in more than half of trading houses operating in the country. Besides this wealthy class of traders and bankers, mainly Livornese, there was a middle class consisting of merchants and craftsmen. These Jews played an important role in the retail trade, especially in the capital, where they were established in two souks of the medina: one specializing in colonial goods, hardware and articles from Paris and one specializing in draperies and English and French silk. Many were also engaging in artisanal activities, such as goldsmith, on which they had a monopoly, and also manufacture of clothes and footwear. They also served as lenders for peasants and artisans. In the rural areas of Nabeul, Gabes and Djerba, Jews were occupied in winemaking, growing date palms or fruit trees and stock raising.

There was also a poor class of Jews which were unable to survive without the charity organized by their community. Another group, the Bahusim (baḥuṣim, Hebrew for "outsiders") were semi-nomadic Jews in western Tunisia and eastern Algeria who led a tribal existence, like that of the Bedouin, and made their living from agriculture, peddling, and smithing. Jewish tribes of the region of Wargha, Kef Governorate, were Karaites and they have been nomad warriors. Their descendants, also named "Bahusim", remained in the eastern part of Algeria up to modern times.

European influences

The inclusion of Jews in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on September 27, 1791, and the Napoleonic decrees of 1808 aroused a certain sympathy for France among the Jews of Tunisia who were all subjects of the Bey. Thus, in 1809, the Spanish authorities reported that "the Jews are the most relentless partisans of Napoleon". It was even reported that some Jews, including the Granas, wore at that time a tricolor cockade, an act severely repressed by Hammuda ibn Ali, which refuses any attempt by France to take under its protection its Jewish subjects originating from the newly conquered by Napoleon Tuscany. The Article 2 of the Treaty of July 10, 1822, signed with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, fixes the duration of the stay of the Granas in Tunisia at two years; they also passed under the sovereignty of the bey and were granted the same status as the Tuansa.

At the same time, while Tunisia was gradually opening up to European influences and also undergoing its pressure, the sovereign Ahmed Bey the First inaugurated a policy of reforms. By virtue of an act correcting the Tunisian-Tuscan Treaty of 1822, signed on November 2, 1846, the Granas established in Tunisia after the treaty or those who came to settle there, obtained the right to retain their status as Tuscans without any time limit, which is not the case with the Granas who arrived before 1822. This provision encouraged many Granas of Italian origin to emigrate to Tunisia, where they constituted a foreign minority – 90 persons in 1848, reinforced by a few French and British Jews the protection of the Consul of Tuscany and settled in the Franc district of Tunis unlike the former Granas settled in the Hara; Those who arrived after the Italian unification also benefited from the application of this provision.

The Case of Sfez

Main article: Batto Sfez Affair

Political action is therefore seen as a means of putting an end to the exceptional status of Jews, constituting "a real break in the mental universe of Jewish communities, a rupture which breaks the old world of submission to the order of things". In 1853, the qaid of the Tunisian community, Nessim Samama, obtains the abolition of the chores to which his co-religionists were hitherto constrained.

Nevertheless, the Jews still had to pay the jizya and exceptional taxes claimed by the bey according to the needs and were also subject to discrimination. Jews had restricted dress code, according to which they were obliged to wear a black chechia (and not red, like the Muslims), a black or dark blue turban (and not white) and black shoes and not of bright color. They could not live outside their assigned neighborhoods and could not access real estate. Finally, when they were victims of vexations or violence, they did not receive reparation for the harm they have suffered.

Yet the relationship between Jews and Arabs changed dramatically from the middle of the century, due to the emergence of European colonial powers in Tunisia, and in France in particular. Indeed, they relied on the presence of Jews to promote their economic and commercial interests: the situation of these, often treated in an unfair way by the Tunisian courts, was used as a pretext for pressures on the bey. The Sfez affair in 1857 was an illustration of this new context and an opportunity for France and the United Kingdom to intervene on behalf of the defense of human rights and the struggle against absolutism and fanaticism in order to promote their interests.

