Les Juifs de Gafsa

Gafsa, a city in west-central Tunisia that was both a caravan crossroads and a mining center, was home to an ancient Jewish community of merchants and artisans. Of local Sephardic rite, its members spoke Judeo-Tunisian Arabic and were organized around their synagogues. Under the French Protectorate, they partially opened themselves to French education and language. During the twentieth century, and especially after independence, the community largely emigrated to France and Israel.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan