Mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE
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Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination.
Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination.
Sicha explaing according to Rashi how certain prohibitions that seem to be coming from Rabbinical rulings are really coming from the pussokim of Torqah themselves
The next Say Yes Summit is April 15th & 16th! Join us for just $47.The Say YES Sisterhood is here! Join a vibrant community of women who are embracing their dreams, reclaiming their joy, and living life with intention. Join Say YES Sisterhood today.In this soulful and thought-provoking episode, Wendy sits down with Rabbi and Cantor Judy Greenfeld for a heartfelt conversation on embracing life's transitions with courage and faith. They explore the power of reframing challenges—whether it's facing divorce, navigating physical limitations, or stepping into the unknown—and creating certainty in uncertain times. Together, they discuss the beauty of softening into resistance, trusting life's timing, and anchoring into what truly nourishes the soul. This conversation is a reminder that surrender isn't weakness—it's a doorway to transformation.About Judy:Judy Greenfeld is a Rabbi/Cantor, lifelong entrepreneur, and published author dedicated to empowering forward-thinkers to evolve through ancient wisdom and modern wellness. At 16, Judy tragically lost her father to gun violence, a profound experience that ignited her lifelong journey of healing and spiritual exploration. Through years of study and practice in somatic dance, dream work, meditation, sound healing, and Kabbalah, she developed a unique approach to personal and communal transformation. Ordained as a Rabbi/Cantor, she founded Nachshon Minyan, a welcoming community for unaffiliated Jews seeking to rewrite their negative stories about religion, and now serves as Senior Rabbi/Cantor at Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Beyond her Rabbinical duties, Judy's mission is to cultivate inclusive spaces where people of all backgrounds can come together, find support, and explore a path of self-discovery and shared purpose.Connect with Judy:RabbiCantorJudy.orgOn Instagram @rabbicantorjudygBook Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call________________________________________________________________________________________ Say YES to joining Wendy for her: Say YES Sisterhood PWH Farm StaysPWH Curated France TripsInstagram: @phineaswrighthouseFacebook: Phineas Wright HouseWebsite: Phineas Wright HousePodcast Production By Resonant Collective Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!Thank you for listening to the Say YES to yourself! podcast. It would mean the world if you would take one minute to follow, leave a 5-star review, and share with a friend.
Halachah From The Parshah Series: Parshas Pinchas - Can Rabbi's inherit Rabbinical Positions? 07/10/2020
Rabbi Yosi Zajac is a Chaplain at various maximum and medium facilities in the Northeastern United States. His responsibilities include suicide prevention, death notifications, weekly Judaism classes, as well as assisting inmates with their rehabilitation through counseling. Chaplain Yosi's extensive Rabbinical experiences in both his professional and personal life, have enabled him to educate, guide, and inspire Jews and non-Jews from all walks of life. In this episode, Rabbi Zajac and Aryeh talk about what goes on behind prison walls as well as the mental health challenges facing many people today.To learn more about Chaplain Yosi or to book him for an event visit his website https://www.chaplainyosi.com/This episode has been sponsored by:-Parsha Inspiration: Receive brief inspiration to share at your Shabbos table emailinfo@parshaknowledge.com or visit parshaknowledge.com.- Ohr Olam: An Incredible Hebrew-English Mishnah Berurah that's changing the world! Get a copy at your local Jewish bookstore or visit https://zbermanbooks.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ohr+olam Check out their website www.ohr-olam.org.Watch our podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JewishnjoyfulJoin our new WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BbfFPZDu1ldBlANISpy0OjYou can now listen to the podcast on the phone:USA: 605-562-3522 ISRAEL: 972-79-579-5099To donate or reach out WhatsApp us at 646-397-2320 or email jewishnjoyful@gmail.com
Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination. ★ Support this podcast ★
How familiar are you with Torah? It's an important question because a lot of people simply remember the grand journey Moses takes and how he leads the people to Israel, and boom! You have the Torah. But it's so much more. In fact, outside of the 5 books of Moses you have The Talmud and Kabbalah and you have Pirkei Avot and you have this thing called Oral Torah versus Written Torah. Somewhere within the wide scope of what's considered Torah, you'll come across this book and wonder what's so special about this guy named Zohar. The mysteries and wisdom of The Zohar is well known and studied by Rabbi Natan Halevy. His precise and detailed work has been a lifetime achievement passed down from generation to generation within his family. Rabbi Halevy teaches Chaz Volk, host of Bad Jew, the depths, teachings, and relevance of this essential piece in Jewish literature. 00:00 Introduction 07:13 Oral Torah 10:04 Essential teachings 14:53 The power in reading 19:04 Zohar predicts cell phone addiction 22:30 Connection to Israel, Torah, and God deeply 24:39 Balancing study with life's responsibilities is challenging. 28:08 Alleviating depression, spreading holiness. 32:42 God's existence is fundamental 33:41 Practicing mystical teachings today About Rabbi Natan Halevy: I grew up in Los Angeles, and with my parents and siblings, attended Kahal Joseph where I had my Bar Mitzvah in 1994. As the child of Iraqi parents, I have a powerful sense of the strong culture and traditon I come from. In 2005 I received my Rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Yitchak Yaroslavsky at Yeshivat Tomchei Tmimim in Israel. I then served as an assistant Rabbi in Chabad of Great Neck, NY before I returned to Los Angeles in 2008. I love studying all facets of Torah—from the Bible to the Talmud to the inner parts of Torah. I also have knowledge of many other modalities and philosophies that I feel may support us as Jews and people in this modern day and age. My wife Bracha and our children – Yosef Hayim, Menucha, Menachem, Noam, and Shimon – are very happy to be working with the wonderful Kahal Joseph community. Contact Rabbi Natan Halevy: RabbiHaLevy@KahalJoseph.org IG @kahaljoseph SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SPONSOR OF THIS EPISODE: JEWISH BIG BROTHERS AND BIG SISTERS OF LOS ANGELES! Become a big today! JBBBSLA.org/mentorship Connect with Bad Jew: BadJew.co https://linktr.ee/badjew BadJewPod@gmail.com Ig @BadJewPod TikTok @BadJewPod
Judy Greenfeld is Senior Rabbi/Cantor at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, and founder of Nachshon Minyan, a welcoming community for unaffiliated Jews seeking to rewrite their negative stories about religion and re-integrate faith in their daily life. Beyond her Rabbinical duties, Judy's mission is to cultivate inclusive spaces where people of all backgrounds can come together, find support, and explore a path of self-discovery and shared purpose within the Jewish faith. But honestly, she's so much more. Join us! WHAT IS THEJEWFUNCTION - A 10min EXPLANATION https://youtu.be/5TlUt5FqVgQ LISTEN TO THE MYSTERY BOOK PODCAST SERIES: https://tinyurl.com/y7tmfpes SETH'S BOOK: https://www.antidotetoantisemitism.com/ FREE AUDIOBOOK (With Audible trial) OF THE JEWISH CHOICE - UNITY OR ANTISEMITISM: https://amzn.to/3u40evC LIKE/SHARE/SUBSCRIBE Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram @thejewfunction NEW: SUPPORT US ON PATREON patreon.com/thejewfunction
What happens when loss becomes a catalyst for transformation? In this episode, Judy shares her deeply personal journey from tragedy to spiritual exploration, diving into Buddhism, Kabbalah, and sound healing practices. We explore the profound connection between music and the nervous system, including the calming, restorative power of the 432 Hz frequency—the natural sound of the universe. Judy's experiences with sound bowls and energy vortexes offer a fascinating perspective on how ancient practices can align body, mind, and spirit. But this isn't just about healing; it's about redefining spirituality itself. Judy opens up about questioning religious norms, embracing self-discovery, and creating an inclusive spiritual community. What role does choice play in shaping your spiritual path? How can we integrate science, music, and ancient wisdom to deepen our connection with ourselves and the world? Tune in for an eye-opening conversation that invites you to expand your perspective on faith, healing, and personal growth. Ways to Connect with Rabbi Judy Greenfeld: Website - https://rabbicantorjudy.org/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rabbicantorjudyg/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiCantorJudy/ About Rabbi Judy Greenfeld Judy Greenfeld is a Rabbi/Cantor, lifelong entrepreneur, and author who bridges the gap between ancient wisdom and modern wellness to empower forward thinkers on their personal and professional evolution. At 16, Judy tragically lost her father to gun violence, a profound experience that ignited her lifelong journey of healing and spiritual exploration. Through years of study and practice in somatic dance, dream work, meditation, sound healing, and Kabbalah, she developed a unique approach to personal and community transformation. Ordained as a Rabbi/Cantor, she founded Nachshon Minyan, a welcoming community for unaffiliated Jews seeking to rewrite their negative stories about religion, and now serves as Rabbi/Cantor at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Beyond her Rabbinical duties, Judy's mission is to cultivate inclusive spaces where people of all backgrounds can come together, find support, and explore a path of self-discovery and shared purpose.
