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By Rochel Isaacson

Part I

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Meet the LuzonsRaphael Luzon was born in 1954 in the

city of Benghazi, which overlooks theMediterranean Sea. The Luzon family livedin a neighborhood where most Jews wereconcentrated, although it was notexclusively Jewish. Apartment buildings inthis section of the city were white two-storyresidences with lofty arched entrances andbalconies whose balustrades ran along thelength of the buildings’ second floor.

Raphael’s family and close friends calledhim “Faelino,” or “Little Raphael,” inItalian, a language that was commonlyspoken in Libya then. His parents, Amosand Rachel, he and his two sisters, Bettyand Rita, had close ties with their extendedfamily, consisting of his father’s two unclesand five aunts, and his mother’s two unclesand three aunts, and their children.

The streets of Libya’s capital city, Tripoli,and the smaller city of Benghazi were a mixof Oriental and European architecture. TheEuropean influence had been introducedearly in the twentieth century, when Libyabecame an Italian colony. Under Italianinfluence, Jewish men who had hithertodressed in traditional Libyan garb switchedto the more fashionable European styles.Although most Jewish women followedsuit, some still continued to cover their

heads with the traditional Libyan foulardhead covering.

Despite their outwardly Europeanappearance, the Luzon family, like otherLibyan Jews, spoke Judeo-Arabic amongthemselves, marking them as Jews to theindigenous Arab populace, whichcommunicates in Libyan Arabic. LibyanJews were almost all fluent in Arabic,Italian, and Hebrew. Hebrew was taught toLibyan Jewish children long before thefounding of the State of Israel.

Raphel Luzon’s father,Amos, was a wealthyimporter of medicines andcosmetics, which hedistributed to Benghazi’spharmacies. He was alsothe personal pharmacistof then-reigning KingIdris. Amos Luzon wasalso a chazzan and thetreasurer of the

kehillah. Raphael attended services in thesynagogue regularly, as did nearlyeveryone in the community, and he was alead singer in the choir, whose memberswere called paytanim. The paytanim wouldchant Tehillim at Minchah on Erev Shabbosand Shir Hashirim on Friday night. Theywere especially trained to sing the liturgicalmelodies of the Yamim Nora’im.

Raphael’s uncle was the rabbi of aBenghazi synagogue and the director of thecheder, which was called “Talmud Torah.”

He was also the city’s official shochet. The Luzon family was

wealthy, as were most LibyanJews, who were primarilytraders, merchants, ormanufacturers of clothing,perfumes, and medicines.Jewish artisans created itemsfrom gold and silver andprecious stones. LibyanArabs relied on Jews to

Libya today is widely regarded as a hostile andrepressive Muslim stronghold, veiled in a chillingmystique. The myriad glistening domes of the

mosques dotting this Arabian landscape hint at its realmenace. Little is known about Libya under the currenttotalitarian regime of Muammar el Gadhafi, who hasbarred his nation from all contact with the Westernworld.

As inhospitable as Libya is to outsiders, it is evenmore inhospitable to Jews. Even former Jewish citizens

are denied entry to their native land and are forbiddento visit their abandoned homes, synagogues, andgraveyards in the two cities of Tripoli and Benghazi , andthe many villages where they once lived.

In 1948, 36,000 Jews lived in Libya; today, none areleft. A once-thriving Jewish community was destroyedand its members forced to seek refuge in foreign lands.Elia Roumani, a former Libyan Jew, says, “Any time youhave a community that is erased, it’s a tragedy for thecommunity and for humanity. It’s a loss for everyone.”

Raphael Luzon

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generate a productive economy, which ledto a mostly peaceful coexistence. But Jewsresided somewhat uneasily alongside theirArab neighbors, for they were frequenttargets of Muslim discrimination andviolence, which at times erupted intobloody pogroms. Jews had the officialstatus of dhimmi, a Muslim designation ofsecond-class citizenship.

Jewish Life in LibyaIn Tripoli and Benghazi, the main

centers of Jewish life, Libyan Jews werefaithful in all observances includingShabbos, kashrus, and praying with aminyan. Each of these two kehillos had aChief Rabbi, a shochet, a mohel, a beis din, anda Talmud Torah.

The beis din did not adjudicatedisputes often as community memberslived serenely together, united by thecommonality of a devout Jewishlifestyle.

“It was as if we were living in aprotective bubble, despite the stresses ofbeing Jews in an Arab society,” saysRaphael Luzon. “Everyone cared for[everyone else and] was always ready tohelp each other.”

Community institutions aideddestitute Jews, a mitzvah funded bylevying taxes on shechitah, selling honors

in the synagogues, and collectingdonations from the more affluentcommunity members. DisadvantagedJews lived mostly in Tripoli, within thewalled Hara, or Jewish Quarter, whosestreets were narrow and winding. TheHara Kabira was Tripoli’s larger Jewishquarter, where most of the needy Jewslived.

The Libyan Jewish community was anancient one that had been in the country formillennia under all its foreign occupiers,the more recent of which were Spain (from1510) and Turkey (from 1551). In 1911 Italyconquered Libya and turned it into a colonyadministered by Italian officials.Subsequently Libya became home toforeign nationals from Italy, Great Britain,and France.