Batto Sfez was a Jewish coachman at the service of the qaid of his community, Nassim Shamama. Following a traffic incident and an altercation with a Muslim, he was accused by Muslim of having insulted Islam; witnesses subsequently confirmed before a notary that they witnessed the scene. He was charged and convicted, according to Maliki law and despite his protestations, was sentenced by the Charaa court to a death penalty for blasphemy and beheaded with a saber sword on June 24, 1857. The sovereign Muhammad II ibn al-Husayn sought by this gesture to appease the rancor born of the execution of a Muslim accused of having killed a Jew and to prove that his justice treats his subjects fairly. Nevertheless, the severity of the punishment aroused great emotion in the Jewish community and among the consuls of France and the United Kingdom, Léon Roches and Richard Wood. They then took advantage of it to exert pressure on the sovereign to embark on the path of liberal reforms similar to those reforms promulgated in the Ottoman Empire in 1839. Moreover, the historian Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf refers to the Tunisian Jews as "brothers in the homeland" (Ikhwanoun fil watan), although he accuses some of them of exaggerating to seek the protection of foreign consuls.

Mohammed Bey (1855–1881)

A portrait of Mohammed Bey

During the long reign of Ahmed I Bey, the Jews enjoyed prosperity. His successor, Muhammad II ibn al-Husayn, inaugurated his reign in 1855 by abolishing the drudgery imposed upon the Jews; the qaid Joseph Scemama, with whom the bey was on very intimate terms, probably used his influence in behalf of his coreligionists. That year, however Mohammed Bey had a Jew named Batto Sfez executed for blasphemy. This execution aroused both Jews and Christians, and a deputation was sent to Napoleon III, asking him to intervene on their behalf. After two years of diplomatic negotiations, a man-of-war was sent to enforce the demands of the French government. Mohammed Bey yielded, and issued a constitution, according to which all Tunisians, without distinction of creed, were to enjoy equal rights. The following articles of this constitution were of special interest to the Jews:

(§ 4) "No manner of duress will be imposed upon our Jewish subjects forcing them to change their faith, and they will not be hindered in the free observance of their religious rites. Their synagogues will be respected, and protected from insult."

(§ 6) "When a criminal court is to pronounce the penalty incurred by a Jew, Jewish assessors shall be attached to the said court."

The constitution was abrogated in 1864 in consequence of a revolution, which entailed great suffering on several Jewish communities, especially on that of Sfax; but the constant fear of foreign interference rendered the government very circumspect in its treatment of the Jews.

Cultural changes

In 1878, shortly before the establishment of French control, the first Alliance Israélite Universelle school opened in Tunisia. 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.

French Protectorate (1881–1956)

Main article: French protectorate of Tunisia

On the eve of French colonisation of Tunisia, the Jewish population was approximately 25,000, most of which was concentrated in Tunis.

Mourners in the Borgel Jewish Cemetery, Tunis, c. 1900.

Jewish Money changer in Tunisia

A group of Tunisian Jews

The Jews of Tunisia felt much safer under the French protectorate. Contact with the French colonizers of Tunisia and the official presence of the French facilitated the assimilation of the Jews of Tunisia to French culture and their emancipation. Relying on the French revolutionary promise of Liberté, égalité, fraternité, the Jews hoped for a better life and were very receptive to the new French influences, despite their Christian European source. For the generation born under the protectorate, the French language replaced Judeo-Arabic as the mother tongue of the Jews of French Tunisia. Additionally, more Jewish children began attending state schools throughout the country, which slowly lead to the diffusion of French culture and lifestyle within the Jewish community.

Political status

Initially, the newly arrived Jews did not suffer significantly from antisemitism. Nevertheless, the newspaper La Tunisie française frequently published attacks. From March 26 to 29 March 1898, a fight between Jews and Arabs escalated into riots during which Jews were assaulted, their homes looted, and their shops ransacked, without police intervention (a form of "pogrom"). Despite convictions being handed down, the responsibility for the unrest was never clearly established. The tense context of the Dreyfus affair further added to fears of violence, though its resolution helped strengthen the Jews' attachment to France and encouraged them to make demands.

