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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Tunisia 02: Arab rule 670-1228

Berber defeat - Golden era with religious tolerance under Aghlabids, Fatimids, and Zirids - Kairouan and international trade of Jewish families - Almohad invasion 1159

from: Tunisia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 15

presented by Michael Palomino (2008 / 2010)

<Tunisia under Arab Rule (to the Advent of the Hafsid).

[670-701: Berber defense against the Arab horsemen warriors]

The Arab conquest of this part of the world began in 643 when they took Tripoli, but it did not take on a permanent aspect until the foundation of Kairouan in 670. The resistance of the Byzantines rapidly decreased as the Berbers withstood the conquerors stubbornly. The Berber leader Kusayla was a Christian. After having gained control of Kairouan in 688, he was defeated and killed.

*Kahina, who according to certain sources was a Jewess and whose life is surrounded in legends, then reigned over the powerful Jarrawa tribe in the Aurès. Ibn Khaldun asserts that the Jarrawas were Jewish. After the death of Kusayla, Kahina - followed by all the Berbers - directed the military operations. A new Arab chief, Hassan ibn Nu'man, received a mighty army from the caliph *'Abd al-Malik - (col. 1432)

Hassan seized Carthage, and its inhabitants, doubtless including a number of Jews, and sailed for the islands of the Mediterranean. Kahina, advanced with her Jarrawas on the Arab army, which she overwhelmed near Tebessa and drove out of Ifriquiya. The Berbers then lived in security for a few years; once Hassan ibn Nu'man had received reinforcements, he launched another offensive in 702. Moreover, the Arabs found allies among the Greek inhabitants of the towns as well as the Berber farmers, who were opposed to Kahina because she had destroyed their crops in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the invaders. The old queen fought a desperate battle against Hassan ibn Nu'man but her army was beaten and pursued into the Aurès Mountains. In the wake of a second battle Kahina was killed and her head was sent to the caliph 'Abd al-Malik as a trophy. With the death of this woman, who was called the "Berber Deborah", the period of heroic defense was brought to a close.

[since 702: Arab rule: poll tax for Berbers, Christians, and Jews - revolt]

The Arabs then subordinated the whole of North Africa. The "people of the Book" (see *Ahl al-Kitab) and the Christians were authorized to live under their domination upon the condition that they paid the *jizya (an annual poll tax, sometimes called also in the Maghreb (as elsewhere) jawali, the tax of the expellees; see *Galut). Although the Berbers converted to Islam, they were also compelled to pay these levies. The demands of the Arabs soon incited large-scale revolt.

[800-1057: "Golden era": Aghlabid, Fatimid and Zirid dynasty: tolerance and prosperity of the Jewish communities]

In Ifriquiya an Arab governor, Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab, established the dynasty of the *Aghlabids, which reigned from 800 to 909. There is evidence that from this period important groups of Jews were found particularly in the towns, where the revenue of their poll tax constituted an appreciable income for the state. They coexisted peacefully with the Muslim masses. Muslim scholars maintained friendly relations with Jewish scholars and important Muslim merchants and ship owners were content to trade with their Jewish colleagues.

Under the Aghlabids, their successors the *Fatimids (Fatimids), and the Zirids, until the invasions of Ifriquiya by the Bedouin in the mid-11th century, the century enjoyed an exceptional prosperity, which was followed by a period in which remarkable intellectual activity prevailed. The (col. 1433)

Jews played an important role in this progress.

[Jewish life in Kairouan: Torah schools, Jewish academies, Jews at the Arab court - astronomy, astrology, scholars, talmudists]

In Kairouan, the leading city of an immense empire, there were famous yeshivot [[religious Torah schools]] which were headed by eminent scholars who for a long time maintained relations with the *geonim [[presidents of rabbinical colleges]] of the academies of *Sura, *Pumbedita, and Palestine. Shortly after the city's foundation the Umayyad caliph of Damascus had 1,000 families - who are thought to have been Jewish - transferred from Egypt to Kairouan.