Libyan Jews at first welcomed the arrivalof the Italians, who they thought wouldmodernize Libyan society. However,Libyan Arabs fought the Italian conquest oftheir country, viewing the foreigners asinvaders. When Italy’s fascist dictator,Benito Mussolini, rose to power in 1922, hemade concerted overtures to Libya’s Arabsand ultimately won their allegiance. By1932 he was able to declare Libya “the firstNorth African fascist colony.” It was soonobvious that the Italian fascist regimefavored the Arabs over the Jews.

The Fight for ShabbosA precursor of Jewish maltreatment at

the hands of the fascists was the 1932 Italianedict enacting “Sabbath Law.” Allschoolchildren were required to attendschool on Saturday, but under the TurksJewish children had been exempted fromthis law. The Italian governor, PietroBadoglio, designated Sunday as the officialday of rest in the colony, forcing Jewishstudents to attend school on Shabbos. TheTripoli beis din prohibited children fromattending school on that day despitepromises from the Italian authorities thatJewish students would not have to write inschool. The beis din reprimanded parentswho allowed their children to attend.

A compromise was eventually reachedin 1934 between the new Italian governor,Italo Balbo, and the Jewish community,whereby separate schools for Jews andItalians were established, without changingtheir curriculum.

Nevertheless, circumstances worsened.In May 1935 an Italian decree was passedrequiring storekeepers in Tripoli to closetheir shops on Sunday. In November 1936another decree demanded that all storesthroughout Libya stay open for business onevery day except Sunday.

The first Shabbos the new decree wentinto effect, Jewish shopkeepers refused to

The Dar BishiSynagogue in Tripoli isvisited by Italiangovernor, Italo Balbo,in 1937. Rabbi IzhakBukobza blesses theentourage near theopen Torah scrolls."

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open and skirmishes broke out. ATripolitan newspaper defined Jewishrefusal to conduct business as openrebellion. As a punishment to the Jewishcommunity, trade licenses were rescindedand two people were publicly flogged. Thisdrew the attention of the international pressand did not reflect well on the Italians.

The Italian rabbinate, which appointedthe Libyan Chief Rabbis, wished to forcemodern reforms on the religious LibyanJewish community, and they named RabbiGustavo Castelbolognesi to the position inanticipation that he would do so. But RabbiCastelbolognesi maintained that his

religious duty “was to encourage Jewishreligious traditions,” and he did notpersuade the Jews to open their shops onShabbos. Because he objected to Shabbosdesecration, he was recalled to Italy in 1935.

The appointment of Chief Rabbi AldoLattes in 1937 enabled the Libyan Jewishcommunity to work more effectively withthe Italian governor, for Rabbi Lattes waspolitically astute and he convincedGovernor Balboa to revoke the penaltyagainst those Jews who refused to opentheir shops on Shabbos.

On a visit to Libya that year, Mussoliniwas reported to have said to Chief Rabbi

Lattes, “[The] governor’s presence in theregion ensures that the Jews of Tripoli canrest assured that the fascist government,which issued the law on Jewishcommunities, will always respect theirtraditions.”

Racial Laws Until 1938 Raphael Luzon’s father, along

with the other Libyan Jews, dealt with thefascist colonial government with relativeease. But matters deteriorated in 1938 afterMussolini introduced Germany’s raciallaws in Libya. Jews were dismissed frommunicipal and public jobs and other

During Pesach, it was customary for Libyan women to bake

matzah daily in their homes in clay ovens prepared

specifically for this purpose. Some women tied kerchiefs around

their mouths so that not a drop of moisture would destroy the

kashrus of the matzos. The women worked swiftly, making sure

the process did not exceed fifteen minutes to assure the

strictest adherence to halachah.

On the day after Pesach, the entire community assembled in

a large park, where they sang, rejoiced, had refreshments, and

recited the Birkas Ha’ilanos, the blessing on trees.

On Erev Yom Kippur, the shochet would go from house to

house to slaughter the chickens used for kapparos.

On Simchas Torah, Libyan Jews held hakafos sheniyos at

dawn. Children rose early so they could hasten to the synagogue

and join the joyous celebration, and of course enjoy the festive

refreshments served afterward. The women prepared coffee

and delectable cakes; the men, with the assistance of copious

quantities of Arak, within a short time felt “elevated” spiritually

and otherwise.

Purim was a two-day affair, to commemorate the Purim

miracle of Shushan, as well as two other miracles that occurred

centuries later. One was Purim Sherif, which memorializes the

rescue of Tripoli’s Jews from the decree of the Tunisian Bey

Ibrahim esh Sherif, who had planned their extermination. The

second was Purim Burgol, which commemorates the defeat of

the Algerian corsair Ali Burgol, who burned two Jews at the

stake.

At one point during the Shovavim period (when the Torah

portions of Shemos through Mishpatim are read in the

synagogue), Libyan Jews gathered to recite the entire sefer

Tehillim three times in succession and held a taanis dibbur, or

verbal “fast.”