While the French presence led to the continued francization of the Jewish community, the desired rapprochement sought by its elites was not without challenges. Extending French jurisdiction to Tunisian Jews, along with the abolition of the rabbinical court and the possibility of individual naturalization, became key priorities for the modernist intelligentsia who had attended French universities. These priorities were first articulated by Mardochée Smaja in 1905 and later championed in the weekly newspaper La Justice founded in 1907. Although representatives of the French community in Tunisia supported these ideas, the protectorate administration, the French government under the French Third Republic, and conservative rabbinical authorities, backed by the most popular factions of the Jewish community, opposed them. Modernist Muslims also criticized these reforms, seeing them as undermining sovereignty and creating inequality among citizens of the same state.

Proposals to reform naturalization requirements faced hostility from authorities seeking to encourage French settlement and protect relations with the government and Muslim population. Community institution reforms were also rejected, as authorities feared they might come under the control of the Granas, who were sympathetic to Italy. Though the colonial authorities sought support within the community to strengthen their authority, this secular and liberal elite was quickly excluded from influential positions.

Facing Italian ambitions over Tunisia and the desire to increase the number of French settlers, a relaxation of naturalization conditions for Tunisian subjects was finally decided on 3 October 1910. Although the process remained selective and individual, it opened the possibility for Jews to become French citizens. Tunisian subjects over 21 who demonstrated fluency in French were eligible for naturalization if they met one of the following conditions: voluntary service in the French Armed Forces, earning a diploma, prize, or medal in higher education, marriage to a Frenchwoman with children, rendering important services to French interests in Tunisia for over ten years, or rendering exceptional services to France. These strict conditions kept the number of naturalizations low (93 between 1911 and 1914), respecting the opinions of both French and Muslim populations in Tunisia; however, they fell short of Jewish community expectations.

Community organizational reforms were also implemented: the position of caid was abolished, and the Relief and Welfare Fund of Tunis was entrusted to an administrative committee appointed by ministerial decree; all cities with significant communities were given similar structures.

After an intermediate period, the protectorate administration recognized only one chief rabbi from the Twansa community, whose authority was extended across the country, bringing initial unity to the country's community institutions.

Socio-economic integration

Due to its intermediate socio-cultural position, the francized native Jewish elite identified with republican and secular values, rejecting the existing Arab and Muslim order. This position allowed for both the social and cultural advancement of the community and the preservation of a strong identity through partnerships with other communities and guarantees provided by France. The ideology of the republican school also inspired great enthusiasm within the community. 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.

However this attitude was not universally shared among Tunisian Jews. In October 1900, a group "belonging to two traditions, the Portuguese and the Tunisian", sent a letter to Zadoc Kahn, the chief rabbi of France and honorary president of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, voicing their anger at the Alliance itself, at the education and values it promoted, and at its attempts to displace and usurp their own traditions with French ones. The authors wrote, "Do not forget that the Jews of Tunisia are not merely Jews, which in itself separates them from the French, but they are also Eastern Jews, Arab Jews, and as such so dramatically different from the French".

Tunisian Jewish couple (early 20th century).

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 and the decline of traditional Judeo-Arab culture, which nevertheless persisted in rural communities. While new synagogues were built in all cities, a notable decline in religious practice was observed, even if it remained the domain of a minority among the wealthy and educated. This phenomenon was associated with a reduction in knowledge of Hebrew due to its absence from public school curriculums, where a majority of children of both genders were enrolled, although Talmud Torah schools continued to operate in major cities.

Jewish family in Tunis listening to music on a Saturday evening.

By the end of the century, families with sufficient financial resources sent their children to secondary or even higher education. At the same time, the community prospered by taking advantage of the colonial economy. While Jews continued to practice traditional trades in commerce, trading, and craftsmanship, young people graduating from schools and training centers were increasingly employed in workshops, shops, and offices. They also joined the network of bank and insurance branches established by French companies, ventured into new professions, participated in the creation of early industries, or started agricultural enterprises.

The proportion of employees increased significantly as young people fluent in French had sufficient mastery of the Arabic dialect to act as intermediaries between their French employers and Tunisian clients. The next generation was encouraged to go beyond primary education and enter liberal professions, such as medicine, pharmacy, or law, often after studying in France or Italy.

