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Abu Shaif Synagogue, Zliten, Libya

Description

The Slat Abu Shaif (Bushaif) Synagogue was built in 1060. The synagogue was a Lag Ba'omer pilgrimage site. Lag Ba'omer is a holiday remembering the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. During the Ottoman rule of Libya, which began in 1551, the synagogue was expanded and became a site for studying the Zohar, which is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah (1). 

Zliten was home to a Jewish settlement as early as the 2nd century. However, the settlement grew substantially between the 1600s and 1800s. The Jewish community’s income came from the taxes on kosher slaughter and kosher wine. They also made money from the annual Lag Ba-Omer celebrations that were so popular that the community rented two buildings to accommodate all of the visitors (2). 

The synagogue burned down multiple times. The first time was in 1868 by Muslims, in part because it was located near the tomb of Sidi Abd Al-Salem, a sacred site for Muslims, and rebuilt in 1870 by the Pasha of Tripoli by order of the Ottoman Sultan (3). The second time was by accident in 1912 when Libya was under Italian rule, it was rebuilt shortly after. There was a mass exodus of Jews from Libya between 1949 and 1951, a result of the treatment they underwent at the hands of facist Italy. Libyan migrants in Israel built a replica of the synagogue in Zetan. The original Zliten synagogue remained intact until the 1980s, when it was destroyed under the orders of Muammar Gaddafi and replaced with an apartment complex (4).

According to Libyan tradition, the name of the synagogue might have come from the name of a famous righteous lady buried on the site or perhaps the name of the individual who donated the land on which the synagogue was located (5).

Zliten, Libya

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