It was there that Isaac Israeli, the most famous physician of his day, studied in about 900. He became the private physician of the last of the Aghlabids, Ziyadat-Allah III, and held the same position under the first of the Fatimid caliphs, the mahdi 'Ubaydallah. The most famous of Israeli's disciples was *Dunash ibn Tamim, who, like his teacher, left a number of valuable works including a treatise on astronomy which refuted the principles of astrology, a commentary on the Sefer Yezirah, and a textbook on Hebrew grammar.

Jewish scholars who possessed a wide, profound, and diversified knowledge - as was customary in the Middle Ages - flourished in Ifriquiya. In addition to Kairouan they wee to be found in such important communities as al-Mahdiya and Gabès. Outstanding among the talmudists in Tunisia were the scholars of the Ibn Shahun family: R. Nissim, his son Jacob to whom R. Sherira and R. Hai addressed their famous Iggeret (responsum concerning the history of the Oral Tradition), and his grandson *Nissim, author of many talmudic treatises. Not less important was R. Hushi'el (one of the *Four Captives), and especially his son R. *Hananel. The leading family of scholars in Mahdiya were the ibn Sighmar (or Zughmar), four generations of them served as dayyanim [[judges of the Jewish community]]. But according to Abraham ibn Daud (Sefer ha-Kabbalah, 77-8) after the demise of R. Hananel and R. Nissim, the talmudic learning came to an end in Ifriquiya. Ibn Daud did not hold in high esteem later scholars in Mahdiya and in Gal'at Hammad.

[Jewish businessman and businesses in Tunisia - trade connections and products]

From the thousands of documents preserved in the Cairo *Genizah [[closed holy cellar room in a synagogue]] and recently studied it is particularly evident that the class of Jewish-Tunisian businessmen (which was also - as was almost always the case in North Africa - the intellectual class) was a factor of considerable importance at this time not only in Tunisia but also throughout the (col. 1434)

Mediterranean countries. The importance of these other merchants, whether indigenous or from places in the Maghreb - but who often established themselves in Tunisia - lay in the decisive role they played in the trade with India and their dominant position in the trade of the western Mediterranean. A large number of the leading and most active merchants in Egypt - in Fostat, *Alexandria, the large textile centers of Busir and Tinnis, and the smaller localities where flax and indigo were grown - were Tunisian Jews who stayed in the country or had recently established themselves there; their families generally remained in Tunisia. Others lived in *Aden or even further away, as in India.

Jewish Jerusalem of the 11th century was also inhabited by many Jews from the Maghreb. The majority of the Jews of *Sicily, which had been conquered by the Muslim natives of Tunisia from the ninth century, were Tunisians. Their extensive activity on the island - in *Palermo, *Messina, and later *Syracuse - was felt as far as in northern Italy and Spain to the west.

The principal goods which the Jews exported from Tunisia were linen and cotton textiles of every category, which they themselves occasionally manufactured, especially in the large industrial center of *Sousse. Silk cloth and valuable brocades were also exported. Their carpets, manufactures in Tunis, Sfax, or Gafsa, and the canopies of Gabès, well-known in the Middle Ages, were much sought after.

They exported many metals: copper from Morocco, Spanish tin, lead, and mercury. The reexport of Spanish and Sicilian silks was practiced on a large scale. The agricultural products exported by the Jews included primarily olive oil and its by-product soap, beeswax, almonds, saffron, and occasionally wheat. They sent salted tunny (fish) to Egypt. One of their main exports was raw or tanned hides; they also exported coral, which was found abundantly along the African coasts, and all kinds of ornaments which were made from them. Finally, books, written in Hebrew in Kairouan, were a very important item in the export trade to the west.

the Jews of Ifriquiya imported spices of every kind, oriental perfumes, indigo, walnut peel for its dyes and varnishes, sugar, medicinal drugs and plants, jewelry, precious stones, and pearls. The most important import, however, was Egyptian linen.

[Jewish ship owner clans - rivalry between the Jewish clans]

All these goods were mainly transported by sea. The Jews of Tunisia were occasionally shipowners or partners in this trade. The ships, however, were generally owned by the government or members of the royal family, who maintained excellent relations with the Jews and entrusted them with the administration of their wealth. This enormous traffic was largely controlled by powerful Jewish families. these families were only about 20 in number but very large, wealthy and influential. They were organized into clans, contracted marriages among themselves, and were also related to the distinguished families of other countries.