Begin at sunset Wednesday October 23, 2024What is the Last Great Day? What is its Old and New Testament meaning? How does it symbolize Yahweh reaching ALL humans with the gospel and offering them a chance to live forever?Jews call the Last Great Day, the seventh and final of Yahweh's annual Feasts, Shemini 'Azeret. This phrase means "eighth day assembly" as Yahweh commanded his people to meet on it for a holy assembly. The Bible simply calls it the "eighth day" or "the great day of the feast" as it immediately follows the Feast of Tabernacles.The Last Great Day, when no work is allowed, occurs each year on Tishri 22 on the Hebrew calendar.Yahshua is recorded as observing the Last Great Day in 29 A.D., less than six months before he is crucified. The Lord was among the morning crowd at Jerusalem's temple to witness the water pouring ceremony. Leviticus 23:34: "'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to Yahweh. On the first day shall be a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein. Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day…" (vs 34-36).We can now in some measure realize the event recorded in John 7:37. The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles were drawing to a close. 'It was the last day, that great day of the feast.' It obtained this name, although it was not one of 'holy convocation,' partly because it closed the feast, and partly from the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical writings the designations of 'Day of the Great Hosanna,' on account of the sevenfold circuit of the altar with 'Hosanna'; and 'Day of Willows,' and 'Day of Beating the Branches,' because all the leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. It was on that day, after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the altar; after the 'Hallel' had been sung to the sound of the flute, the people responding and worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets- when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that, from amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of Psalm 118 were chanted- voice was raised which resounded through the temple, startled the multitude, and carried fear and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Yahshua, who 'stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.' Then by faith in Him should each one truly become like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being 'rivers of living waters flow' (John 7:38). 'This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.' Thus the significance of the rite, in which they had just taken part, was not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfillment pointed out. The effect was instantaneous. It could not but be, that in that vast assembly, so suddenly roused by being brought face to face with Him in whom every type and prophecy is fulfilled, there would be many who, 'when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, ‘this is the Messiah!' Even the Temple-guard, whose duty it would have been in such circumstances to arrest one who had so interrupted the services of the day, and presented himself to the people in such a light, owned the spell of His words, and dared not to lay hands on Him. 'Never man spake like this man,' was the only account they could give of their unusual weakness, in answer to the reproaches of the chief priests and Pharisees.Have any questions? Feel free to email me keitner2024@outlook.com
Sermon by Rabbinical Intern Rebecca Thau, "The Sacred Weight of Shattered Tablets" October 17th, 2024
Sukkot is upon us! Does that mean we like camping? Well we do but this holiday is less about camping and more about commemorating the 40 years Jews lived in temporary shelters while wandering the desert on the way to Israel, their promised land. On this holiday, when you actually enter this holy "shack" you come across a ritual of waving around fruits and sticks... If it's your first time witnessing this, you must agree that this is a bizarre ritual. Rabbi Yitz Jacobs of MyAishLA and Aish Los Angeles helps us understand the deeper meaning behind this highly choreographed ritual. Chaz Volk, host of Bad Jew, goes beyond the joy of building the sukkah in order to understand the movements and philosophies behind this act. 00:00 Introduction 06:11 High holiday breakdown by purpose 09:15 Divine protection and dependency 10:33 Beyond the "shack" 16:07 6-dimensional 19:37 Feminine perfection 23:24 Unity with God through tradition 25:07 Tree of Life 28:42 World-building About Rabbi Yitz Jacobs: Rabbi Yitz Jacobs grew up in one of the only secular sections of Long Island. He earned a BS in Biology at Cornell University, and is still repenting for the freshman dorm experience. He then stayed on at Cornell and earned a Masters in Public Administration. He often wonders why, after spending all that money at Cornell, they're still trying to get more out of him. After working in technology consulting for two years in Washington D.C. for Booz-Allen and Hamilton, he decided to do what every Jewish boy dreams of doing after being in the work force—go back to graduate school! Upon acceptance to University of Virginia Law school, he quit his job and took a quick detour to the holy land for a “three hour cruise.” He ended up staying for six years and earning his Rabbinical degree from Aish. R. Jacobs is married to his wonderful wife, Chavi Jacobs, and has 5 beautiful children. Connect with Rabbi Yitz Jacobs: Follow him on FB and IG @myaishla Connect with Bad Jew: BadJew.co https://linktr.ee/badjew BadJewPod@gmail.com Ig @BadJewPod TikTok @BadJewPod
Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination.
Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination.
Nobody Wants This? More like somebody wants this! Rabbinic representation gets the Hollywood treatment in the new Netflix romantic comedy series "Nobody Wants This," about atheist podcaster Kristen Bell falling for rabbi Adam Brody. The show's trailer and title set up negative expectations, but how did the series portray Jewish life and ritual? Is the show engaging enough for a second season? And what could a show like this do for Jews in interfaith relationships? Join the bagels for a long-ranging and in-depth conversation about this 10-episode series. If you've already binged it or have just started streaming, send us your thoughts at thebagelreport@gmail.com. Check out these links: Nobody Wants This trailer Chrismukkah clip from the OC Adam Brody in Fleishman Is in Trouble
Shalom Aleikhem, my dear listeners! Both believer and nonbeliver alike! Peace be upon you all, to the glory of Abbah Father YHVH in the Name of Messiah Yeshua! Welcome back to my blog! If you're reading this, that means that there's a new episode of Finding Hyer Ground currently under construction and on the way! In this upcoming episode, I've been led by Rüakh HaKodesh Holy Spirit to share with you the VERY Jewish concept of 'Tíkkün Ölám' - 'תיקון עולם' - 'Repairing The World' through a deep dive study of Romans Chapters 3,5 and 8. Romans (Rom) 5:12-21 CJB [12] "...Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned. [13] Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah. [14] Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam's violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured The One who was to come. [15] But the free gift is not like the offence. For if, because of one man's offence, many died, then how much more has God's grace, that is, the gracious gift of One Man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflowed to many! [16] No, the free gift is not like what resulted from one man's sinning; for from one sinner came judgment that brought condemnation; but the free gift came after many offences and brought acquittal. [17] For if, because of the offence of one man, death ruled through that one man; how much more will those receiving the overflowing grace, that is, the gift of being considered righteous, rule in life through The One Man Yeshua the Messiah! [18] In other words, just as it was through one offence that all people came under condemnation, so also it is through one righteous act that all people come to be considered righteous. [19] For just as through the disobedience of the one man, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of The Other Man, many will be made righteous. [20] And the Torah came into the picture so that the offence would proliferate; but where sin proliferated, grace proliferated even more. [21] All this happened so that just as sin ruled by means of death, so also grace might rule through causing people to be considered righteous, so that they might have eternal life, through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord." https://bible.com/bible/1275/rom.5.12-21.CJB As we see here, it does indeed seem as if Sha'ul of Tarshish alludes that Messiah Yeshua came to His creation to fix or even undo the calamity that befell upon mankind through Adam's initial transgression against YHVH. It is precisely this 'fixing' and 'undoing' that I will be focusing in on in this upcoming Episode XXVII, as I explain parts of Romans Chapters 3, 5 and 8 in greater depth, which will then segue into explaining in greater detail the very Jewish concept of 'Tíkkün Ölám' תיקון עולם - Repairing The World! This time, I will do it House Hillel style and present both sides of the coin! Both the Rabbinical perception of 'Tíkkün Ölám' and the Messianic Jewish perception of the concept will be represented, respectively. I will also demonstrate just how Messiah Yeshua FULFILLS this very concept, thus bringing the circle to a full close by returning to what our dear brother Sha'ul of Tarshish writes to the Romans in his letter to said Messianic Community. I do hope you enjoy this upcoming episode! https://inheritmag.com/articles/tikkun-olam-repairing-the-world https://lightofmessiah.org/blog/repairing-a-broken-world-the-jewish-concept-of-tikkun-olam --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gadi-hyer4/support
Author of best selling 'Practical Kabbalah' (Random House) available on Amazon.Rabbi's Wolf's work has been lauded by spiritual leaders including Rabbi Lord Sir Jonathan Sacks OBM, the Dalai Lama, and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu OBM, the Chief Rabbi of Israel from whom Rabbi Wolf received his Rabbinical ordination.