Westernized Jewish families abandoned their traditional dwellings (oukalas) in the Hara of Tunis to settle in individual apartments on its outskirts or, for the wealthiest, in the new neighborhoods of Tunis. These economic transformations led to a restructuring of Jewish society: a commercial, industrial, and even agricultural bourgeoisie; a liberal class (lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, and architects); a middle class (traders, artisans, employees, and civil servants); a still-small working class; and a mass of unqualified laborers, the sick, and the disabled with modest means, who survived only through community support and were often concentrated in the Hara.

Cultural integration

Makhlouf Nadjar (1888–1963), writer, journalist, and theater director from Sousse.

Schooling played a significant role in the acculturation of new generations. As a result, French became a maternal language alongside Arabic, sometimes even replacing it, enabling individuals’ emancipation and social mobility. At the same time, European first names replaced Hebrew or Arabic ones, European clothing was adopted, weekly work rhythms were embraced, and superstitious beliefs and practices shared with Muslims were abandoned. Women also emancipated themselves through changes in clothing, although at a slower pace than men and with intergenerational and intrafamilial gaps.

Many Tunisian Jews became eligible for French citizenship under the Morinaud laws of 1923.

Simultaneously, marital and paternal authority was moderated by the development of female education, the growing influence of modernist values, and the higher education levels of new generations. Additionally, the age of marriage increased, consanguineous marriages became rarer, intermarriages between Twansa and Granas became more frequent, and nuclear families became more distinct from extended families.

First page of The Count of Monte Cristo in seven volumes, translated into Judeo-Arabic by the ceramist and journalist Jacob Chemla (1889).

With the dissemination of Hebrew printing in Tunis, a few years after the establishment of the protectorate, a new era of significant intellectual and social activity began, encompassing poetry, prose essays, and journalism. Many individuals found their vocation as poets, songwriters, storytellers, essayists, or journalists. Over 25 periodicals in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic emerged, although this phenomenon faded quickly after World War I. Religious works, Arabic literature, folklore, translations of European literature, and original creations were published.

Habiba Msika.

Other writings, often long ballads or rhymed narratives, described events within the community, whether social, cultural, or domestic, but especially the evolving customs and behaviors of a modernizing community. Distributed as leaflets or small booklets, these texts were sometimes written in loosely transcribed Latin characters and were always based on popular tunes. Quickly, traditional local poetic genres emerged. In a bibliography compiled between 1904 and 1907 by Eusèbe Vassel, he cataloged poetic works by prolific pioneers like Simah Levy. Vassel also cited Haï Vita Sitruk and Malzouma on the Disappointments of This World, written by an anonymous author. Hundreds of popular poems, initially composed in Tunis and later in other communities like Djerba and Sousse, told Jewish traditions in a novel way that some traditionalist authors considered "threatening".

These creations also allowed, for the first time in printed form, the dissemination of lyrical or romantic texts, influenced by both local production and Arab-Muslim works from Egypt, which were very popular in Tunisia at the time. During this period, Jewish artists like Leïla Sfez, Habiba Msika, and Cheikh El Afrit gained widespread fame and contributed to the revival of Tunisian music. A cultural shift also occurred with the emergence of Jewish painters such as Moses Levy, Maurice Bismouth, David Junès, and Jules Lellouche. Albert Samama-Chikli directed the first short film in the history of Tunisian cinema, Zohra, in 1922.

World War II

Following the armistice of 22 June 1940, the French Protectorate of Tunisia became part of Vichy France, the new French state ruled by collaborationist Marshal Philippe Pétain during France's occupation by Nazi Germany in World War II. Under the rule of Pétain's collaborationist regime, the Jews of Vichy France and Vichy Tunisia were subjected to the two antisemitic Statut des Juifs (Jewish Statutes of October 3, 1940 and June 2, 1941), like the Jews in mainland France. 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. Consequently, Jews found themselves in their prior inferior status of "natives" and were impoverished. In August 1941, Xavier Vallat, head of the Office for Jewish Affairs (Commissariat Général aux Questions Juives), came from Metropolitan France to check the matter of the Jewish question. According to an article on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) website, "The history of the Holocaust in France's three North African territories (the three departments, 91, 92, and 93, in French Algeria, the two French protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia) is intrinsically tied to France's fate during this period." Holocaust scholar Martin Gilbert specified that the persecution of the Jews of French North Africa was an integral part of the Holocaust in France.