Rivalry existed to a degree among these clans; thus, members of the family *Majjani (originally for Majzana) were the antagonists of the powerful Tahertis (from Tahere), who were related by marriage to the Berakhias - all leading clans of merchants who also produced eminent scholars and community leaders especially known from the responsa of the geonim [[presidents of rabbinical colleges]] of Iraq.

On their part, the Majjanis considered the Ben Allans their implacable adversaries. Whether they were related by blood or by marriage, or were enemies, other important families dominated the Tunisian trade. These included the Ibn Sighmars (Zughmar) of Mahdiya, the Nahrays, among whom there were also great scholars, and others who lived in the same centers.

[Jewish life in Tunisia: a "life of ease" - music - perfumes and extravagance of dresses]

It can be said that in general the Jews of Tunisia enjoyed a life of ease. Yet, among the masses as well as among the (col. 1435)

aristocracy - even among a number of the scholars - there was such an exaggerated passion for music that the gaon [[leader of a Jewish academy]] *Hai addressed his famous responsa against instrumental music to the communities of Gabès and Kairouan.

The Tunisian Jews also manifested a misguided enthusiasm for perfumes and a measure of extravagance in their dress. Great prosperity obviously prevailed, and in spite of their status of *dhimmi [[protected people of other religions]], their condition was excellent. They did not suffer from persecutions until about 1057, when Kairouan was destroyed by the hordes of Arabs, and about 1087, when they were among the victims of the Christians who came from Italy and attacked Mahdiya and other coastal towns. On these occasions the Jews suffered the same fate as their Muslim compatriots. The Arab invasion of the 11th century marked the end of the golden era of the Jews of Ifriquiya.

[Development of Tunis - Tunisian port towns under anti-Jewish Norman rule]

In 698 Hassan ibn Nu'man chose Tunis, a small and ancient townlet, to replace the fallen capital of Carthage, but it never attained the importance of Kairouan. In time, after the invasion of the Bedouins, it succeeded together with Mahdiya in overshadowing Kairouan. On the other hand, the closed towns of the coast escaped the Arab peril only to fall into the hands of the Christians.

The Norman Roger II, who had conquered Sicily, attacked the coast of Ifriquiya (1118-27) and seized the island of *Djerba (1134), Gabès, Sfax, and Sousse (1148), as well as Mahdiya (1156), in all of which there were important Jewish communities. It does not, however, appear that the Jews of all these ports suffered extensively under Norman rule. Those of Tunis, who were governed by the small and tolerant Banu-Khorassan dynasty, continued to control the large maritime trade of Tunisia.

[1159: Almohad invasion with religious intolerance - destroyed Jewish communities]

In 1159 the *Almohads invaded Tunisia. When they conquered Tunis, they confronted both the Jews and the Christians with the (col. 1436)

alternative of conversion to Islam or death. Other communities also suffered heavily as a result of this conquest. Thus, according to ancient additions to the famous elegy of Abraham *ibn Ezra, the communities of Mahdiya, Sousse, Gafsa, al-Hamma, Gabès, Djerba, and the town of Tripolitania shared the same fate. Many Jews converted, while others fled and dispersed themselves throughout the country or chose to die as martyrs.

In the wake of the terrible catastrophe, the strength of Ifriquiya Jewry was impaired for a long period, and its social organization, economic situation, and intellectual and religious condition greatly declined. In a letter attributed to *Maimonides, who left North Africa in 1165, it is said that between Tunis and Egypt, including Djerba, the standard of the Jews was very low. If this letter is authentic, it at least proves the presence of Jews in Tunisia who were able to remain so from 1165 onward.> (col. 1437)

Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1430	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1431-1432	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1433-1434	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1435-1436
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1437-1438	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1439-1440	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1441-1442	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1443-1444
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1445-1446	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1447-1448	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1449-1450	Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Tunisia, vol. 15, col. 1451-1452

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