“It’s nice, even if it’s a bit crazy for me,” Johanan, an Orthodox Jew from Switzerland, told Al-Monitor. “Even if we leave Djerba, Djerba doesn’t leave us,” he said with a smile. While the pilgrimage was a welcome occasion for Tunisian Jews to congregate, it was also a solemn reminder of just how many have left. “People can turn against us when there are geopolitical problems,” one Tunisian Jew who declined to be named told Al-Monitor. We live together, study together and work together,” said Youssef Wazan, an elder representative of the Hara Kbira’s Jewish community.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 27, 2022 03:41 UTC