THE HERITAGE OF THE LIBYAN JEWS

I was born in the countryside of Tripolitania between Tripoli city and the city of Msellata. Since i was a child my head is been full of stories and tales about the Jews (in Arabic Ihud) told to me by my  grandfather and grandmother  who  was born in 1913 and was a true testimony of the life in Libya during the Italian  period , World War II , postwar period,  King Idress and Gaddafi.

I was a young kid when the mass media of Gaddafi had nothing else to transmit but about the Zionism and the Jewish state,. But my the grandmother kept telling us that the Jews who were in Libya were not like the image that was shown by Gheddafi medias,

 they were  ordinary people who spoke Libyan  Arabic with a different accent ,dressed like the other Libyans, slaughtered the animals cause they eat Halal (Kosher)  as we do, circumcised their newborn males just like us.

 The only difference was that it was impossible for them to work on Saturday, as they remained (Msabteen) means practicing the Shabbat!

She told us stories about the markets of Msellata and Alkhoms (Leptis Magna)   and how they were full of clothes, jewelry, perfumes for women and various tools such as knives, spoons and pots.. Etc.

 In the years of misery and poverty we managed to survive thanks to the products of Jews who shared the hard life with us.... my grandmother said.

 While my grandfather told us stories about Harat lihud, the Jewish quarter of Tripoli and how the Jews were always the best traders to deal with.

 So Despite the politics and the bombardments of Gheddafi TV`s propaganda, I was brought up enriched with the Libyan culture and the heritage that parts of it were driven from the Jews of Libya.

As today in Libya we keep calling for the freedom so I decided to unveil the Jewish heritage in today`s Libya, as will unveil other facts about the culture and the history of the Berber, Turkish and Libyan Greeks (Greetliah).

   

HISTORICAL PROFILE
 

Walking through the archaeological site of Cyrene, which is located about 200 km east of Bengasi,  and at the Baths of Trajan, a marble slap with this Latin inscription says:

IMP CAESAR DIVI DIVINE TRAIANU PARTHICI FIL NERVAEN POS TRAJANUS DARDIANUS PONTIF AUG MAX TRIB POTEST 111 COS 111 BALINEUM CUMPORTECIBUS ET SPHAERISTERIS CETERISOVE ADIACENTIBUS AS RIOTS JUDAICA DIRUTA ET EXUSTAR  ERANT CIVITAT CYRENENSIUM RETURN IVS SIT.

  The Emperor Hadrian restored these baths (BALINEUM) after their destruction during the time of the Emperor Trajan by the Jewish revolt (RIOTS JUDAICA).

 This was in 117 in which the Libyan Jews of Cyrene revolted against the Romans.

 This marble slap along with  other written testimony in the Jewish Torah, show that   the western Libya  known historically as Tripolitania was   inhabited by Jews about one  millennium B.C ,when the Phoenician sailors founded the Tripolis , the three cities of  Leptis Magna, Sabratha and Oea today`s Tripoli.

While the eastern Libya known, as Jews inhabited Cyrenaica at least in the third century BC, when the Ptolomies, the successors of Alexander the Great took over the rule of Egypt and Cyrenaica.
 the Libyan Jewish  community was enlarged after  the expulsion of the Arabs and Jews from Andalusia in Spain with the fall of Granada in 1492( la reconquista española),   the arrival of the Andalusian Jews immigrants   had created an active Jews community  especially in the political and commercial life of Libya during the Ottoman, Italian and the independent Libyan kingdom era,When the Libyan Jews had to leave Libya in 1967 for a number of reasons, mainly political.

WHERE DID THE LIBYAN JEWS LIVE?
 

 the majority of the Libyan Jews were in Tripoli  who,  had lived in their  main quarter  called in Libyan Arabic as (Hart Lihud) which is located in the north west of Tripoli`s old city (Medina) just close to the New Gate (Bab il Giadid)  which gives access to  those narrow lanes known in  Libyan Arabic as (Znaghi),where The Jewish monuments are located Just Not far from the mentioned gate like the Synagogue or the Major Temple (Slat Ilkbira) and the Jewish school of Dar Assrusi.

 The Tripoli Jews or ( Ihud Trabelsia) carried out their commercial activities  and daily life in the various Souks of the  Medina that extend from the crossroad of the four  roman column known in Libyan Arabic as( Arba Arsat) up to  Marshal market(souk Almushir)  which is close to the Martyrs Square(ex piazza Italia) crossing the  southeastern part of the Medina with its various Souks like Souk  Ittruk (The Turks market), Souk Ghisdara (copper smith market) till the area of ​​Bab Alhurria in the southwestern part of the Medina.

With the arrival of the Italians in 1911, the city was widely expanded therefore many wealthy Jews families were moved to  new Italian quarter, mostly they lived in the area of Bel Khir  today is located behind  Omar Mokhtar street (ex Corso Sicilia).

 The Jews also lived in Janzur 20 km west of   Tripoli and in Amros! Two oasis that Until 50 years ago, they were separated from Tripoli but today Amros  is part of   souk Algiuma, the   famous anti Gheddafi district during the recent revolt ,while Zanzur became sort of  Tripoli West End.

