page_title: History of the Jews in Tunisia
section_title: Inventory
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Tunisia / Aborted reforms of the nineteenth century / Inventory
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Médina de Tunis Souk el Grana
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Tunisia extends over nearly two thousand years and goes back to the Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia is no doubt older, grew up following successive waves of immigration and proselytism before its development was hampered by anti-Jewish measures in the Byzantine Empire. The community formerly used its own dialect of Arabic. After the Muslim conquest of Tunisia, Tunisian Judaism went through periods of relative freedom or even cultural apogee to times of more marked discrimination. The arrival of Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula, often through Livorno, greatly altered the country. Its economic, social and cultural situation has improved markedly with the advent of the French protectorate before being compromised during the Second World War, with the occupation of the country by the Axis. The creation of Israel in 1948 provoked a widespread anti-Zionist reaction in the Arab world, to which was added nationalist agitation, nationalization of enterprises, Arabization of education and part of the administration.
context_section_description: By the middle of the century, the Jews of Tunisia barely knew any literate Arabic, and few of them read and wrote Hebrew. In addition, they generally lived with their precepts, because of their only religious instruction and they have little knowledge of the Arab-Muslim letters, unlike the Jews of other Muslim countries. Nevertheless, the comings and goings between Tunis and Europe contributed to a certain desire for emancipation and freedom in wearing the clothes assigned to them; in January 1823 Mahmoud Bey has ordered all Jews living in Tunisia to wear a cap.
  One Jew originally from Gibraltar who refuses to measure, was the victim of a bastinado; His protest to his consul led to a strong reaction from the United Kingdom. This situation was beneficial to the Granas, who obtained permission to pay to replace the chechia with a white cap (kbîbes) and the wearing of a sefseri specific for their women, as a way to distinguish themselves from the Twansa who still had to wear the black cap. However, this concession contradicted with a relative hardening of the authorities during the first decades of the century, as reported by the doctor of the bey, Louis Franck, or the consul of the United States Mordecai Manuel Noah.
  On the socio-economic level, the Jewish population was very heterogeneous. In the country ports, Jewish merchants of European origin control, along with Christians, the exchange of goods with foreign countries and dominated in more than half of trading houses operating in the country. Besides this wealthy class of traders and bankers, mainly Livornese, there was a middle class consisting of merchants and craftsmen.
  These Jews played an important role in the retail trade, especially in the capital, where they were established in two souks of the medina: one specializing in colonial goods, hardware and articles from Paris and one specializing in draperies and English and French silk. Many were also engaging in artisanal activities, such as goldsmith, on which they had a monopoly, and also manufacture of clothes and footwear. They also served as lenders for peasants and artisans. In the rural areas of Nabeul, Gabes and Djerba, Jews were occupied in winemaking, growing date palms or fruit trees and stock raising.
  There was also a poor class of Jews which were unable to survive without the charity organized by their community. Another group, the Bahusim (baḥuṣim, Hebrew for "outsiders") were semi-nomadic Jews in western Tunisia and eastern Algeria who led a tribal existence, like that of the Bedouin, and made their living from agriculture, peddling, and smithing. Jewish tribes of the region of Wargha, Kef Governorate, were Karaites and they have been nomad warriors. Their descendants, also named "Bahusim", remained in the eastern part of Algeria up to modern times.
caption: Entrance to Souk El Grana in Tunis
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