Free Will doesn't exist... or does it? Afterall, all of our decisions are impacted by the decisions right before... right? Philosophy may not be your strong suit but surely we simply come into existence and act on our needs and what's around us. It's nice to feel like we make decisions but surely we're just animals like the rest of the living organisms on this Earth, thus we have no free will.... right? Rabbi M.Z. Dubov has much more to say on this! Free will does exist even with G-d in the picture! Dubov highlights the part conscience and a freed mindset play in the understanding of our place in the universe. Chaz Volk, host of Bad Jew and someone who once believed there was no free will, takes a deep dive into Jewish philosophy. 00:00 Introduction 06:19 Paradigm shift 08:36 Discovering Jewish tradition 12:06 Realized free will concerns 13:54 Free will exists if a higher consciousness exists 18:28 Debate over free will among believers and atheists 23:46 Determinism vs. free will in Jewish philosophy 27:28 Einstein theory 29:00 Decisions result from inputs. 34:23 Universe is not synonymous with God. 36:58 Humans are thoughts in God's infinite consciousness 40:14 Deterministic existence nullifies genuine human experience 42:34 Universal love, independence, image of God 46:49 Realize you are a soul, not a body 49:39 Survival vs. Lifestyle 52:15 Conclusion About Rabbi M.Z. Dubov: Born in Minsk, Belarus, MZ grew up in Brooklyn in an immigrant family which fled the USSR due to antisemitism. He attended public school until enrolling in the Boston College Carroll School of Management, from which he graduated with a B.S. in Operations & Business Consulting. During his time at BC, he became heavily involved in Israeli Advocacy, co-founding “Eagles for Israel.” While running diplomatic and cultural events, MZ met Rabbi Chananel Weiner, a student of Rabbi Noach Weinberg zt”l (the founder of Aish). Rabbi Weiner opened MZ's eyes to the depth and beauty of his Jewish roots. After graduation and before jumping into the corporate world, MZ came to Aish to learn more and decided to stay, having found his calling in life. With seven years of Torah study under his belt, MZ received Rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Nachum Barowski and Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl. He acts as the Director of the FoundAISHons program, in which he teaches daily and serves as a mentor to students past and present. Rabbi MZ enjoys playing basketball, hiking, taking joyrides, listening to music, and teaching his kids about this wonderful world in which we live. He and his wife often host for Shabbat in their home in French Hill, Jerusalem. Connect with M.Z. Dubov: Aish.com FeadYourHead.blog Plus.Aish.com OlamiTogether.org Souled.Olami.org Connect with Bad Jew: BadJew.co https://linktr.ee/badjew BadJewPod@gmail.com Ig @BadJewPod TikTok @BadJewPod
The Torah in Parashat Ki-Teseh introduces the obligation of "Malkut" – the lashes given to sinners who are found guilty of certain transgressions. In the times of the Sanhedrin (highest Rabbinical court in Jerusalem), there were courts with the authority to administer corporal punishment, and those who were convicted of certain Biblical violations were given "Malkut." The Torah states explicitly that an individual deserving of this punishment receives forty lashes – "Arba'im Yakenu" (25:3). The Sages, however, understood that the Torah's intent is that the sinner receives thirty-nine lashes, and not forty. The Gemara (Makkot 22b) inferred this reduction from the juxtaposition between this verse and the preceding verse, which concludes with the words "Be'mispar" (literally, "in the number"). This word, together with the words "Arba'im Yakenu," form the phrase "Be'mispar Arba'im Yakenu," which can be read to mean "he shall strike him in the number that leads to forty," referring to thirty-nine. The question, however, obviously arises as to why the Torah did not simply write that the sinner receives thirty-nine lashes. Why did it formulate this law in a manner which clearly indicates forty lashes, and only through a subtle allusion instructs reducing this number to thirty-nine? An insightful answer to this question is given by the Maharal of Prague (d. 1609), in his Gur Aryeh. He explains that it is appropriate for a sinner to receive forty lashes, because sin contaminates a person's being, which was formed in forty days. The fetus takes form over the course of the forty-day period following conception, and thus forty is associated with the human being's creation. As sin undermines the very purpose for why we were created, a sinner must be punished once for each day of his formation, for a total of forty lashes. However, the Maharal writes, a person's essence is comprised of two elements – the body and the soul. A person's physical properties take form during the thirty-nine days after conception, whereas the soul enters at the very end of this process, on the fortieth day. Now each morning, in the "Elokai Neshama" blessing, we proclaim that the soul which Hashem has given us is pristinely pure ("…Neshama She'natata Bi Tehora Hi"). Even if a person commits the gravest sins, his soul remains perfectly pure. It is the body that commits the sin; the soul is merely an unwilling participant, so-to-speak, "dragged" into the act of sin due to its being bound together with the body. Fundamentally, the soul needs to be punished, too, because of its involvement in the process of wrongdoing, by virtue of its connection to the body. However, after the sinner receives thirty-nine lashes, his entire physical being is cleansed. These thirty-nine lashes atone for the contamination of his body which was formed during the thirty-nine days after conception. And thus, at this point, there is no reason for the soul to be punished. The soul deserved punishment only due to its association with the body that had committed the wrongful act, and so once the body has been renewed through the thirty-nine lashes, there is no longer a need for the fortieth lash, which would serve to atone for the soul. This is why, the Maharal explains, the Torah writes that the sinner receives forty lashes, whereas in truth he receives only thirty-nine. At the outset, he requires forty lashes, because even the soul deserves punishment due to its connection to the body, which committed the act. But in practice, once the sinner receives thirty-nine lashes, there is no longer any reason to administer the fortieth, which corresponds to the soul, since the thirty-nine lashes had cleansed the body, and it was only on account of the body's guilt that the fortieth lash was needed. I believe there is a critical message being conveyed by this Halacha, as understood by the Maharal. When the sinner is brought to the court to receive his punishment, he is shown that his soul remains pure despite his wrongdoing. His sentence is reduced by one because his pure, sacred soul was not tainted by his mistake. The purpose of the Torah's punishments is not to destroy the sinner, but to the contrary – to motivate him to grow and change. To this end, he is told that he will not receive any lashes corresponding to his soul, because no matter what he did wrong, his soul remains holy and untarnished. Knowing that he still possesses a sacred soul, the sinner will be encouraged to change and refrain from wrongdoing in the future. One of the greatest obstacles to Teshuba is the feeling that it's too late, that we're too tainted, that we've fallen too low to recover. The thirty-nine lashes show us that there's a part of us that can never be tainted, a spark of goodness and holiness within our beings that will always remain pristinely pure no matter what mistakes we have made. Although we at times fail, we must feel confident in our inherent G-dliness, in the element of Kedusha within our beings that assures our ability to improve and return to Hashem.
Listen to the premiere episode of the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, the multi-award-winning, chart-topping, and first-ever narrative podcast series to focus exclusively on Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. This week's episode focuses on Jews from Tunisia. If you like what you hear, subscribe before the next episode drops on September 3. “In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA, we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us . . . I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity... I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation.” Hen Mazzig, a writer, digital creator, and founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, shares his powerful journey as a proud Israeli, LGBTQ+, and Mizrahi Jew, in the premiere episode of the second season of the award-winning podcast, The Forgotten Exodus. Hen delves into his family's deep roots in Tunisia, their harrowing experiences during the Nazi occupation, and their eventual escape to Israel. Discover the rich history of Tunisia's ancient Amazigh Jewish community, the impact of French colonial and Arab nationalist movements on Jews in North Africa, and the cultural identity that Hen passionately preserves today. Joining the conversation is historian Lucette Valensi, an expert on Tunisian Jewish culture, who provides scholarly insights into the longstanding presence of Jews in Tunisia, from antiquity to their exodus in the mid-20th century. ___ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits: "Penceresi Yola Karsi" -- by Turku, Nomads of the Silk Road Pond5: “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Danielyan Ashot Makichevich (BMI), IPI Name #00855552512, United States BMI “Tunisia Eastern”: Publisher: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Composer: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Item ID#155836469. “At The Rabbi's Table”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Fazio Giulio (IPI/CAE# 00198377019). “Fields Of Elysium”; Publisher: Mysterylab Music; Composer: Mott Jordan; ID#79549862 “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Hatikvah (National Anthem Of Israel)”; Composer: Eli Sibony; ID#122561081 “Tunisian Pot Dance (Short)”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: kesokid, ID #97451515 “Middle East Ident”; Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Alpha (ASCAP); Composer: Alon Marcus (ACUM), IPI#776550702 “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833. ___ Episode Transcript: HEN MAZZIG: They took whatever they had left and they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel. And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected, and that she was coming home. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations–despite hardship, hostility, and hatred–then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East. The world has ignored these voices. We will not. This is The Forgotten Exodus. Today's episode: leaving Tunisia. __ [Tel Aviv Pride video] MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Every June, Hen Mazzig, who splits his time between London and Tel Aviv, heads to Israel to show his Pride. His Israeli pride. His LGBTQ+ pride. And his Mizrahi Jewish pride. For that one week, all of those identities coalesce. And while other cities around the world have transformed Pride into a June version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Israel is home to one of the few vibrant LGBTQ communities in the Middle East. Tel Aviv keeps it real. HEN: For me, Pride in Israel, in Tel Aviv, it still has this element of fighting for something. And that it's important for all of us to show up and to come out to the Pride Parade because if we're not going to be there, there's some people with agendas to erase us and we can't let them do it. MANYA: This year, the Tel Aviv Pride rally was a more somber affair as participants demanded freedom for the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza since October 7th. On that day, Hamas terrorists bent on erasing Jews from the Middle East went on a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,200, kidnapping 250 others, and unleashing what has become a 7-front war on Israel. HEN: In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us, and we had to fight. And the LGBTQ+ community also knows very well how hard it is. I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity. And I don't want anyone to go through that. I don't want my children to go through that. I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation. MANYA: Hen Mazzig is an international speaker, writer, and digital influencer. In 2022, he founded the Tel Aviv Institute, a social media laboratory that tackles antisemitism online. He's also a second-generation Israeli, whose maternal grandparents fled Iraq, while his father's parents fled Tunisia – roots that echo in the family name: Mazzig. HEN: The last name Mazzig never made sense, because in Israel a lot of the last names have meaning in Hebrew. So I remember one of my teachers in school was saying that Mazzig sounds like mozeg, which means pouring in Hebrew. Maybe your ancestors were running a bar or something? Clearly, this teacher did not have knowledge of the Amazigh people. Which, later on I learned, several of those tribes, those Amazigh tribes, were Jewish or practiced Judaism, and that there was 5,000 Jews that came from Tunisia that were holding both identities of being Jewish and Amazigh. And today, they have last names like Mazzig, and Amzaleg, Mizzoug. There's several of those last names in Israel today. And they are the descendants of those Jewish communities that have lived in the Atlas Mountains. MANYA: The Atlas Mountains. A 1,500-mile chain of magnificent peaks and treacherous terrain that stretch across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline. It's where the nomadic Amazigh have called home for thousands of years. The Amazigh trace their origins to at least 2,000 BCE in western North Africa. They speak the language of Tamazight and rely on cattle and agriculture as their main sources of income. But textiles too. In fact, you've probably heard of the Amazigh or own a rug woven by them. A Berber rug. HEN: Amazigh, which are also called Berbers. But they're rejecting this term because of the association with barbarians, which was the title that European colonialists when they came to North Africa gave them. There's beautiful folklore about Jewish leaders within the Amazigh people. One story that I really connected to was the story of Queen Dihya that was also known as El-Kahina, which in Arabic means the Kohen, the priest, and she was known as this leader of the Amazigh tribes, and she was Jewish. Her derrogaters were calling her a Jewish witch, because they said that she had the power to foresee the future. And her roots were apparently connected to Queen Sheba and her arrival from Israel back to Africa. And she was the descendant of Queen Sheba. And that's how she led the Amazigh people. And the stories that I read about her, I just felt so connected. How she had this long, black, curly hair that went all the way down to her knees, and she was fierce, and she was very committed to her identity, and she was fighting against the Islamic expansion to North Africa. And when she failed, after years of holding them off, she realized that she can't do it anymore and she's going to lose. And she was not willing to give up her Jewish identity and convert to Islam and instead she jumped into a well and died. This well is known today in Tunisia. It's the [Bir] Al-Kahina or Dihya's Well that is still in existence. Her descendants, her kids, were Jewish members of the Amazigh people. Of course, I would like to believe that I am the descendant of royalty. MANYA: Scholars debate whether the Amazigh converted to Judaism or descended from Queen Dihya and stayed. Lucette Valensi is a French scholar of Tunisian history who served as a director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, one of the most prestigious institutions of graduate education in France. She has written extensively about Tunisian Jewish culture. Generations of her family lived in Tunisia. She says archaeological evidence proves Jews were living in that land since Antiquity. LUCETTE VALENSI: I myself am a Chemla, born Chemla. And this is an Arabic name, which means a kind of belt. And my mother's name was Tartour, which is a turban [laugh]. So the names were Arabic. So my ancestors spoke Arabic. I don't know if any of them spoke Berber before, or Latin. I have no idea. But there were Jews in antiquity and of course, through Saint Augustin. MANYA: So when did Jews arrive in Tunisia? LUCETTE: [laugh] That's a strange question because they were there since Antiquity. We have evidence of their presence in mosaics of synagogues, from the times of Byzantium. I think we think in terms of a short chronology, and they would tend to associate the Jews to colonization, which does not make sense, they were there much before French colonization. They were there for millennia. MANYA: Valensi says Jews lived in Tunisia dating to the time of Carthage, an ancient city-state in what is now Tunisia, that reached its peak in the fourth century BCE. Later, under Roman and then Byzantine rule, Carthage continued to play a vital role as a center of commerce and trade during antiquity. Besides the role of tax collectors, Jews were forbidden to serve in almost all public offices. Between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, conditions fluctuated between relief and forced conversions while under Christian rule. After the Islamic conquest of Tunisia in the seventh and early eighth centuries CE, the treatment of Jews largely depended on which Muslim ruler was in charge at the time. Some Jews converted to Islam while others lived as dhimmis, or second-class citizens, protected by the state in exchange for a special tax known as the jizya. In 1146, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty, declared that the Prophet Muhammad had granted Jews religious freedom for only 500 years, by which time if the messiah had not come, they had to convert. Those who did not convert and even those who did were forced to wear yellow turbans or other special garb called shikra, to distinguish them from Muslims. An influx of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal arrived in the 14th Century. In the 16th Century, Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire, and the situation of Jews improved significantly. Another group who had settled in the coastal Tuscan city of Livorno crossed the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries to make Tunisia their home. LUCETTE: There were other groups that came, Jews from Italy, Jews from Spain, of course, Spain and Portugal, different periods. 14th century already from Spain and then from Spain and Portugal. From Italy, from Livorno, that's later, but the Jews from Livorno themselves came from Spain. So I myself am named Valensi. From Valencia. It was the family name of my first husband. So from Valencia in Spain they went to Livorno, and from Livorno–Leghorn in English–to Tunisia. MANYA: At its peak, Tunisia's Jewish population exceeded 100,000 – a combination of Sephardi and Mizrahi. HEN: When we speak about Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, specifically in the West, or mainly in the West, we're referring to them as Sephardi. But in Tunisia, it's very interesting to see that there was the Grana community which are Livorno Jews that moved to Tunisia in the 1800s, and they brought the Sephardi way of praying. And that's why I always use the term Mizrahi to describe myself, because I feel like it encapsulates more of my identity. And for me, the Sephardi title that we often use on those communities doesn't feel accurate to me, and it also has the connection to Ladino, which my grandparents never spoke. They spoke Tamazight, Judeo-Tamazight, which was the language of those tribes in North Africa. And my family from my mother's side, from Iraq, they were speaking Judeo-Iraqi-Arabic. So for me, the term Sephardi just doesn't cut it. I go with Mizrahi to describe myself. MANYA: The terms Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi all refer to the places Jews once called home. Ashkenazi Jews hail from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Germany, Poland, and Russia. They traditionally speak Yiddish, and their customs and practices reflect the influences of Central and Eastern European cultures. Pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust led many Ashkenazi Jews to flee their longtime homes to countries like the United States and their ancestral homeland, Israel. Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco. Ancient Jewish communities that have lived in the region for millennia long before the advent of Islam and Christianity. They often speak dialects of Arabic. Sephardi Jews originate from Spain and Portugal, speaking Ladino and incorporating Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. Following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, they settled in regions like North Africa and the Balkans. In Tunisia, the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities lived side by side, but separately. HEN: As time passed, those communities became closer together, still quite separated, but they became closer and closer. And perhaps the reason they were becoming closer was because of the hardship that they faced as Jews. For the leaders of Muslim armies that came to Tunisia, it didn't matter if you were a Sephardi Jew, or if you were an Amazigh Jew. You were a Jew for them. MANYA: Algeria's invasion of Tunisia in the 18th century had a disproportionate effect on Tunisia's Jewish community. The Algerian army killed thousands of the citizens of Tunis, many of whom were Jewish. Algerians raped Jewish women, looted Jewish homes. LUCETTE: There were moments of trouble when you had an invasion of the Algerian army to impose a prince. The Jews were molested in Tunis. MANYA: After a military invasion, a French protectorate was established in 1881 and lasted until Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Jews of Tunisia felt much safer under the French protectorate. They put a lot of stock in the French revolutionary promise of Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Soon, the French language replaced Judeo-Arabic. LUCETTE: Well, under colonization, the Jews were in a better position. First, the school system. They went to modern schools, especially the Alliance [Israélite Universelle] schools, and with that started a form of Westernization. You had also schools in Italian, created by Italian Jews, and some Tunisian Jews went to these schools and already in the 19th century, there was a form of acculturation and Westernization. Access to newspapers, creation of newspapers. In the 1880s Jews had already their own newspapers in Hebrew characters, but Arabic language. And my grandfather was one of the early journalists and they started having their own press and published books, folklore, sort of short stories. MANYA: In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France and quickly overran the French Third Republic, forcing the French to sign an armistice agreement in June. The armistice significantly reduced the territory governed by France and created a new government known as the Vichy regime, after the central French city where it was based. The Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis, establishing a special administration to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and enforce a compulsory Jewish census in all of its territories including Tunisia. Hen grew up learning about the Holocaust, the Nazis' attempt to erase the Jewish people. As part of his schooling, he learned the names of concentration and death camps and he heard the stories from his friends' grandparents. But because he was not Ashkenazi, because his grandparents didn't suffer through the same catastrophe that befell Europe, Hen never felt fully accepted. It was a trauma that belonged to his Ashkenazi friends of German and Polish descent, not to him. Or so they thought and so he thought, until he was a teenager and asked his grandmother Kamisa to finally share their family's journey from Tunisia. That's when he learned that the Mazzig family had not been exempt from Hitler's hatred. In November 1942, Tunisia became the only North African country to come under Nazi Germany's occupation and the Nazis wasted no time. Jewish property was confiscated, and heavy fines were levied on large Jewish communities. With the presence of the Einsatzkommando, a subgroup of the Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing units, the Nazis were prepared to implement the systematic murder of the Jews of Tunisia. The tide of the war turned just in time to prevent that. LUCETTE: At the time the Germans came, they did not control the Mediterranean, and so they could not export us to the camps. We were saved by that. Lanor camps for men in dangerous places where there were bombs by the Allies. But not for us, it was, I mean, they took our radios. They took the silverware or they took money, this kind of oppression, but they did not murder us. They took the men away, a few families were directly impacted and died in the camps. A few men. So we were afraid. We were occupied. But compared to what Jews in Europe were subjected to, we didn't suffer. MANYA: Almost 5,000 Jews, most of them from Tunis and from certain northern communities, were taken captive and incarcerated in 32 labor camps scattered throughout Tunisia. Jews were not only required to wear yellow stars, but those in the camps were also required to wear them on their backs so they could be identified from a distance and shot in the event they tried to escape. HEN: My grandmother never told me until before she died, when she was more open about the stories of oppression, on how she was serving food for the French Nazi officers that were occupying Tunisia, or how my grandfather was in a labor camp, and he was supposed to be sent to a death camp in Europe as well. They never felt like they should share these stories. MANYA: The capture of Tunisia by the Allied forces in May 1943 led the Axis forces in North Africa to surrender. But the country remained under French colonial rule and the antisemitic legislation of the Vichy regime continued until 1944. Many of the Vichy camps, including forced labor camps in the Sahara, continued to operate. Even after the decline and fall of the Vichy regime and the pursuit of independence from French rule began, conditions for the Mazzig family and many others in the Tunisian Jewish community did not improve. But the source of much of the hostility and strife was actually a beacon of hope for Tunisia's Jews. On May 14, 1948, the world had witnessed the creation of the state of Israel, sparking outrage throughout the Arab world. Seven Arab nations declared war on Israel the day after it declared independence. Amid the rise of Tunisian nationalism and its push for independence from France, Jewish communities who had lived in Tunisia for centuries became targets. Guilty by association. No longer welcome. Rabbinical councils were dismantled. Jewish sports associations banned. Jews practiced their religion in hiding. Hen's grandfather recounted violence in the Jewish quarter of Tunis. HEN: When World War Two was over, the Jewish community in Tunisia was hoping that now that Tunisia would have emancipation, and it would become a country, that their neighbors and the country itself would protect them. Because when it was Nazis, they knew that it was a foreign power that came from France and oppressed them. They knew that there was some hatred in the past, from their Muslim neighbors towards them. But they also were hoping that, if anything, they would go back to the same status of a dhimmi, of being a protected minority. Even if they were not going to be fully accepted and celebrated in this society, at least they would be protected, for paying tax. And this really did not happen. MANYA: By the early 1950s, life for the Mazzig family became untenable. By then, American Jewish organizations based in Tunis started working to take Jews to Israel right away. HEN: [My family decided to leave.] They took whatever they had left. And they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel. And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression of living as a minority that knows that anytime the ruler might turn on them and take everything they have and pull the ground underneath their feet, they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected. And maybe they will face hate, but no one will hate them because they're Jewish. And I often dream about my grandmother being a young girl on this boat and how she must have felt to know that the nightmare and the hell that she went through is behind her and that she was coming home. MANYA: The boat they sailed to Israel took days. When Hen's uncle, just a young child at the time, got sick, the captain threatened to throw him overboard. Hen's grandmother hid the child inside her clothes until they docked in Israel. When they arrived, they were sprayed with DDT to kill any lice or disease, then placed in ma'abarot, which in Hebrew means transit camps. In this case, it was a tent with one bed. HEN: They were really mistreated back then. And it's not criticism. I mean, yes, it is also criticism, but it's not without understanding the context. That it was a young country that just started, and those Jewish communities, Jewish refugees came from Tunisia, they didn't speak Hebrew. They didn't look like the other Jewish communities there. And while they all had this in common, that they were all Jews, they had a very different experience. MANYA: No, the family's arrival in the Holy Land was nothing like what they had imagined. But even still, it was a dream fulfilled and there was hope, which they had lost in Tunisia. HEN: I think that it was somewhere in between having both this deep connection to Israel and going there because they wanted to, and also knowing that there's no future in Tunisia. And the truth is that even–and I'm sure people that are listening to us, that are strong Zionists and love Israel, if you tell them ‘OK, so move tomorrow,' no matter how much you love Israel, it's a very difficult decision to make. Unless it's not really a decision. And I think for them, it wasn't really a decision. And they went through so much, they knew, OK, we have to leave and I think for the first time having a country, having Israel was the hope that they had for centuries to go back home, finally realized. MANYA: Valensi's family did stay a while longer. When Tunisia declared independence in 1956, her father, a ceramicist, designed tiles for the residence of President Habib Bourguiba. Those good relations did not last. Valensi studied history in France, married an engineer, and returned to Tunisia. But after being there for five years, it became clear that Jews were not treated equally and they returned to France in 1965. LUCETTE: I did not plan to emigrate. And then it became more and more obvious that some people were more equal than others [laugh]. And so there was this nationalist mood where responsibilities were given to Muslims rather than Jews and I felt more and more segregated. And so, my husband was an engineer from a good engineering school. Again, I mean, he worked for another engineer, who was a Muslim. We knew he would never reach the same position. His father was a lawyer. And in the tribunal, he had to use Arabic. And so all these things accumulated, and we were displaced. MANYA: Valensi said Jewish emigration from Tunisia accelerated at two more mileposts. Even after Tunisia declared independence, France maintained a presence and a naval base in the port city of Bizerte, a strategic port on the Mediterranean for the French who were fighting with Algeria. In 1961, Tunisian forces blockaded the naval base and warned France to stay out of its airspace. What became known as the Bizerte Crisis lasted for three days. LUCETTE: There were critical times, like what we call “La Crise de Bizerte.” Bizerte is a port to the west of Tunis that used to be a military port and when independence was negotiated with France, the French kept this port, where they could keep an army, and Bourguiba decided that he wanted this port back. And there was a war, a conflict, between Tunisia and France in ‘61. And that crisis was one moment when Jews thought: if there is no French presence to protect us, then anything could happen. You had the movement of emigration. Of course, much later, ‘67, the unrest in the Middle East, and what happened there provoked a kind of panic, and there were movements against the Jews in Tunis – violence and destruction of shops, etc. So they emigrated again. Now you have only a few hundred Jews left. MANYA: Valensi's first husband died at an early age. Her second husband, Abraham Udovitch, is the former chair of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Together, they researched and published a book about the Jewish communities in the Tunisian island of Djerba. The couple now splits their time between Paris and Princeton. But Valensi returns to Tunisia every year. It's still home. LUCETTE: When I go, strange thing, I feel at home. I mean, I feel I belong. My Arabic comes back. The words that I thought I had forgotten come back. They welcome you. I mean, if you go, you say you come from America, they're going to ask you questions. Are you Jewish? Did you go to Israel? I mean, these kind of very brutal questions, right away. They're going there. The taxi driver won't hesitate to ask you: Are you Jewish? But at the same time, they're very welcoming. So, I have no trouble. MANYA: Hen, on the other hand, has never been to the land of his ancestors. He holds on to his grandparents' trauma. And fear. HEN: Tunisia just still feels a bit unsafe to me. Just as recent as a couple of months ago, there was a terror attack. So it's something that's still occurring. MANYA: Just last year, a member of the Tunisian National Guard opened fire on worshippers outside El Ghriba Synagogue where a large gathering of Jewish pilgrims were celebrating the festival of Lag BaOmer. The synagogue is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba where Valensi and her husband did research for their book. Earlier this year, a mob attacked an abandoned synagogue in the southern city of Sfax, setting fire to the building's courtyard. Numbering over 100,000 Jews on the eve of Israel's Independence in 1948, the Tunisian Jewish community is now estimated to be less than 1,000. There has been limited contact over the years between Tunisia and Israel. Some Israeli tourists, mostly of Tunisian origin, annually visit the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba. But the government has largely been hostile to the Jewish state. In the wake of the October 7 attack, the Tunisian parliament began debate on a law that would criminalize any normalization of ties with Israel. Still, Hen would like to go just once to see where his grandparents lived. Walked. Cooked. Prayed. But to him it's just geography, an arbitrary place on a map. The memories, the music, the recipes, the traditions. It's no longer in Tunisia. It's elsewhere now – in the only country that preserved it. HEN: The Jewish Tunisian culture, the only place that it's been maintained is in Israel. That's why it's still alive. Like in Tunisia, it's not really celebrated. It's not something that they keep as much as they keep here. Like if you want to go to a proper Mimouna, you would probably need to go to Israel, not to North Africa, although that's where it started. And the same with the Middle Eastern Jewish cuisine. The only place in the world, where be it Tunisian Jews and Iraqi Jews, or Yemenite Jews, still develop their recipes, is in Israel. Israel is home, and this is where we still celebrate our culture and our cuisine and our identity is still something that I can engage with here. I always feel like I am living the dreams of my grandparents, and I know that my grandmother is looking from above and I know how proud she is that we have a country, that we have a place to be safe at. And that everything I do today is to protect my people, to protect the Jewish people, and making sure that next time when a country, when an empire, when a power would turn on Jews we'll have a place to go to and be safe. MANYA: Tunisian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Hen for sharing his story. You can read more in his memoir The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible. You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.
