Tunisia: How Tunisia Is Trying to Resurrect a Jewish Pilgrimage to the Island of Djerba

analysis

Many hundreds of years ago on the small Tunisian island of Djerba, a poor young Jewish woman called Ghriba lived as an outcast, separated from the other Jews on the island. She was later found dead in her home. Recognising that Ghriba was a saint, the local Jewish population, out of guilt for not having acknowledged her while alive, decided to build a synagogue on the spot of her house. Its construction marked the start of an annual Jewish pilgrimage - one of the rare pilgrimages in Judaism - to the Ghriba synagogue that occurs each year on the minor Jewish festival of Lag Ba'Omer.

The story of the poor recluse's death is one of the many legends I heard by visitors during the 2019 pilgrimage to explain how the Ghriba synagogue was created. Truth be told, there is no surviving evidence that sheds light on its origins. The mystery surrounding the Ghriba pilgrimage doesn't prevent Jews of Tunisian origin from travelling in large numbers to take part in the festivities. For as long as anyone can remember it has been the highlight of the Tunisian-Jewish calendar.

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