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Concept
El Ghriba Synagogue
Summary
The ancient El Ghriba Synagogue (كنيس الغريبة), also known as the Djerba Synagogue, is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba. It is situated in the Jewish village of Hara Seghira (currently known as er-Riadh), several kilometres southwest of Houmt El Souk, the main town of Djerba.
The synagogue is the oldest in Tunisia, and possibly all of Africa. Besides being the center of the island's Jewish life it is also a site of pilgrimage. While extensively renovated in the 19th century CE, the buildings may date to the 6th century BCE: one of the legends associated with its founding claims that either a stone or a door from Solomon's Temple or the Second Temple is incorporated in the building.
Djerba is home to around 1,300 Jews, and El Ghriba is an important feature of Jewish life on the island. According to legend, the construction of the synagogue goes back to the High Priests' escape following the destruction of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II in the year 586 BCE (or, alternately, the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE). The High Priests carried with them a door and a stone of the destroyed Temple. Thus the synagogue links the Jewish diaspora to the "sole sanctuary of Judaism". In modern times, the local Jews are distinguished by their dress, which includes a black band around their pants, which signifies the destruction of the Temple.
Another tradition says the synagogue was built on a spot where a young girl (ghriba, "the isolated one") had lived, that had not been accepted by the others. She died, and her uncorrupted body was found by the Jews of the nearby village, and then buried in a cave which became the site of an annual pilgrimage for Lag BaOmer.
In 1985, during the festivities for Simchat Torah, a local policeman responsible for the synagogue's safety opened fire into a crowd of celebrating Jews, killing three people, among them one child, and wounding 15. This occurred in the aftermath of Operation "Wooden Leg" (Hebrew: מבצע רגל עץ, Mivtza Regel Etz) when Israel targeted the PLO headquarters in Tunisia.
Official source
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