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 at Ouargla, Algeria
Description
Ouargla: Also known as Wargla, Ouargla is an oasis town located in the Algerian Sahara and was once an important stop along the caravan route to Timbuktu and West Africa. Not much is known about the town prior to the Islamic period.
Jewish Presence in Ouargla: During the Medieval period, the Jewish community in Ouargla was a Karaite center which was attested to by Abraham ibn Ezraand Abraham Ibn Da’ud. Ibn Ezra wrote that the Karaites of Ouargla followed the custom of leaving town on the fifteenth of Nisan, which is the date on which the Israelites left Egypt.
According to documents from the Cairo Geniza the Jews of Ouargla were also involved in the trans-Saharan trade, trading gold, and slaves. After the French colonial period, the Jewish community ceased to exist. In a demographic study of North African Jewry conducted in 1936, it was estimated that less than 25 Jews1 lived in Ouargla.
Ouargla, Algeria
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Notes
1 Stillman
Works Cited
1. Norman A. Stillman. ‘Wargla’. Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Ed. Norman A. Stillman et al. Brill Reference Online. Web. 29 June 2022.