French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as European territories in North Africa were considered part of Europe, as per a French and German document relevant to the Final Solution of the Jewish question.

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. Immediately after the Allied landings in Vichy-Algeria and Vichy-Morocco, the Germans occupied Vichy Tunisia. On November 23, 1942, the Germans arrested Moises Burgel, the president of the Tunis Jewish community, and several other prominent Jews. The Jews of Vichy Tunisia were spared the mass deportations and mass murder that happened in Europe.

Tunisian Jews tear off the yellow badge from their clothes, encouraged by the Allied soldiers who liberated their village from Vichy French rule

When the Nazis invaded Vichy Tunisia, the country was home to some 100,000 Jews. According to Yad Vashem, the Nazis imposed antisemitic policies including forcing Jews to wear the yellow badge, fines, and confiscation of property. More than 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor camps, where 265 are known to have been murdered. An additional 160 Jews of Tunisia living in France were sent to extermination camps in continental Europe.

Khaled Abdul-Wahab, a Muslim Arab of Vichy Tunisia, "the Arab Schindler," was the first Arab nominated for the Israeli Righteous Among the Nations award.

Post-War period and independence

Between the end of World War II and the independence of Tunisia in March 1956, there was deep debate in the Tunisian Jewish community over Zionism. Anti-Jewish attacks in Hafsia in 1952 and conflict surrounding the independence struggle resulted in the first wave of emigration.

Following independence, a mixed picture emerged. On the one hand President Habib Bourguiba was seen as having the most liberal policy toward Jews among the Arabic-speaking nations, even going so far as to apologize to Tunisia's chief rabbi Mordekhai Meiss Cohen after violent anti-Jewish rioting in response to the Six-Day War in 1967. However, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, "anti-Jewish" decrees such as the abolition of Tunisia's Jewish Community Council in 1958 and the "destruction" of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and Jewish quarters for "urban renewal" prompted more than 40,000 Jews to leave Tunisia between 1956 and 1967. By 1970, the majority of Tunisia's Jewish population had left the country. Emigrating Tunisian Jews primarily went to either Israel or France.

Arab Spring (post-2011)

Lag Ba'Omer procession returning to the El Ghriba synagogue in Er-Riadh (Hara Sghira), Djerba 2007

After the Tunisian Revolution, Ennahda became the leading political force in the country, elected as the largest party in the transitional government. The party's leader, Rashid Al-Ghannushi, sent a delegation to the Jews in Djerba, assuring them that they have nothing to worry about in a democratic Tunisia, where the Islamists would play a larger role. He even sent gifts to the Jewish nursing homes in Tunis. In November 2012, the community asked for the army's protection when a policeman was arrested after plotting to kidnap a young Jew for a ransom.

In 2011, the Israeli cabinet announced that it had allocated funding to help Tunisian Jews move to Israel due to growing manifestations of antisemitism and the difficult economic situation.

In January 2014, the Ennahda-led government voluntarily stepped aside and a transitional government, appointed to rule during the drafting of the new constitution until democratic elections would be held later in the year, took office. The new secular constitution for the first time explicitly protected not only freedom of religion, but freedom of conscience (freedom to become atheist, leave or change religions), and explicitly protected minorities such as Jews from official or unofficial discrimination. The new Tunisian constitution is the first of its kind in the Maghreb and the Arab world in embracing both Arabism and liberal secularism, and is seen as a model for other countries to adopt. The democratically elected constitutional committee, dominated by Ennahda, also rejected terms which would have forbidden relations with Israel. In 2022, Tunisia banned two films with Israeli actress Gal Gadot because she had served in the Israeli army.

Education and culture

The Jewish community in Tunis operates three primary schools, two secondary schools, and a yeshiva. The Jewish community in Djerba operates one kindergarten, two primary schools, two secondary schools, and a yeshiva. There is also a Jewish primary school and synagogue in the coastal city of Zarzis. The Jewish community also has two homes for the aged. Tunisia's first Jewish museum opened in 2012. In 2015, Tunis' last kosher restaurant closed due to security concerns.

Synagogues

For a more comprehensive list, see List of synagogues in Tunisia.