“In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA, we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us . . . I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity... I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation.” Hen Mazzig, a writer, digital creator, and founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, shares his powerful journey as a proud Israeli, LGBTQ+, and Mizrahi Jew, in the premiere episode of the second season of the award-winning podcast, The Forgotten Exodus. Hen delves into his family's deep roots in Tunisia, their harrowing experiences during the Nazi occupation, and their eventual escape to Israel. Discover the rich history of Tunisia's ancient Amazigh Jewish community, the impact of French colonial and Arab nationalist movements on Jews in North Africa, and the cultural identity that Hen passionately preserves today. Joining the conversation is historian Lucette Valensi, an expert on Tunisian Jewish culture, who provides scholarly insights into the longstanding presence of Jews in Tunisia, from antiquity to their exodus in the mid-20th century. ___ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits: "Penceresi Yola Karsi" -- by Turku, Nomads of the Silk Road Pond5: “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Danielyan Ashot Makichevich (BMI), IPI Name #00855552512, United States BMI “Tunisia Eastern”: Publisher: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Composer: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Item ID#155836469. “At The Rabbi's Table”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Fazio Giulio (IPI/CAE# 00198377019). “Fields Of Elysium”; Publisher: Mysterylab Music; Composer: Mott Jordan; ID#79549862 “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Hatikvah (National Anthem Of Israel)”; Composer: Eli Sibony; ID#122561081 “Tunisian Pot Dance (Short)”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: kesokid, ID #97451515 “Middle East Ident”; Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Alpha (ASCAP); Composer: Alon Marcus (ACUM), IPI#776550702 “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833. ___ Episode Transcript: HEN MAZZIG: They took whatever they had left and they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel. And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected, and that she was coming home. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations–despite hardship, hostility, and hatred–then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East. The world has ignored these voices. We will not. This is The Forgotten Exodus. Today's episode: leaving Tunisia. __ [Tel Aviv Pride video] MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Every June, Hen Mazzig, who splits his time between London and Tel Aviv, heads to Israel to show his Pride. His Israeli pride. His LGBTQ+ pride. And his Mizrahi Jewish pride. For that one week, all of those identities coalesce. And while other cities around the world have transformed Pride into a June version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Israel is home to one of the few vibrant LGBTQ communities in the Middle East. Tel Aviv keeps it real. HEN: For me, Pride in Israel, in Tel Aviv, it still has this element of fighting for something. And that it's important for all of us to show up and to come out to the Pride Parade because if we're not going to be there, there's some people with agendas to erase us and we can't let them do it. MANYA: This year, the Tel Aviv Pride rally was a more somber affair as participants demanded freedom for the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza since October 7th. On that day, Hamas terrorists bent on erasing Jews from the Middle East went on a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,200, kidnapping 250 others, and unleashing what has become a 7-front war on Israel. HEN: In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us, and we had to fight. And the LGBTQ+ community also knows very well how hard it is. I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity. And I don't want anyone to go through that. I don't want my children to go through that. I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation. MANYA: Hen Mazzig is an international speaker, writer, and digital influencer. In 2022, he founded the Tel Aviv Institute, a social media laboratory that tackles antisemitism online. He's also a second-generation Israeli, whose maternal grandparents fled Iraq, while his father's parents fled Tunisia – roots that echo in the family name: Mazzig. HEN: The last name Mazzig never made sense, because in Israel a lot of the last names have meaning in Hebrew. So I remember one of my teachers in school was saying that Mazzig sounds like mozeg, which means pouring in Hebrew. Maybe your ancestors were running a bar or something? Clearly, this teacher did not have knowledge of the Amazigh people. Which, later on I learned, several of those tribes, those Amazigh tribes, were Jewish or practiced Judaism, and that there was 5,000 Jews that came from Tunisia that were holding both identities of being Jewish and Amazigh. And today, they have last names like Mazzig, and Amzaleg, Mizzoug. There's several of those last names in Israel today. And they are the descendants of those Jewish communities that have lived in the Atlas Mountains. MANYA: The Atlas Mountains. A 1,500-mile chain of magnificent peaks and treacherous terrain that stretch across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline. It's where the nomadic Amazigh have called home for thousands of years. The Amazigh trace their origins to at least 2,000 BCE in western North Africa. They speak the language of Tamazight and rely on cattle and agriculture as their main sources of income. But textiles too. In fact, you've probably heard of the Amazigh or own a rug woven by them. A Berber rug. HEN: Amazigh, which are also called Berbers. But they're rejecting this term because of the association with barbarians, which was the title that European colonialists when they came to North Africa gave them. There's beautiful folklore about Jewish leaders within the Amazigh people. One story that I really connected to was the story of Queen Dihya that was also known as El-Kahina, which in Arabic means the Kohen, the priest, and she was known as this leader of the Amazigh tribes, and she was Jewish. Her derrogaters were calling her a Jewish witch, because they said that she had the power to foresee the future. And her roots were apparently connected to Queen Sheba and her arrival from Israel back to Africa. And she was the descendant of Queen Sheba. And that's how she led the Amazigh people. And the stories that I read about her, I just felt so connected. How she had this long, black, curly hair that went all the way down to her knees, and she was fierce, and she was very committed to her identity, and she was fighting against the Islamic expansion to North Africa. And when she failed, after years of holding them off, she realized that she can't do it anymore and she's going to lose. And she was not willing to give up her Jewish identity and convert to Islam and instead she jumped into a well and died. This well is known today in Tunisia. It's the [Bir] Al-Kahina or Dihya's Well that is still in existence. Her descendants, her kids, were Jewish members of the Amazigh people. Of course, I would like to believe that I am the descendant of royalty. MANYA: Scholars debate whether the Amazigh converted to Judaism or descended from Queen Dihya and stayed. Lucette Valensi is a French scholar of Tunisian history who served as a director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, one of the most prestigious institutions of graduate education in France. She has written extensively about Tunisian Jewish culture. Generations of her family lived in Tunisia. She says archaeological evidence proves Jews were living in that land since Antiquity. LUCETTE VALENSI: I myself am a Chemla, born Chemla. And this is an Arabic name, which means a kind of belt. And my mother's name was Tartour, which is a turban [laugh]. So the names were Arabic. So my ancestors spoke Arabic. I don't know if any of them spoke Berber before, or Latin. I have no idea. But there were Jews in antiquity and of course, through Saint Augustin. MANYA: So when did Jews arrive in Tunisia? LUCETTE: [laugh] That's a strange question because they were there since Antiquity. We have evidence of their presence in mosaics of synagogues, from the times of Byzantium. I think we think in terms of a short chronology, and they would tend to associate the Jews to colonization, which does not make sense, they were there much before French colonization. They were there for millennia. MANYA: Valensi says Jews lived in Tunisia dating to the time of Carthage, an ancient city-state in what is now Tunisia, that reached its peak in the fourth century BCE. Later, under Roman and then Byzantine rule, Carthage continued to play a vital role as a center of commerce and trade during antiquity. Besides the role of tax collectors, Jews were forbidden to serve in almost all public offices. Between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, conditions fluctuated between relief and forced conversions while under Christian rule. After the Islamic conquest of Tunisia in the seventh and early eighth centuries CE, the treatment of Jews largely depended on which Muslim ruler was in charge at the time. Some Jews converted to Islam while others lived as dhimmis, or second-class citizens, protected by the state in exchange for a special tax known as the jizya. In 1146, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty, declared that the Prophet Muhammad had granted Jews religious freedom for only 500 years, by which time if the messiah had not come, they had to convert. Those who did not convert and even those who did were forced to wear yellow turbans or other special garb called shikra, to distinguish them from Muslims. An influx of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal arrived in the 14th Century. In the 16th Century, Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire, and the situation of Jews improved significantly. Another group who had settled in the coastal Tuscan city of Livorno crossed the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries to make Tunisia their home. LUCETTE: There were other groups that came, Jews from Italy, Jews from Spain, of course, Spain and Portugal, different periods. 