Teach by Country
Bring the story of a specific Jewish community into your classroom. JIMENA's country pages trace Jewish life in ten countries of the Middle East and North Africa, from ancient times to today. Each one brings together a history written for students, a timeline, the laws that shaped Jewish life, recipes, music, photos, oral histories, recommended books, and discussion questions. Use them to start a lesson, support a research project, or build a heritage month unit.
Jewish Communities of the Middle East and North Africa
The Jews of Algeria
From Roman era communities and refugees from Spain to French citizenship, its loss under Vichy, and the departure of about 140,000 Jews in 1961 and 1962. Strong for units on colonialism, World War II in North Africa, and Andalusian music.
The Jews of Egypt
More than 2,500 years of Jewish life, from Alexandria to the Cairo of Maimonides, and the forced departure of a community of about 75,000 to 80,000 after 1948, 1956, and 1967.
The Jews of Iran
More than 2,500 years of Jewish life in Persia, from Cyrus the Great and Queen Esther to the 1979 revolution. A natural fit for Purim and Nowruz lessons.
The Jews of Iraq
Ancient Babylonia, where the Babylonian Talmud was written, through the Farhud of 1941 and the departure of about 120,000 to 130,000 Jews in 1950 to 1952. A key case study for Holocaust era education beyond Europe.
The Jews of Lebanon
Life in Beirut's Wadi Abu Jamil, in the only Arab country whose Jewish population grew after 1948, until the civil war that began in 1975 drove almost everyone away.
The Jews of Libya
From Greek Cyrene to Tripoli's Jewish quarter, the Giado camp of World War II, the 1945 pogrom, and the 1967 expulsion that JIMENA's cofounder lived through.
The Jews of Morocco
Once the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, about 250,000 people, and still the largest in North Africa. Explore the Mimouna, pilgrimages to the tombs of revered rabbis, and Andalusian music.
The Jews of Syria
The communities of Aleppo and Damascus, guardians of the Aleppo Codex, through the 1947 Aleppo pogrom and decades of travel bans that ended in 1992.
The Jews of Tunisia
From Roman Carthage to the island of Djerba and its El Ghriba synagogue, German occupation in 1942 and 1943, and a community that still lives on Djerba today.