Gabes Tunisia

In Roman Times.

Formerly one of the Barbary States of North Africa, but since 1881 a dependency of France; situated between latitude 31° and 37° north, and longitude 8° and 11° east, and bounded north and northeast by the Mediterranean, southeast by Tripoli, south and southwest by the desert of Sahara, and west by Algeria. A tradition is current among the descendants of the first Jewish settlers, traces of whom are still to be found among the nomadic Mussulman tribes of Drid, Henansha, and Khumir, that their ancestors settled in that part of North Africa long before the destruction of the First Temple. Though this is unfounded, the presence of Jews there at the appearance of Christianity is attested by the Jewish monument found by Prudhomme at Ḥammam al-Laṭif in 1883 (see "Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres," 1883; "Revue Archéologique," March and April, 1883; "R. E. J." 1886). After the dissolution of the Jewish state a great number of Jews was sent by Titus to Mauritania, and many of them settled in Tunis. These settlers were engaged in agriculture, cattle-raising, and trades. They were divided into clans, or tribes, governed by their respective heads, 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 Jewish inhabitants of Tunis increased and prospered to such a degree that African Church councils deemed it necessary to enact restrictive laws against them. After the overthrow of the Vandals by Belisarius (534), Justinian issued his edict of persecution, in which the Jews were classed with the Arians and heathens ("Novellæ," ).

Tunisian Jewess.(From a photograph.)

In the seventh century the Jewish population waslargely augmented by Spanish immigrants, who, fleeing from the persecutions of the Visigothic king Sisebut and his successors, escaped to Mauritania and settled in the Byzantine cities. These settlers, according to the Arabic historians, mingled with the Berber population and converted many powerful tribes, which continued to profess Judaism until the reign of the founder of the Idriside dynasty. Al-Ḳairuwani relates that at the time of the conquest of Hippo Zaritus (Bizerta) by Ḥasan in 698 the governor of that district was a Jew. When Tunis came under the dominion of the Arabs, or of the Arabian califate of Bagdad, another influx of Arab Jews into Tunis took place. Like all other Jews in Mohammedan countries, those of Tunis were subject to the ordinance of See Omar.

Under Islam.

In 788, when Imam Idris proclaimed Mauritania's independence of the califate of Bagdad, 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 califate of Bagdad; and secondarily, because of some indignities committed by Idris against Jewesses. The victorious Idris avenged this defection by attacking the Jews in their cities. After an unsuccessful resistance peace was concluded, according to the terms of which the Jews were required to pay a capitation-tax and to 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 Gerba are the descendants of that tribe. In 793 Imam Idris was poisoned at the command of Harun al-Rashid (it is said, by the governor's physician Shamma, probably a Jew), and about 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 KAIRWAN, which was established soon after the foundation of that city by 'Uḳba ibn Nafi', in the year 670.

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 Kairwan community, and members thereof began to emigrate to the city of Tunis, which speedily gained in population and in commercial importance.

The accession of the Almohade dynasty to the throne of the Maghreb provinces in 1146 proved very disastrous to the Jews of Tunis. In pursuance of a fanciful belief, of which there is no trace in Moslem tradition, the first Almohade, 'Abd al-Mu'min, claimed that Mohammed 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 Almohades compelled them to wear a special garb, with a yellow cloth for a head-covering.

The intellectual status of the Tunisian Jews at that time was on a level with their political situation. Maimonides, who, while on his way to Egypt, sojourned some time in the island of Gerba and other localities, expressed himself, in a letter addressed to his son, in the following terms:

Interior of the Great Synagogue at Tunis.(From a photograph.)

Maimonides' Opinion.

The Jews of Tunis at that time scrupulously observed most of the festivals, but did not celebratethe second days; they entirely ignored the festival of Purim, although they observed that of Ḥanukkah.