Two visitors and two security guards were killed in a shooting near the ancient El Ghriba Synagogue (also known as the Djerba Synagogue,) in the city of Djerba in Tunisia on Tuesday. It is as of yet unclear if the visitors were worshipers taking part in a pilgrimage at the synagogue.
אירוע חריג בבית כנסת בג’רבה | גורמים ישראלים: ירי בוצע לעבר המאבטחים שהוצבו במקום, אין דיווח על נפגעים באירוע • במקום שהו מאות אנשים בהילולת רבי שמעון בר יוחאי@AmichaiStein1 @kaisos1987 pic.twitter.com/c89iPbiAQe
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 9, 2023
In a DM with The Jerusalem Post, a community member named Aitan said that “there is great panic here. We are in lockdown in the synagogue and also in the guesthouse near the synagogue.”
More than an hour after the attack began, Aitan tweeted that “the attack is not over. We hear [gun] shots. There are dead people. We are still besieged in the synagogue. Let’s hope everything will be fine. Please pray for us.”
According to the Tunisian Interior Ministry, a guard at the naval center of the National Guard in Djerba killed a colleague of his and then headed for the El Ghriba synagogue and began firing indiscriminately at security guards at the synagogue who confronted him and killed him.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry confirmed that the synagogue is cordoned off and secured and that investigations are being carried out to find out the killer’s motive.
A Jewish worshipper prays during a pilgrimage to the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia (credit: ANIS MILI / REUTERS)The ancient Djerba Jewish community
According to La-Croix news site, thousands of Jews from around the world have flocked to the ancient El Ghriba Synagogue in Tunisia, the oldest in Africa, “for an annual five-day pilgrimage that begins 33 days after Passover,” called Lag Baomer. According to the site, during the days of pilgrimage to El Ghriba Synagogue, “Jews light candles before entering a small cave where the stone of Solomon’s Temple is supposed to be located. They then exchange dried fruits and sweets around a prayer.”
The pilgrimage takes place annually in memory of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess, a tannaitic rabbi on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Iyar until the 18th of Iyar, in remembrance of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
About 1,500 Jews live in Djerba nowadays. This Jewish community used to have 100,000 members, most of which have left in the 1950’s.
Comments are closed.