14th century already from Spain and then from Spain and Portugal. From Italy, from Livorno, that's later, but the Jews from Livorno themselves came from Spain. So I myself am named Valensi. From Valencia. It was the family name of my first husband. So from Valencia in Spain they went to Livorno, and from Livorno–Leghorn in English–to Tunisia. MANYA: At its peak, Tunisia's Jewish population exceeded 100,000 – a combination of Sephardi and Mizrahi. HEN: When we speak about Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, specifically in the West, or mainly in the West, we're referring to them as Sephardi. But in Tunisia, it's very interesting to see that there was the Grana community which are Livorno Jews that moved to Tunisia in the 1800s, and they brought the Sephardi way of praying. And that's why I always use the term Mizrahi to describe myself, because I feel like it encapsulates more of my identity. And for me, the Sephardi title that we often use on those communities doesn't feel accurate to me, and it also has the connection to Ladino, which my grandparents never spoke. They spoke Tamazight, Judeo-Tamazight, which was the language of those tribes in North Africa. And my family from my mother's side, from Iraq, they were speaking Judeo-Iraqi-Arabic. So for me, the term Sephardi just doesn't cut it. I go with Mizrahi to describe myself. MANYA: The terms Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi all refer to the places Jews once called home. Ashkenazi Jews hail from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Germany, Poland, and Russia. They traditionally speak Yiddish, and their customs and practices reflect the influences of Central and Eastern European cultures. Pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust led many Ashkenazi Jews to flee their longtime homes to countries like the United States and their ancestral homeland, Israel. Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco. Ancient Jewish communities that have lived in the region for millennia long before the advent of Islam and Christianity. They often speak dialects of Arabic. Sephardi Jews originate from Spain and Portugal, speaking Ladino and incorporating Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. Following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, they settled in regions like North Africa and the Balkans. In Tunisia, the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities lived side by side, but separately. HEN: As time passed, those communities became closer together, still quite separated, but they became closer and closer. And perhaps the reason they were becoming closer was because of the hardship that they faced as Jews. For the leaders of Muslim armies that came to Tunisia, it didn't matter if you were a Sephardi Jew, or if you were an Amazigh Jew. You were a Jew for them. MANYA: Algeria's invasion of Tunisia in the 18th century had a disproportionate effect on Tunisia's Jewish community. The Algerian army killed thousands of the citizens of Tunis, many of whom were Jewish. Algerians raped Jewish women, looted Jewish homes. LUCETTE: There were moments of trouble when you had an invasion of the Algerian army to impose a prince. The Jews were molested in Tunis. MANYA: After a military invasion, a French protectorate was established in 1881 and lasted until Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Jews of Tunisia felt much safer under the French protectorate. They put a lot of stock in the French revolutionary promise of Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Soon, the French language replaced Judeo-Arabic. LUCETTE: Well, under colonization, the Jews were in a better position. First, the school system. They went to modern schools, especially the Alliance [Israélite Universelle] schools, and with that started a form of Westernization. You had also schools in Italian, created by Italian Jews, and some Tunisian Jews went to these schools and already in the 19th century, there was a form of acculturation and Westernization. Access to newspapers, creation of newspapers. In the 1880s Jews had already their own newspapers in Hebrew characters, but Arabic language. And my grandfather was one of the early journalists and they started having their own press and published books, folklore, sort of short stories. MANYA: In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France and quickly overran the French Third Republic, forcing the French to sign an armistice agreement in June. The armistice significantly reduced the territory governed by France and created a new government known as the Vichy regime, after the central French city where it was based. The Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis, establishing a special administration to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and enforce a compulsory Jewish census in all of its territories including Tunisia. Hen grew up learning about the Holocaust, the Nazis' attempt to erase the Jewish people. As part of his schooling, he learned the names of concentration and death camps and he heard the stories from his friends' grandparents. But because he was not Ashkenazi, because his grandparents didn't suffer through the same catastrophe that befell Europe, Hen never felt fully accepted. It was a trauma that belonged to his Ashkenazi friends of German and Polish descent, not to him. Or so they thought and so he thought, until he was a teenager and asked his grandmother Kamisa to finally share their family's journey from Tunisia. That's when he learned that the Mazzig family had not been exempt from Hitler's hatred. In November 1942, Tunisia became the only North African country to come under Nazi Germany's occupation and the Nazis wasted no time. Jewish property was confiscated, and heavy fines were levied on large Jewish communities. With the presence of the Einsatzkommando, a subgroup of the Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing units, the Nazis were prepared to implement the systematic murder of the Jews of Tunisia. The tide of the war turned just in time to prevent that. LUCETTE: At the time the Germans came, they did not control the Mediterranean, and so they could not export us to the camps. We were saved by that. Lanor camps for men in dangerous places where there were bombs by the Allies. But not for us, it was, I mean, they took our radios. They took the silverware or they took money, this kind of oppression, but they did not murder us. They took the men away, a few families were directly impacted and died in the camps. A few men. So we were afraid. We were occupied. But compared to what Jews in Europe were subjected to, we didn't suffer. MANYA: Almost 5,000 Jews, most of them from Tunis and from certain northern communities, were taken captive and incarcerated in 32 labor camps scattered throughout Tunisia. Jews were not only required to wear yellow stars, but those in the camps were also required to wear them on their backs so they could be identified from a distance and shot in the event they tried to escape. HEN: My grandmother never told me until before she died, when she was more open about the stories of oppression, on how she was serving food for the French Nazi officers that were occupying Tunisia, or how my grandfather was in a labor camp, and he was supposed to be sent to a death camp in Europe as well. They never felt like they should share these stories. MANYA: The capture of Tunisia by the Allied forces in May 1943 led the Axis forces in North Africa to surrender. But the country remained under French colonial rule and the antisemitic legislation of the Vichy regime continued until 1944. Many of the Vichy camps, including forced labor camps in the Sahara, continued to operate. Even after the decline and fall of the Vichy regime and the pursuit of independence from French rule began, conditions for the Mazzig family and many others in the Tunisian Jewish community did not improve. But the source of much of the hostility and strife was actually a beacon of hope for Tunisia's Jews. On May 14, 1948, the world had witnessed the creation of the state of Israel, sparking outrage throughout the Arab world. Seven Arab nations declared war on Israel the day after it declared independence. Amid the rise of Tunisian nationalism and its push for independence from France, Jewish communities who had lived in Tunisia for centuries became targets. Guilty by association. No longer welcome. Rabbinical councils were dismantled. Jewish sports associations banned. Jews practiced their religion in hiding. Hen's grandfather recounted violence in the Jewish quarter of Tunis. HEN: When World War Two was over, the Jewish community in Tunisia was hoping that now that Tunisia would have emancipation, and it would become a country, that their neighbors and the country itself would protect them. Because when it was Nazis, they knew that it was a foreign power that came from France and oppressed them. They knew that there was some hatred in the past, from their Muslim neighbors towards them. But they also were hoping that, if anything, they would go back to the same status of a dhimmi, of being a protected minority. Even if they were not going to be fully accepted and celebrated in this society, at least they would be protected, for paying tax. And this really did not happen. MANYA: By the early 1950s, life for the Mazzig family became untenable. By then, American Jewish organizations based in Tunis started working to take Jews to Israel right away. HEN: [My family decided to leave.] They took whatever they had left. And they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel. And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression of living as a minority that knows that anytime the ruler might turn on them and take everything they have and pull the ground underneath their feet, they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected. And maybe they will face hate, but no one will hate them because they're Jewish. And I often dream about my grandmother being a young girl on this boat and how she must have felt to know that the nightmare and the hell that she went through is behind her and that she was coming home. MANYA: The boat they sailed to Israel took days. When Hen's uncle, just a young child at the time, got sick, the captain threatened to throw him overboard. Hen's grandmother hid the child inside her clothes until they docked in Israel. When they arrived, they were sprayed with DDT to kill any lice or disease, then placed in ma'abarot, which in Hebrew means transit camps. In this case, it was a tent with one bed. HEN: They were really