Relevant Articles
Articles, essays, and research from scholars, journalists, and community members, chosen by JIMENA to deepen your understanding of Jewish life in Tunisia.
Articles
Thousands of Jews Make an Annual Pilgrimage to This Muslim Country
Each spring, thousands of Jewish pilgrims travel to the El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, one of the oldest Jewish sites in North Africa.
The Tunisia Campaign, 1942 to 1943
How Allied forces drove German and Italian armies out of Tunisia in 1943, ending the German occupation.
Intimate Stranger: Nomi Stone on Djerba
Poet Nomi Stone lived among the Jews of Djerba in 2003, a year after the Ghriba bombing, and turned her notes into poems.
Who Is an Arab Jew? Albert Memmi
Tunisian born writer Albert Memmi on why Jews from Arab lands are indigenous to the region, and why they could not go back.
An Ancient Tunisian Jewish Tradition: Writing Prayers on Eggs
At Djerba's El Ghriba synagogue, Jews and Muslims gather to write their hopes on eggs, an old Tunisian Jewish custom.
Albert Memmi: Antisemitism, Colonialism, Racism
Rabbi Marc D. Angel reflects on the life and ideas of Tunisian born writer Albert Memmi, from the Jewish quarter of Tunis to his writings on colonialism and racism.
Moulinville, Sfax: Nothing about Childhood
Novelist Chochana Boukhobza on a family from Sfax that left for Paris, and the Tunisia they carried with them.
La Hara, Tunis: Of Wings and Footprints
Writer Hubert Haddad remembers a childhood in Tunis, the women who taught him to cook, and a shared world of music and memory.
Karin Albou Interview (AVIVA-Berlin)
French filmmaker Karin Albou talks about her films, including “The Wedding Song,” a story of friendship between a Jewish and a Muslim girl in Nazi-occupied Tunis.
Juifs et Arabes (Albert Memmi, excerpt, in French)
In this excerpt from his 1974 book, the great Tunisian Jewish writer Albert Memmi argues that Jewish life in Arab lands was never the idyll it is often remembered as.
Ashes and Echoes: The Fractured Truths of El Hamma (Distinctions)
Educator Adam Eilath weighs a beloved legend of the southern Tunisian town of El Hamma against the archival record, and reflects on the 2023 burning of its synagogue.
Report on the Jews of Tunisia
ustice for Jews from Arab Countries traces the decline of Tunisia’s Jewish community from 105,000 in 1948 to about 1,500 today and the property Tunisian Jews lost.