Grand Synagogue of Tunis

Zarzis Synagogue

The most famous synagogue in Tunisia is the El Ghriba synagogue in the village of Hara Sghira on Djerba. The current building was constructed in late 19th or early 20th century, but the site is believed to have had a synagogue on it for the past 1,900 years. Tunisian Jews have for centuries made an annual pilgrimage to the synagogue on Lag Ba'Omer. On April 11, 2002, a truck full of explosives was detonated close to the synagogue, killing 21 people (of whom 14 were German tourists and 2 Frenchmen), and wounding over 30, in the Ghriba Synagogue Attack. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility. Hayyim Madar was the chief rabbi until his death on December 3, 2004. Memorial services were held at the Beit Mordekhai Synagogue in La Goulette, Tunis, and the El Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba.

In May 2023, a Tunisian police officer killed four in a shooting near El Ghriba synagogye on Djerba, also the site of 2002's Ghriba synagogue bombing. An attacker fired a gun into a crowd visiting the house of worship during an annual pilgrimage event. 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.

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. Police did not intervene.

Notable Tunisian Jews

• Abba of Carthage, scholar
• Masa'ud Raphael Alfasi (died 1776), rabbi
• Max Azria, fashion designer
• Alain Boublil, French lyricist and librettist
• Michel Boujenah, French comic
• Serge Bramly, French writer and essayist
• Elsa Cayat, French psychoanalyst and columnist killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting
• Claude Challe, French DJ and club owner
• Jacob Chemla, ceramic artist, businessman, and author
• Pierre Darmon, French tennis player
• Yehuda Getz, rabbi of the Western Wall in Jerusalem
• Mathilda Guez, Israeli politician
• Élie Kakou, French comic
• William Karel, French film director and author
• Élie Lellouche, French trainer of thoroughbred racehorses and jockeys
• Ofer Lellouche, Israeli painter, sculptor, etcher, and video artist
• Pierre Lellouche, French politician
• Hayyim Madar, Chief Rabbi of Tunisia
• Georges Adda, Tunisian politician
• Rene Traboulsi, Minister of Tourism in Tunisia
• Alain Mamou-Mani, French film producer and writer
• Menahem Mazuz, justice of the Supreme Court of Israel and former attorney general
• Albert Memmi, French author and essayist
• Nine Moati, French novelist
• Serge Moati, French artist, journalist, film director, and writer
• Kobi Oz, Israeli singer
• Victor Perez, boxer and World Flyweight Champion in 1931 and 1932 who was murdered in the Auschwitz death march
• Jacques Saada, Canadian politician and former cabinet minister
• Philippe Séguin, French politician and former president of the National Assembly and Court of Audit
• Leïla Sfez (1874–1944), malouf singer
• Silvan Shalom, Israeli politician
• Joseph Sitruk, former Chief Rabbi of France
• David Tal, Israeli politician
• Haydée Tamzali, silent-era filmmaker
• Avraham Tiar, Israeli politician
• Aharon Uzan, Israeli politician
• Georges Wolinski, French cartoonist killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting
• Ariel Zeitoun, French director, producer and screenwriter
• Nissim Zvili, Israeli politician and former ambassador to France

Films and documentaries

• The Bible's Witness: The Jews of Djerba (1978) by Alain Cohen and Georges Nizan. French television. Documentary on the 2,500 year old community in Djerba and their culture and traditions.
• My Country Left Me (1995) by Karin Albou. Three generations of French Jews from Tunisia reflect on the pain of both exile and assimilation into France.
• Journey from Tunisia (2017) by Jonathan Maimon. Jewish memories of Tunisia from those born in Gabès, including life under the Nazi occupation in 1943.