mistreated back then. And it's not criticism. I mean, yes, it is also criticism, but it's not without understanding the context. That it was a young country that just started, and those Jewish communities, Jewish refugees came from Tunisia, they didn't speak Hebrew. They didn't look like the other Jewish communities there. And while they all had this in common, that they were all Jews, they had a very different experience. MANYA: No, the family's arrival in the Holy Land was nothing like what they had imagined. But even still, it was a dream fulfilled and there was hope, which they had lost in Tunisia. HEN: I think that it was somewhere in between having both this deep connection to Israel and going there because they wanted to, and also knowing that there's no future in Tunisia. And the truth is that even–and I'm sure people that are listening to us, that are strong Zionists and love Israel, if you tell them ‘OK, so move tomorrow,' no matter how much you love Israel, it's a very difficult decision to make. Unless it's not really a decision. And I think for them, it wasn't really a decision. And they went through so much, they knew, OK, we have to leave and I think for the first time having a country, having Israel was the hope that they had for centuries to go back home, finally realized. MANYA: Valensi's family did stay a while longer. When Tunisia declared independence in 1956, her father, a ceramicist, designed tiles for the residence of President Habib Bourguiba. Those good relations did not last. Valensi studied history in France, married an engineer, and returned to Tunisia. But after being there for five years, it became clear that Jews were not treated equally and they returned to France in 1965. LUCETTE: I did not plan to emigrate. And then it became more and more obvious that some people were more equal than others [laugh]. And so there was this nationalist mood where responsibilities were given to Muslims rather than Jews and I felt more and more segregated. And so, my husband was an engineer from a good engineering school. Again, I mean, he worked for another engineer, who was a Muslim. We knew he would never reach the same position. His father was a lawyer. And in the tribunal, he had to use Arabic. And so all these things accumulated, and we were displaced. MANYA: Valensi said Jewish emigration from Tunisia accelerated at two more mileposts. Even after Tunisia declared independence, France maintained a presence and a naval base in the port city of Bizerte, a strategic port on the Mediterranean for the French who were fighting with Algeria. In 1961, Tunisian forces blockaded the naval base and warned France to stay out of its airspace. What became known as the Bizerte Crisis lasted for three days. LUCETTE: There were critical times, like what we call “La Crise de Bizerte.” Bizerte is a port to the west of Tunis that used to be a military port and when independence was negotiated with France, the French kept this port, where they could keep an army, and Bourguiba decided that he wanted this port back. And there was a war, a conflict, between Tunisia and France in ‘61. And that crisis was one moment when Jews thought: if there is no French presence to protect us, then anything could happen. You had the movement of emigration. Of course, much later, ‘67, the unrest in the Middle East, and what happened there provoked a kind of panic, and there were movements against the Jews in Tunis – violence and destruction of shops, etc. So they emigrated again. Now you have only a few hundred Jews left. MANYA: Valensi's first husband died at an early age. Her second husband, Abraham Udovitch, is the former chair of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Together, they researched and published a book about the Jewish communities in the Tunisian island of Djerba. The couple now splits their time between Paris and Princeton. But Valensi returns to Tunisia every year. It's still home. LUCETTE: When I go, strange thing, I feel at home. I mean, I feel I belong. My Arabic comes back. The words that I thought I had forgotten come back. They welcome you. I mean, if you go, you say you come from America, they're going to ask you questions. Are you Jewish? Did you go to Israel? I mean, these kind of very brutal questions, right away. They're going there. The taxi driver won't hesitate to ask you: Are you Jewish? But at the same time, they're very welcoming. So, I have no trouble. MANYA: Hen, on the other hand, has never been to the land of his ancestors. He holds on to his grandparents' trauma. And fear. HEN: Tunisia just still feels a bit unsafe to me. Just as recent as a couple of months ago, there was a terror attack. So it's something that's still occurring. MANYA: Just last year, a member of the Tunisian National Guard opened fire on worshippers outside El Ghriba Synagogue where a large gathering of Jewish pilgrims were celebrating the festival of Lag BaOmer. The synagogue is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba where Valensi and her husband did research for their book. Earlier this year, a mob attacked an abandoned synagogue in the southern city of Sfax, setting fire to the building's courtyard. Numbering over 100,000 Jews on the eve of Israel's Independence in 1948, the Tunisian Jewish community is now estimated to be less than 1,000. There has been limited contact over the years between Tunisia and Israel. Some Israeli tourists, mostly of Tunisian origin, annually visit the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba. But the government has largely been hostile to the Jewish state. In the wake of the October 7 attack, the Tunisian parliament began debate on a law that would criminalize any normalization of ties with Israel. Still, Hen would like to go just once to see where his grandparents lived. Walked. Cooked. Prayed. But to him it's just geography, an arbitrary place on a map. The memories, the music, the recipes, the traditions. It's no longer in Tunisia. It's elsewhere now – in the only country that preserved it. HEN: The Jewish Tunisian culture, the only place that it's been maintained is in Israel. That's why it's still alive. Like in Tunisia, it's not really celebrated. It's not something that they keep as much as they keep here. Like if you want to go to a proper Mimouna, you would probably need to go to Israel, not to North Africa, although that's where it started. And the same with the Middle Eastern Jewish cuisine. The only place in the world, where be it Tunisian Jews and Iraqi Jews, or Yemenite Jews, still develop their recipes, is in Israel. Israel is home, and this is where we still celebrate our culture and our cuisine and our identity is still something that I can engage with here. I always feel like I am living the dreams of my grandparents, and I know that my grandmother is looking from above and I know how proud she is that we have a country, that we have a place to be safe at. And that everything I do today is to protect my people, to protect the Jewish people, and making sure that next time when a country, when an empire, when a power would turn on Jews we'll have a place to go to and be safe. MANYA: Tunisian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Hen for sharing his story. You can read more in his memoir The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible. You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.
Daily Halacha Podcast - Daily Halacha By Rabbi Eli J. Mansour
May a woman apply makeup to her face on Shabbat? Although one might argue that makeup should be permissible in the interest of Kevod Shabbat (showing honor to Shabbat), a person cannot show honor to Shabbat by doing something that constitutes a violation of Shabbat. Applying makeup to one's face violates the Shabbat prohibition of Tzovei'a, dyeing, and is thus forbidden. Although the prohibition of dyeing does not apply to coloring one's face on the level of Torah law, nevertheless, the Sages enacted a prohibition against any kind of dyeing on Shabbat, including applying makeup to one's face. Applying lipstick entails also the separate prohibition of "Memahek," changing the form of a solid substance into a liquid-type substance. Therefore, women must be instructed to apply makeup only before Shabbat, and not on Shabbat itself. (Menuhat Ahava, Helek 3, Perek 13, Halachot 6-7) Today, there are special types of makeup produced in such a way that circumvents these prohibitions of Tzovei'a and Memahek, and they come with a symbol of Rabbinical supervision. A number of leading Rabbis allow using such makeup on Shabbat, and thus women who so desire may apply these brands of makeup on Shabbat. Other brands, however, should be applied only before Shabbat, and not on Shabbat itself.
Primarily Gamaliel, Akiva, and Caiaphas. Thank you for listening! Please leave a 5 star review, share and subscribe!
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Today is day 158 of the war with Hamas. Political correspondent Sam Sokol and Tech Israel editor Sharon Wrobel join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. Sokol discusses political reactions to the statement made by Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef regarding a mass ultra-Orthodox exit from Israel if yeshiva students are forced to enlist in the army. Wrobel looks at why markets and investors are currently bullish on Israel, a sense of cautious optimism given the waning war in Gaza and fewer signs of engagement in the north. Sokol talks about the latest mayoral elections in Beit Shemesh, the central city with a large ultra-Orthodox population and a new, moderate Haredi mayor. Wrobel describes a forum created by spouses of reservists for their particular needs during wartime, as they struggle to care for kids, homes, and jobs. For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: Live blog March 12, 2024 Watchdog group calls for removal of chief rabbi for politicizing judicial role Assailing chief rabbi, Lapid says Haredim would have to get jobs if they moved abroad Despite war uncertainty, Israeli stocks and the shekel attract investors Ultra-Orthodox retake Beit Shemesh, former Haifa mayor Yona Yahav returns to office Fired during war, reservists' wives band together to battle for job security THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends a prayer for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at the Rachel's Tomb on October 25, 2023 (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90 )See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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