The Jewish Community of Gharian
Also known as Gharyan
Arabic : غريان
A city in northwestern Libya
HISTORY
Jewish settlement in this region dates from the 16th century and includes a group of three settlements: the town Gharian, Tigrina ( 4-5km/3 miles to the south) and Beni-Abbas (14 km/9miles to the north). The first settlers were refugees from Tripoli who fled to Gharian in 1510 when the capital city was occupied by the Spanish.
One of the most unique aspects of the Jewish community of Gharian is the fact that the Jews lived in underground caves in the mountains. These homes were dug 6 meters (about 20 feet) into the rock, and surrounded a central courtyard. One cave was inhabited by the same family for centuries, dating from 1616. Both the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of the region used the caves to protect themselves and their animals from Bedouin marauders, and throughout the 16th century the Gharian cave community served as a safe haven for Jews escaping from persecution; among those who fled to Gharian was a Jewish man named Hajj'aj' who fled from Oran, in Algeria, and became a respected member of the Gharian community.
THE OTTOMAN PERIOD (1551-1911)
During this period two synagogues were built in Tigrina, one in Beni-Abbas, and another in Gharian. Additionally, cemeteries were consecrated in all three locations. The land and the buildings were officially recognized as property of the Jewish community.
In 1837 an outbreak of the bubonic plague claimed the lives of large numbers of Jews. As a result, most of the inhabitants of Beni-Abbas abandoned their homes and moved to Tripoli, leaving only a few families in the village.
Between 1839-1855 local Muslims and Jews participated in the rebellions against the Ottoman authorities; Jewish metalworkers repaired the rebels' weapons and a local Jewish doctor treated their wounded. The rebellion was squashed by Ottoman forces in 1855, after which the Jews were pardoned and the doctor was appointed as head of the Gharian community. In addition, he became the official doctor for the Ottoman soldiers that were stationed there.
Gharian’s strategic location on a crossroads resulted in the city’s development as a commercial and administrative center. The Jewish community benefitted from the city’s increasing prominence. Many worked as tradesmen and artisans. A smaller number owned and worked plots of land, but during the latter part of the 19th century their crops were subject to high tax rates and many sought other forms of work.
In 1885 the Jews of Tigrina were permitted to build a new synagogue above the ground, in addition to the older one in the cave.
The community was governed by a committee of elders and notables who also acted as judges for minor offences (serious crimes were referred to the Ottoman governor). The governor appointed the president of the Jewish community, the sheikh, or hakham; the president acted as mediator between the Jewish community and the authorities, and was responsible for collecting the poll tax that exempted the Jews from military service. The hakham also served as the religious leader of the community, and appointed the kosher butcher (shohet), the mohel who circumcised the baby boys, and the children’s teacher in the synagogue.
In 1906 Nahum Slouschz visited the Gharian community where he found a class of 20 children who studied reading and Bible with the teacher, Agbani Hajjaj.
In 1886 the Jewish population of the Gharian area totaled 550. Bu the turn of the century, however, the population had dropped to approximately 300.
ITALIAN RULE (1911-1943)
Towards the beginning of Italian rule, in 1914, the Jewish population of Gharian was 300.
Following the Italian invasion of Libya, the Muslim population revolted which led to a period of instability and suffering for the Jewish community. Because of the revolts, Italian authorities sealed off the region from the coastal area, which resulted in epidemics, famine, and draught. However, with the final consolidation of Italian control over the inland region in 1922, the Gharian community began to enjoy political stability, along with improvements in security and public services.
Italian influence of the Jewish community was minimal. Gharian’s Jews continued to live in their cave dwellings, wear traditional clothes, and center their social lives around the synagogue. Most of the adult population learnt to speak Italian only for business reasons, though many of the children were sent to Italian elementary schools where they studied the language. The resistance to learning Italian on the part of the adults was also partially economic; the Jewish community depended on the purchasing power of the local Muslims, and so preferred not to show public support for the Italians.
During the 1930s a large Italian defense force was stationed in Gharian to protect residents from Bedouin marauders; as a result, a number of Italian farmers settled in the region. These newcomers provided an additional source of income for the local Jewish tradesman and craftsmen, who opened new shops and workshops.
Berchani Zigadon served as the hakham during this period, and functioned as the head of the community until the British conquest in 1943. Though his role as a mediator between the Jewish community and the authorities was minimal, since the rights of the Jewish community were recognized by law, he was wealthy and popular and was therefore accorded the respect of a community leader. Zigadon encouraged members of the community to study in yeshivas in Tripoli in order to become qualified to act as kosher butchers and mohels for circumcisions. He also provided the community’s children with a teacher, who taught daily.
Gharian’s adult male population had a basic Jewish religious education. The synagogue contained 32 Torah scrolls in 1923, which were written by religious scribes from Tripoli or other distant communities. Printed Jewish books were also brought in from Tripoli, Djerba, or Livorno, in Italy. Towards the end of the 1930s, many of the community’s leaders began to embrace Zionism, and books were sent from Palestine to teach Hebrew in the synagogue school.
In 1936 the Jewish population of Gharian was 419. In 1943 it was 520 (approximately 1% of total population of the Gharian region).
WORLD WAR II (1939-1945)
After Italy allied with the German forces in 1940, discriminatory racial laws began to be enforced in Libya, and many Libyan Jews were imprisoned in forced labor camps. The largest of these camps was Giado, where many Jews from Tripoli and Cyrenaica were held as prisoners, while several hundred were taken to camps in Gharian and Tigrinna due to lack of space in Giado. Additionally, a garrison of General Erwin Rommel's Africa Corps was stationed in Gharian.
Beginning in 1942 a number of Jews fled to Gharian in order to escape the Allied bombing of Tripoli as the war against Germany in North Africa progressed. The Jewish population of Gharian reached 520 in 1943. These Tripolitanian Jews brought Torah scrolls and other religious objects with them. The Gharian community gave them shelter in the caves, and also tried to provide food for Jewish prisoners in labor camps.
BRITISH RULE (1943-1952)
In January 1943 British forces reached Gharian and released the Jewish Cyrenaican prisoners from Giado. After providing them with food, the former prisoners were gradually returned to their homes in Benghazi and the surrounding area.
The British authorities pressured Zigadon, who was, by then, elderly, to appoint a successor. The community’s next hakham was Khlafu Huga Hassan, who held the position until the exodus of the community to Israel. Relations between the Jews, the Muslims, and the British authorities were very tense as a result of the violence in Palestine, and Khlafu was required to exercise diplomacy to the best of his ability in order to protect the Jewish population. He managed to forge good relationships with the British by entertaining soldiers in his restaurant, and his economic status enabled him to provide supplies to the British authorities.
During the violent riots that erupted in 1945 against Jewish communities throughout Libya, Khlafu succeeded in preventing loss of life in Gharian. On the night of November 7, when major pogroms broke out, Jewish property was vandalized and burned, but many of Gharian’s Jews were able to find refuge in the home of the local Muslim sheikh.
After Israel declared statehood in 1948, the vast majority of Libya’s Jews, including those from Gharian, left for Tripoli en route to Israel.