In the ashes, her dead body was found completely intact, not a burn mark on it. So today, people fly from halfway around the world to pay homage to her. They open their hearts and shower her with love, sympathy and devotion. You don't have to understand it. Another woman takes me by the hand and pulls me inside the vast, polychrome, ornate Ghriba synagogue.
Women offer trays of food which have been prayed over.
When you eat, you are blessed. The women undulate, making high-pitched, joyous noises. Then I get dragged to the back room of the synagogue. It is small, crowded, dim, and very hot. I kick off my sandals and slide on olive oil that has spilled over from hundreds of lamps.