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Synagogue, Gafsa, Tunisia
Gafsa (قفصة, Capsa, גפצה), Tunisia
From the outside, you might not know the purpose of the Synagogue of Gafsa. The building is tall and sand-colored, with high ceilings, windows, and walls. Its nondescript terracotta balcony is squeezed against the walls of the residential homes and businesses, but it is protected by high walls in the places where it touches the street. It acts as something of a medieval fortress against the old Rue de Juif (now called Synagogue Street) on which it sits. But the inside tells a different story. Ornate red and white horseshoe arches ring the inner core of the building. Ceramic tiles pattern the high walls of the interior. These were a common motif in Tunisian constructions of the 19th century, providing a small hint as to the synagogue’s inspirations and date of construction. [7]
Description
The Synagogue of Gafsa
Unfortunately, there is no definite date provided for the establishment of the Synagogue of Gafsa. The first known report of its existence comes from a French topographic report conducted in 1893. The building was expanded to include a larger property and more windows in 1921. Besides that, little is known about the construction of the building. [8]Details like the synagogue’s horseshoe arches and other artistic motifs portray architectural inspiration from Arabic mosque architecture. Additionally, historian Hubert Cornet has proposed that there was a deep exchange of both religious and architectural ideasbetween Djerba and Gafsa. [9] Indeed, in the 19th century, the Gafsa synagogue’s Shim’oni Rabbinical family hailed from Djerba. Much was shared between Gafsa and the large and vibrant Jewish community in Djerba. [10] The strongly Orthodox Jewish population of Gafsa valued religious direction from Djerba, viewing the area as a center of religious purity. As a result of these attitudes, the Synagogue of Gafsa never contained a women’s platform. Only older women would occasionally be allowed to attend services[11]
Current news:
Currently, the Synagogue of Gafsa has fallen into great disrepair. Its terrace is dangerously slumped. Its skylight is cracked and broken, its tilework and paint is fading, and the Hebrew inscriptions that once adorned its walls have faded or been whitewashed. It is disused, filled with dust and dirt. It is the neglected shadow of a more glorious past. However, we can do the synagogue a great service by remembering and understanding it.
Gafsa:
The City of Gafsa traces its ancestry to the Roman colony of Capsa. Evidence of this occupation can be found in the southwestern corner of the city’s crenelated Kasbah, where ancient Roman baths still lie. Right alongside them lie the Jewish baths of Gafsa. [1] These baths portray an ancient Jewish presence in the region that has almost completely disappeared from the pages of history. But traces of it remain in the city’s architectural record.
The Jewish community that exists in Gafsa today has been entirely rebuilt from its persecution and destruction during the reign of the Almohads in the 12th century. Almost all non-Muslims were forced to convert to Islam during the “Almohad terror”. For Jews, a return to public displays of faith was gradual and often covert. [2] For this reason, there is only sparse evidence of early Jewish practices and traditions in Gafsa.
Adding to this difficulty is the fact that Jewish populations in Gafsa remained rather small until the 20th century. A census taken in 1786 found that about 50 Jewish families were living in Gafsa. [3] Another census undertaken by the Sardinian consul in 1830 established the same count—50 Jewish families in Gafsa, out of approximately eight thousand total inhabitants. [4] That year, 1830, would have been around the time that the Gafsa Synagogue was established. It was not until the 1900s that the population of Jews in Gafsa significantly increased. While there were about 250 Jews there in 1909, by 1926, the population had reached 695 people. [5] This population increase was largely the result of immigration to Gafsa from elsewhere in Tunisia for economic reasons, rather than the result of a high birth rate. [6]
Sources
Notes:
[1] Peter Morris and Daniel Jacobs, Tunisia: The Rough Guide, (London: The Rough Guides, 1995), 298-302.
[2] Irit Abramski-Bligh, “Gafsa”, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J, ed. Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder, et al. (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 412-413.
[3] H.Z. Hirschberg, A History of the Jews in North Africa. Volume II: From the Ottoman Conquests to the Present Time, ed. Eliezer Bashan and Robert Attal, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), 105.
[4] Haim Saadoun, “Gafsa”, The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Modern World, ed. Norman A. Stillman. Published online in 2010.
[5] Robert Attal, Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie, (Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1979), Table II.
[6] Hubert Cornet, “Les Juifs de Gafsa”, Cahiers de Tunisie 10, (1955): 279-280.
[7] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, (Paris: Éditions Esthétiques du Divers, 2010), 106-110.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Haim Saadoun, “Gafsa”, The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Modern World, ed. Norman A. Stillman. Published online in 2010.
[11] Hubert Cornet, “Les Juifs de Gafsa”, Cahiers de Tunisie 10, (1955): 300.
Bibliography:
Abramski-Bligh, Irit. “Gafsa”. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A-J. Edited by Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder, et al. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Accessed June 26, 2018.
Attal, Robert. Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1979. Accessed August 25, 2018.
Bismuth-Jarrassé, Colette, and Dominique Jarrassé. Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité. Paris: Éditions Esthétiques du Divers, 2010. Accessed June 28, 2018.
Cornet, Hubert. “Les Juifs de Gafsa”. Cahiers de Tunisie 10, (1955): 276-315. Accessed August 27, 2018.
Hirschberg, H.Z. A History of the Jews in North Africa. Volume II: From the Ottoman Conquests to the Present Time. Edited by Eliezer Bashan and Robert Attal. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981. Accessed June 28, 2018.
Morris, Peter and Daniel Jacobs. Tunisia: The Rough Guide. London: The Rough Guides, 1995. Accessed June 28, 2018.
Saadoun, Haim. “Gafsa”, The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Modern World. Edited by Norman A. Stillman. Published online in 2010. Accessed June 28, 2018.
Stillman, Norman A. The Jews of Arab Lands. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. Accessed June 28, 2018.
Additional information:
For a good “video tour” of Gafsa:
Studio Kaarbachi. “Clip GAFSA”. Youtube video, 4:25. Published March 1, 2014. Accessed August 27, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8r0e1NTZY.
Video footage of the Synagogue of Gafsa:
TunisLover2012. “Synagogue of Gafsa”. Youtube video, 4:10. Published March 30, 2013. Accessed August 27, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGJQFZPqrFc.
Write up produced by Madeleine Turner, July 2018
Photos Courtesy of Chyrstie Sherman, Summer 2016