See also

• Maghrebi Jews
• Islam and Judaism
• Jews outside Europe under Nazi occupation
• Or Torah Synagogue in Acre, Israel
• Antisemitism in the Arab world#Tunisia
• Geography of antisemitism#Tunisia
• Israeli people of Tunisian descent

Bibliography

Jews of Tunisia

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• Jean-Pierre Allali (2003). Juifs de Tunisie (in French). Courbevoie: Soline. p. 160. ISBN 978-2-87677-472-8.
• Jean-Pierre Allali (2014). Les Juifs de Tunisie sous la botte allemande: Chronique d'un drame méconnu (in French). Paris: Glyphe. p. 330. ISBN 978-2-35815-119-1.
• Robert Attal [in French]; Claude Sitbon (1979). Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie (in French). Paris: Albin Michel. p. 315. ISBN 978-2-226-00789-6.
• Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé; Dominique Jarrassé (2010). Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d'une histoire et d'une identité (in French). Le Kremlin-Bicêtre: Esthétiques du divers. p. 320. ISBN 978-2-9533041-2-1.
• David Cazès [in French] (1887). Essai sur l'histoire des Israélites de Tunisie: Depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à l'établissement du protectorat de la France en Tunisie (in French). Paris: Armand Durlacher. p. 211.
• David Cazès [in French] (1893). Notes bibliographiques sur la littérature juive-tunisienne (in French). Tunis: Imprimerie internationale. p. 370.
• David Cohen [in French] (1995). Le parler arabe des Juifs de Tunis: Textes et documents linguistiques et ethnographiques (in French). Paris/La Haye: Mouton & Co. p. 177. ISBN 978-2-7132-0313-8.
• Denis Cohen-Tannoudji (2007). Entre Orient et Occident: Juifs et musulmans en Tunisie (in French). Paris: Éditions de l'éclat. p. 379. ISBN 978-2-84162-144-6.
• Georges Cohen (1993). De l'Ariana à Galata: Itinéraire d'un Juif de Tunisie (in French). Vincennes: Racines. p. 187. ISBN 978-2-9507375-0-2.
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Jews of the Maghreb

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• André Chouraqui [in French] (1998). Histoire des Juifs en Afrique du Nord, Volume II: Retour en Orient (in French). Paris: Éditions du Rocher. p. 340. ISBN 978-2-268-03106-4.
• Mark R. Cohen (2008). Sous le croissant et sous la croix: Les Juifs au Moyen Âge (in French). Translated by Jean-Pierre Ricard. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. p. 464. ISBN 978-2-02-081579-6.
• Paul B. Fenton [in French]; David G. Littman (2010). L'Exil au Maghreb: La condition juive sous l'islam, 1148-1912 (in French). Paris: Sorbonne Université Presses. p. 800. ISBN 978-2-84050-725-3.
• Paul Monceaux [in French] (1902). "Les colonies juives dans l'Afrique romaine". Revue des études juives (in French). 44 (87): 1–28. doi:10.3406/rjuiv.1902.4541. ISSN 0484-8616.
• Effy Tselikas; Lina Hayoun (2004). Les lycées français du soleil: Creusets cosmopolites de la Tunisie, de l'Algérie et du Maroc (in French). Paris: Autrement. p. 272. ISBN 978-2-7467-0435-0.
• Jacques Taïeb (2000). Sociétés juives du Maghreb moderne (1500–1900) (in French). Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose. p. 223. ISBN 978-2-7068-1467-9.
• Jacques Taïeb (1994). Être juif au Maghreb à la veille de la colonisation (in French). Paris: Albin Michel. p. 144. ISBN 978-2-226-06802-6.
• Shmuel Trigano [in French] (2006). Le Monde sépharade, Volume I: Histoire (in French). Paris: Éditions du Seuil. p. 1008. ISBN 978-2-02-086992-8.
• Shmuel Trigano [in French] (2006). Le Monde sépharade, Volume II: Civilisation (in French). Paris: Éditions du Seuil. p. 816. ISBN 978-2-02-086993-5.
• Colette Zytnicki [in French] (2011). Les Juifs du Maghreb: Naissance d'une historiographie coloniale (in French). Paris: Sorbonne Université Presses. p. 391. ISBN 978-2-84050-782-6.

Further reading

• Tobi, Tsivia (2016). Yosef Tobi (ed.). From bride to mother-in-law: The world of Jewish women in southern Tunisia and its reflection in popular literature (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute. ISBN 9789652351906. OCLC 951011735.
• Tobi, Tsivia (2020). Ornaments of Tarshish: The Attire and the Jewelry of the Jewish Women in Tunisia (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Misgav Yerushalayim, The Hebrew University. OCLC 1142832305.