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Yedder, Libya
The Libyan village of Yedder (Yidr, Yidder, Yidar, Yeder, يدر, ידר) Libya (ليبيا, לוב) is located on the outskirts of Misrata (مصراتة, מצראתה). According to tradition it was first settled by exiles from Judea after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Description
Yedder was the older of the two Jewish areas of Misrata, the younger being Maṭin (the Jewish quarter directly west of the suk or central market).1 Yedder was 2-4km northeast of the suk.2 It had a large market that was open on Tuesdays and Thursdays; two market days per week suggested that it was very popular.3 The large synagogue in Yedder called Ghribat Yedder (ג'ריבת ידר) was famous enough for another synagogue in Misrata to be named after it.
According to informants, the first Jews to move to central Misrata from Yedder in the 19th and 20th centuries did not immediately settle in the city itself but in a Jewish quarter they established on the outskirts. Tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions dating from 1142 have been found near Misrata, and the existence of a Jewish community strongly suggests non-agricultural activity of some kind.4 Only later, when Misrata’s markets expanded, did Jewish settlers move into the city and especially into the Muqawaba neighborhood.
Sunday was the only market day for the suk in Misrata, until the Italians colonized Misrata and rescheduled its market to occur three days every week. This economic expansion caused Yidr to fall.5
The Jews of Misrata
Historically Misrata was a central market town, although to local farmers, the term “Misrata” tends to refer to the hinterlands around the market and the town itself was simply called suk (market).6 In addition to local trade among the areas south and east of the suk, Misrata was also a caravan trade hub.7 There has been evidence of Jewish settlement in Misrata in 1589 and in the early 18th century.8
During WWII, several Jewish families from Misurata moved 12 kilometers west to Zawiet el-Mahjib. However, according to an interview by Anthropologist Harvey E. Goldberg, they returned home after several months when the Muslims at Zawiet el-Mahjib opposed the establishment of a synagogue in a room that the Jews rented from an Arab.”9
Today Misrata is the 3rd most populated city in Libya.10
Yedder, Libya
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Endnotes
1. Blake, Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 11.
2. Goldberg, 249; Blake, Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 11.
3. Goldberg, “Ecologic and Demographic Aspects of Rural Tripolitanian Jewry,” 249; Blake, Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 11, 13–15.
4. Blake, Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 11.
5. Blake, 13–15.
6. Gerald Blake, Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 1968, 3.
7. Blake, 3.
8. Harvey Goldberg, “Ecologic and Demographic Aspects of Rural Tripolitanian Jewry: 1853-1949,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 2, no. 3 (1971): 259.
9. Goldberg, “Ecologic and Demographic Aspects of Rural Tripolitanian Jewry,” 258.
10. “List of Cities in Libya,” in Wikipedia, June 22, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_cities_in_Libya&oldid=1094347987.
Works Cited
Blake, Gerald. Misurata: A Market Town in Tripolitania, 1968.
Goldberg, Harvey. “Ecologic and Demographic Aspects of Rural Tripolitanian Jewry: 1853-1949.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 2, no. 3 (1971): 245–65.
“List of Cities in Libya.” In Wikipedia, June 22, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_cities_in_Libya&oldid=1094347987.
Interview with M. G. Z.