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Tegrena (Tigrinna, Tighrinna) Libya

Description

Geography

The Jewish village Tegrena is in the Gharian district, about 4-5 km south of Gharian-town, on the east side of the main road that connects Gharian to Tripoli. Muslims lived in a community called Menzel Tegrena several hundred meters away. They called the Jewish village ḥārit il yhūd, ḥūsh il yhūd, and arḍ il yhūd.¹ The Jews of Tegrena are called Ghaina.²

In 1931, Italian farmers colonized part of Tegrena, east of the Jewish locale.³ They added a police station, medical dispensary, church, and an elementary school, to the fabric of the city. Many of the Jewish boys attended the Italian school for a few years.⁴ The Italians also paved over the main road, after which Jewish residents opened more shops along it. Tuesday was the main market day.⁵ Anthropologist Harvey E. Goldberg attributes the appearance of these businesses to a tradition of economic adaptability on the Jews’ part.⁶

The Ghaina were mostly troglodytes, dwelling in caves that were organically positioned in scattered lines. Among the homes were two neighboring synagogues, the earlier of which was a “very old” troglodyte structure.⁷ The newer, above-ground synagogue was built in 1885, under the administration of Sheikh Khalifa Zubit Hajjaj (Tegrena community leader 1885-1913). During the first year of his authority he secured permission from Istanbul for the construction of a new synagogue next to the old one, which was built that same year.⁸ An open “piazza” in front of the synagogues contained their water cistern, and on the other side of this piazza there was a refuse dump.⁹ There was also a Jewish cemetery just south of the village.¹⁰

Religious tradition reinforced the connection between the Gharian to the city of Tripoli. Local religious specialists might perform marriages, but divorces and legal disputes over inheritance could only be resolved by the Rabbinic court in Tripoli. The Torah scrolls in Tegrena were also imported from Tripoli, or even further away.¹¹

Population 

According to surveys by various demographers, the Jewish population of Tegrenna was recorded as follows:¹²

The 72 Jewish families in Tegrena in 1948 considered themselves as members of three family lines; The Hajjaj from Syria or Morocco, the Ba’dash from Syria, and the Hasan (hassan), a sephardic group from Barcelona.¹⁵ Not much is known about the Ba’dash, but there is record of conflict and resolution between the Hajjaj and Hassan.

The Hajjaj were the first to arrive in Tegrena, in some part due to conflicts with Arabs in other villages. The Hasan first moved from Spain to Jehisha, Libya, but similarly experienced cultural tension with the Arab communities there. They consequently migrated to Tegrena in the early 19th century.¹⁶ In an interview with Goldberg, One of the oldest men of the village elaborated on the brief dissonance between the Hajjaj and Hassan as they began living together:  

The tension between the Hajjaj and Hassan was reconciled relatively quickly, demonstrating the prevalence of community solidarity as a core value among the Jews of Tegrena. Both synagogues in Tegrena were attended by both the Hajjaj and Hassan, and it is possible that the construction of the 1885 synagogue was associated with the reconciliation between the two groups.¹⁸

Community Life

Community life was valued highly among the Ghaina and was demonstrated in part by attendance at religious events. For instance, the hīkhal (cabinet for storing Torah scrolls) of Tegrena’s Old Synagogue housed a decree signed by an older generation of community leaders that forbade anyone from leaving home for work on the day of a funeral until after the burial, to assure that funerals would be well-attended. Violators were to be fined for that day’s earnings. This ordinance shows that unity in times of grief was important to the Ghaina, however, the codification of these traditional religious values suggests that public support could not always be taken for granted.¹⁹

Weddings also supported community solidarity. The Ghaina and the Abbasiya (The Jews of the village Ben’abbas, 14km away) had a high rate of endogamy, close to 90%.²⁰ Sometimes Ghaina would also marry residents of other nearby communities such as Zliten and Terhuna. As was common in Tripolitania, annual or occasional visits to family in other villages might result in additional marriages, which encouraged further visits, and so forth.²¹ Weddings and other joyful events such as celebrations of Jewish majority and circumcisions were also attened by the entire community of Tegrena, furthering local unity.²² 

Special Days

Goldberg notes the following names for holidays and other special religious time periods in Tegrena, as part of a larger study on the similarities and differences between tripolitanian Jewish towns:²³

Present day

The Ghaina migrated to the Even Yosef village in Israel around 1965. They share the village with the ‘Abbasiya, (Jews of Ben’abbas). The two groups retain dialect, foods, and rituals that distinguish themselves from each other, but conflict between them was resolved early on after the move.²⁴ Similarly, the Hassan carried on rituals in Israel that distinguished them from the Hajjaj.²⁵

Tigrinna, Libya

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