Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and RelativesIn 1949 more than 35,000 Jews lived in Libya, but close to ninety percent had left before Libya attained its independence in 1952. Jewish Life in Muslim Libya combines historical and anthropological perspectives in depicting the changing relations between Muslims and Jews in Libya from the early nineteenth century up to the middle of the twentieth century. Harvey E. Goldberg shows that the cultural and religious worlds of the Jewish and Muslim communities in Libya were deeply intertwined in daily life and largely remained so despite political and social changes under successive Ottoman and Italian rule. He documents the intricate symbolic linkages of Jews and Muslims in different periods and in a variety of settings. His accounts of traditional Jewish weddings, of mock fights between Jewish teams that took place in early nineteenth-century Tripoli, and of the profession of street peddling demonstrate that, despite age-old images of Jews as outsiders or infidels, Jews were also an essential and familiar part of the local Islamic society. Goldberg's narrative continues through the British Military Administration in Libya, a period which saw growing Libyan nationalism and, in 1945, three days of riots in which more than 130 Jews were killed. Goldberg reflects on how these events both expressed and exacerbated a rupture in the social fabric linking Muslims and Jews, setting the scene for the mass emigration of Libyan Jews from their homeland. |
Contents
1Introduction | 1 |
2 Jewish Life in Muslim Tripoli in the Late Qaramanli Period | 18 |
Political Change and Traditional Rhetoric | 35 |
A Study in Cultural Sources | 52 |
5 Itinerant Jewish Peddlers in Tripolitania at the End of the Ottoman Period and under Italian Rule | 68 |
6 JewishMuslim Religious Rivalry in Tripolitania | 82 |
Common terms and phrases
analysis Arab aspects behavior Benghazi Berber biryonim bride British Cairo Geniza Cambridge celebration ceremony chap chapter Christian circumcision city of Tripoli conceptions concerning context countryside cultural custom Cyrenaica Dearden dhimmi discussed economic European everyday Felice festival Geertz Gharian Goitein Goldberg Ha-Cohen Hazzan Hebrew historical Hmayid honor influence interaction interpretation Islam Israel Italian period Italian rule Jebel Nefusa Jerusalem Jewish and Muslim Jewish community Jewish quarter Jewish-Muslim Jews and Muslims Jews of Libya Judaism Khalfon Libyan Jews Libyan Muslim Libyan society linked Maghrib Middle Mordechai Ha-Cohen Morocco Muhammad Muslim Muslim society Muslim-Jewish Muslims and Jews nineteenth century non-Muslims North Africa notions official Ottoman Empire Ottoman rule pogrom political population practice Qaramanli Qur'an Rabbi realm region relations religion riots ritual Rosen Sabbath Sefrou situation social status story symbolic synagogue Tilly tion Torah town Tripoli Tripolitania University Press villages wedding women Yosef