  The Libyan Jewish community was scattered  as wellin different towns in Tripolitania like Misurata 200km east of Tripoli, Alkhoms  with its surviving Hara just120 km east of Tripoli, Msellata located at 90 km east of Tripoli ,Zliten about 160 km east of Tripoli , Zawia 45 km  west of Tripoli, also at the Berber towns of  Zuara, Jado, Yfrin, Tigrinna  and Gharian.

While in Cyrenaica, the Libyan Jews were located in Benghazi, Derna and other small towns on the green mountain.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO EAT TODAY?
 

 The answer for that classic question in Libya is very helpful to understand that the Libyan kitchen today is based on the Jews heritage, the food that once was prepared by the Libyan Jews like:

1 - Couscous a dish served with meat, chicken or fish seasoned with spices and vegetables like onions, potatoes and zucchini.

2 - Bazeen (unfortunately disappearing in Libya) a dish that is made from dough of flour or milled barley accompanied with spicy sauce of potatoes, meat or eggs.

3 - Tbaikh (kh is pronounced like the J in Spanish) the plural of tbiikha, a spicy sauce of potatoes or peas or beans.

4 –Iggia or Oggia, cooked eggs in a saucepan with a spicy sauce.

5 – Imbakibka or Libyan Pasta cooked with its meat and vegetables spicy sauce cooked all together in the same pot.

6 - Mafrum a minced meat that might be served as a sauce for other meal like pasta but Today, many Libyans eat it as a sandwich.

7 - Isfinz (Hanukah sweet) tacked flour is put into hot oil in the form of round bread and is eaten either alone or with eggs on the top of it.

8 - Hraimi, very spicy fish soup that still strongly exist in the coastal Libya cities,

 However, its name is very funny. As it means not Halal and was given by the Bedouins who preferred to eat meat rather than fish as they lived far away from the coast t, in their surprise to see the Libyan Jews eating that non-slaughtered fish (Hraimy) as they ignore the religious fact that fish cannot be slaughtered.

 

  THE SONGS OF SHLOMIT BUHNIK

 

Thanks to YouTube I come to know that there is a  Libyan Jewish singer called  Shlomit  or Salma Buhnik sings in Libyan dialect, but when  I discovered her songs  by accident, I laughed because they are just the songs of the wedding celebrations in Libya ...  the songs  where in Tripoli are called  Zimzamat  which means the women who sing for the wedding parties.

the fact is, In Libya till the 50s and 60s ,the Muslim Libyans thought that the song are illegal in the Islamic religion, for such reason, many  male singers have had to use an artistic names to hide their  real identity when the Libyan Radio was launched in 50s!

 Abdussalam Algiazeeri for example, was one of them and he sang in the Libyan Radio as Salam Kadri! his father finds out the truth just three years after ,when he saw his picture in a  a local

Newspaper! 

Masoud Daragi is the real name of the famous Benghazi singer Ibrahim Fahmi..... and so on.

For such social problem, Libyans of Islamic faith had to call the Jewish women to sing in their wedding parties they were singing simple songs accompanied by drums tones (Darbuca) then those songs were taken by the Arab women, now such music is considered an essential part of the Libyan Folk Music.

The Libyan Jewish singer Buhnik became famous with these kind of songs (ya lummima, il ada il ada ya trabilsia and ya lil ya ain) songs that are still alive in Libya of today!

THE SAME SURNAMES

In Libya today, there are many families of Jewish origin, and many others that have the same surnames of the Libyan Jews such as:


                   1-BUJINAH...JINNAH
        2-IMGHIDESH
   3-DABASH
      4-SAHBOON
 5-INHAISI
           6-Giuili JWEELY

7-GERBI
   8-AMROSI

 9-TAYAR
      10-HADDAD
    11-FELLAH
                       12-CAHLON. CAHLOL.
     13-HASSAN
     14-HAJJAJI 

 

REDISCOVERING THE LIBYAN JEWS
                                                                      
  Where have you been?

In Italy, in Rome ...
well you have you eaten in Alfonso`s restaurant?
Oh, how I` d love to eat a Hraimi dish from him!.

 
 
This was a dialogue between me and a man of a certain age from Tripoli, asking me if I had eaten in a restaurant of a famous Jew among the Libyans called Alfonso in Rome.

   But Although i had  met many Jews in Libya as a tourist marketer and guide like the famous American cultural travel  agent Sorkin Jerry , the Famous  French journalist of la Marianne Guy Sitbon, and  i helped the  Australian journalist  Diaa Hadid to write stories about the Jews monuments in the old town of Tripoli during the last revolt when i had to work as a translator just for survival, But my first contact with the Libyan  Jews  was about three years ago as I was in Rome  for vacation coming  from the rainy Glasgow when I met  by chance Bazooka, the funny smart man who still maintains his strong Libyan personality,

Through Bazooka I met also the great Hamos Guetta, who welcomed me warmly and shared a great love to the land on which both we were born.

 in Rome as well  I was shocked by that black and white  picture of Alahly team inside the shop of  David Hadad, who was  a football player and fan of  Alahli  team  which is still the most popular and famous in Libya and known as  Fariik lihud (Team of the Jews).
 My frequent little talks and discussions with Bazooka and Hamos have brought me to the fact that so many of these fine shops in downtown of Rome belong to the Libyan Jews!