Disclaimer
This entry contains information known to us from a variety of sources but may not include all the information currently available. Please be in touch if you notice any inadvertent mistakes in our presentation or have additional knowledge or sources to share. Thank you.
Archive
Synagogue, Monastir (Mīstīr, مـنسـتير), Tunisia
It’s hard to say what the Synagogue of Monastir (Mīstīr, مـنسـتير) looked like. Little photographic documentation of its physical attributes survives today. The Synagogue building was burnt to the ground in 1980, and then rebuilt for secular uses. [1] Today, one can only see bits and pieces of the house of worship that once was. There is a black-and-white photo of its decorative arch, which faced Monastir’s coastal Rue Sayadi. [2] There are photos of the building that today occupies the space where it once was – a large, tall building, white-and-sand colored walls with blue doors, decorative protective grating on its second-story windows, and a wide, sweeping arch on one side that allows passage to the street behind it. But these images tell only a small piece of the story of the Synagogue of Monastir. For the rest of it, history and our imaginations will have to suffice.
Description
The Synagogue of Monastir:
Historical information about the Monastir Synagogue must therefore come through some meandering paths, including documents from a prominent Jewish aid organization. The Committee of Aid and Charity was established in 1876 with the purpose of distributing aid to synagogues and Jewish communities across Tunisia. By 1903, it controlled the Jewish community in Monastir. [3] In 1905, they announced a need for urgent repairs to the Monastir Synagogue, which indicates that the Synagogue of Monastir must have existed at least in the early-to-mid-19th century. It’s possible that during these repairs, a womens platform was added to the Synagogue. Visitors to Synagogue throughout the 20th century observed the existence of one, and it’s highly unlikely that this was an original feature of the building. [4]
Although not many specific details are known about the Synagogue before its destruction in 1980, architectural historians Jarrassé and Bismuth-Jarrassé have surmised that the building was originally large, containing many rooms and annexes besides the main Synagogue space. Many of their conclusions come from documentation of a break-in to the Synagogue that took place in 1917. A newspaper reported that the thieves broke into the synagogue from a window six meters above the ground. From this description, the Jarrassés have been able to figure out the height of the building itself. [5]
Monastir:
It is little wonder that the town of Monastir became an active Jewish settlement in its early years. The city has a decorated early history. It was a site of great Roman settlements, and Roman ruins still litter the city’s coastline. A great stone ribat, an Islamic fortress, constructed in 796 CE, stands tall, guarding the coast of the city. [6] The ribat effuses a cinematically medieval quality, and was used in the filming of both Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth and Monty Python’s Life of Brian. [7] It is a testament to the relatively cosmopolitan nature of the city that the Synagogue of Monastir was built right alongside the walls of the ribat – and that a Catholic church was built alongside the synagogue not long after. [8] These members of different faiths may have all been attracted by the city’s lucrative olive oil industry, which was especially dominated by Italians, especially Livornese Jews. [9]
The Jewish community of Monastir:
The Jewish population of Monastir does not follow the traditional demographic pattern exhibited by most Jewish populations across Tunisia. In most other cities in Tunisia, Jewish populations often reached a peak around World War I, and only began to decline after World War II. In Monastir, the largest concentration of Jews was found in the latter half of the 19th century, with approximately 600 Jews out of about 9,000 total residents in the 1860s. [10] [11] That population had substantially declined by the start of the 20th century, with 405 Jews in 1909, and 142 Jews by 1936. [12] Many of the Jews who had lived in Monastir during the 18th and 19th centuries went to nearby Sousse, which became a center for French regional administration, offering a port and better economic opportunities. [13]
Sources
Notes:
[1] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, (Paris: Éditions Esthétiques du Divers, 2010), 203.
[2] Ibid.
[3] H.Z. Hirschberg, A History of the Jews in North Africa Volume II: From The Ottoman Conquests to the Present Time, eds. Eliezer Bashan and Robert Attal, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), 137-138.
[4] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, 203.
[5] Ibid, 202.
[6] Mourad Rammah, “Les Villes Ribat”, Ifriqiya: Treize Siècles d'Art et d'Architecture en Tunisie, (Tunis: Éditions Déméter, 2000), 188-190.
[7] Peter Morris and Daniel Jacobs, Tunisia: The Rough Guide, (London: The Rough Guides, 1995), 185.
[8] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, 203.
[9] Irit Abramski-Bligh, “Monastir”, 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.
[10] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, 202.
[11] Maurice Eisenbeth, Les Juifs de L’Afrique du Nord: Démographie & Onomastique, (Algiers: Imprimerie du Lycee, 1936), 20.
[12] Robert Attal, Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie, (Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1979), Table II.
[13] Colette Bismuth-Jarrassé and Dominique Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie: Monuments d’une Histoire et d’une Identité, 203.
Bibliography
Abramski-Bligh, Irit. “Monastir”. 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 August 9, 2018.
Attal, Robert. Regards sur les Juifs de Tunisie. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1979. Accessed August 9, 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 August 7, 2018.
Bruun, Daniel. The Cave Dwellers of Southern Tunisia: Recollections of a Sojourn with the Khalifa of Matmata. London: Darf Publishers, 1882. Accessed August 8, 2018.
Eisenbeth, Maurice. Les Juifs de L’Afrique du Nord: Démographie & Onomastique. Algiers: Imprimerie du Lycee, 1936. Accessed August 9, 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 August 8, 2018.
Morris, Peter and Daniel Jacobs. Tunisia: The Rough Guide. London: The Rough Guides, 1995. Accessed August 9, 2018.
Rammah, Mourad. “Les Villes Ribat”, Ifriqiya: Treize Siècles d'Art et d'Architecture en Tunisie, (Tunis: Éditions Déméter, 2000), 188-190. Accessed August 9, 2018.
Saadoun, Haim. “Monastir”, The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Modern World. Edited by Norman A. Stillman. Published online in 2010. Accessed August 9, 2018.
Write up produced by Madeleine Turner, August 2018.
Photos Courtesy of Chyrstie Sherman, Summer 2016.