SAID Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from Jewish communal functionaries or titles.
Said is the Arabic for master, which can be an occupational name, but also the title of a rabbi and/or teacher. This surname is documented with Jewish families in Iraq and Syria. Occasionally, the form Ben Said (literally, "son of the master") is also recorded. Transliterations of this family name include Saed, Saeed and Sayd.
The Jewish family name Saed is documented with Nuri Saed of Syria who immigrated to Cuba in early 20th century.
Zuara
(Place)Zuara
Zuwara, Zuwarah; in Arabic: زوارة
An urban settlement in an oasis, on the Mediterranean coast, about 120 km west of Tripoli, north-western Libya.
The Jewish settlement at Zuara was revived toward the end of the 19th century. In ancient times Jews had lived in the place, but detailed information is not available. Jews came to settle at Zuara and other places along the coast following the consolidation of the Ottoman regime and the improvement in safety that followed. The main motive for their settlement in the area was economic-commercial.
In the census of 1906 40 Jewish families were counted at Zuara. The Italian occupation in 1911 and the revolt against it in 1915 caused many Jews from inland to move to the coast and some of them settled at Zuara. They made their living by supplying the local Italian garrison with food and clothing. The wealthier Jews lived at the town centre in stone houses with an internal court, the poor lived in the suburbs, in clay houses.
In 1931 621 Jews were counted at Zuara, forming 9% of the total inhabitants. Until 1939, when World War II broke out, the number of Jews at Zuara varied between 600 and 800. They made their living mainly as petty traders within the town. The big merchants, from the wealthy families like Atiya, Said, Madar, Kakhlon, had business connections as far as Tripoli and Khoms.
At the head of the community stood the wealthy families who maintained connections with the authorities and the notables of the Arab population. The position enabled them to render help and negotiate on behalf of the community. From the beginning of the 20th century until 1938 Atiya Said and Shalom Madar, sons of rich families, stood at the head of the community.
Zuara had one magnificent synagogue which was built by donations of Jews from Tripoli who had settled at Zuara. A Talmud torah functioned at the synagogue in the afternoons. From the beginning of the 1920’s the rabbi of the community was Rabbi Zion Cohen Jonathan of Djerba. His intensive activity as rabbi influenced the cultural and religious life of the community in a conservative direction. He conducted torah lessons and printed sacred books. The managing committee of the community, which assisted the rabbi, included six members of the Jews of Iffren who had escaped to Zuara in 1915 and settled down at the place. The children attended the local Italian school. The community had a mutual benevolent fund.
In 1926 Moshe Zuaretz, a Zionist emissary, the head of Degel Zion society, visited Zuara. He had then just come back from a visit to Eretz Israel and came to Zuara to relate his impressions. At the end of the gathering, money was collected for the Jewish national fund. However, the visit did not arouse any desire to emigrate to Eretz Israel. In the course of World War II (1939-1945) Zuara served as a place of refuge for the Jews of Djerba and later also for a few hundred Jews of Tripoli. The head of the community at that time, Abraham Kakhlun, sold part of his property to finance their stay in Zuara. Apart from these events, the Jews of Zuara were not affected by the racist laws which the Italian authorities imposed. Abraham Kakhlon was the head of the community from 1918 until 1948. He had good connections with the Italian authorities as well as with the British, who liberated the region in December 1942, recognized him as the head of the community and reappointed him officially.
Zionist activity at Zuara began in the course of the war. Members of Jewish volunteer companies from Eretz Israel in the British army, who were stationed in the place, helped to set up a Hebrew local school.
Following the wave of pogroms against the Jews that started in Tripoli in 1945, the Jews of Zuara began to acquire arms and set up a local branch of the Hagana. Zuara served as a transit station for groups of young Jews on their way to Eretz Israel via Tunisia. In 1949 the Jews of Zuara began to emigrate to Israel and most of them left by 1951. The community was thus liquidated.