Many of these customs are still practiced in Libyan Jewish

enclaves today.

Libyan Holiday Minhagim

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professions; they were banned fromattending public schools and institutions ofhigher education; and the word “Jew” wasboldly stamped on all official documentsobtained by Jews.

Racial laws invoked a clear distinctionthat characterized Jews as inferior toMuslims and promoted rising tensionsbetween Arabs and Jews. Italians thusviewed Jews as subordinate to themselvesand inferior even to the lower classes ofLibyan Arabs.

Both of Raphael Luzon’s parents wereexpelled from school. Although a Jewishschool had been established by thecommunity, Amos Luzon went out to workand found a job with a family of livestocktraders. Afterward, in order to help hisfamily survive financially, he tried his handat trading in spices and gold. He did hisbest to manage daily life, buffeted by thevirulent racism of both Italians and Arabs.

The situation declined dramaticallywhen Mussolini solidified his ties withGermany by signing an alliance with Hitlerin 1939. That pact boded ill for Jews, both inLibya and in Italy.

Between 1940 and 1943 the port cities ofBenghazi and Tripoli came under attack byopposing Italian and British forces. TheJews of Benghazi found themselves underfire several times when British troopsfought the Italian forces and occupied thecity. The Italians fought back to regaincontrol of the city, and at one pointBenghazi was left in limbo for several dayswithout anyone in command. The Italiansfinally crushed the British troops andrecaptured Libyan territory.

When British forces had first invadedBenghazi, the Jews welcomed them, hopingfor improved conditions, so when theItalians reconquered Libya, they tookrevenge against the Jews for this“traitorous” behavior. Italians and LibyanArabs stormed through the city, rioting,pillaging, and looting Jewish stores. TheJews trembled in fright inside their homes.Food was scarce, hunger prevailed, andJews received scantier rations than those oftheir Muslim neighbors.

Libyan Jewish Community Timeline Libya, the fourth-largest country in North Africa, is bordered by Tunisia, Algeria, Niger,

Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its three provinces are Tripolitanea, in the west, in which

the capital city of Tripoli is located; Cyrenaica, in the east, the site of Benghazi; and Fez in the

south. Jews have lived in Libya since the early days of the Roman Empire.

Fourteenth century B.C.E. –– Benghazi Jews honor Roman Emperor Titus, who favored the

Jews.

First century C.E. –– Yeshivos are established in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania; in 3816/56 C.E., a

large synagogue is built in Benghazi.

Seventh century C.E. –– Muslims conquer Libya.

Tenth century C.E. –– Jewish population in Tripoli is 800.

5270/1510 – Spain conquers Tripoli.

5309/1549 – Rabbi Shimon Labi, a legendary Rabbi and kabbalist, settles in Tripoli to

educate the Jewish community in Torah and Kabbalah. Eight hundred Jews fleeing the

Spanish Inquisition settle in Libya.

5311/1551 – Turkish Ottoman rule begins. Synagogues are built in Tripoli.

5671/1911 – Italians occupy Libya.

5695/1935 – Decrees are enacted against Jews.

5701/1941 – Jews are deported or interned in Libyan and Tunisian concentration camps.

5703/1943 –– British Mandate begins; anti-Jewish rioting and two pogroms by Muslims take

place.

5711/1951 – Libya achieves independence under the reign of Senusi tribesman King Idris; oil

is discovered and Libya becomes a wealthy oil exporter.

55772277//11996677 – Libyan Jewish community evacuated from Libya to Italy.

5729/1969 – Muammar el Gadhafi acquires power in a bloodless coup.

5764/2004 – The last Jew, Rina Debash, is discovered in a Libyan nursing home. Her

nephew, David Gerbis, negotiates her release with Gadhafi’s government and she is flown to

Italy. Several weeks later she passes away and is given a Jewish burial in Eretz Yisrael. Libya

has no more Jews.

Benghazi synagogue classroom before World War II.

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Deportation In February 1941 Marshal Rommel’s

German troops arrived in Libya to shore upMussolini’s occupation. The samedevastating methods they were using onJews in Europe were now pressed on Jewsin Libya, and deportations to concentrationcamps began. Jews of British nationality inLibya were deported to Italy, and fromthere packed into freight trains and taken tothe infamous Bergen-Belsen and Innsbruck-Reichenau concentration camps. Jews withFrench citizenship were deported tointernment camps in Tunisia.

One such group from Benghazi arrivedat Innsbruck-Reichenau, a division of theDachau concentration camp in Austria, andwere immediately separated by gender.The men were forced to work from earlymorning until late at night. When theLibyan Jews attempted to pray, the Nazisreacted with singular cruelty, subjectingthem all, even the elderly, to starvation andsolitary confinement. Ashkenazic Jewishinmates marveled at the Libyan Jews’uncompromising maintenance of kashrus,despite the halachic leniencies of pikuachnefesh on which they might have relied.Indeed, most of the Libyan Jewish prisonersthere died of starvation.

The Libyan Jews who were deported toBergen-Belsen were, at times, treateddifferently. Although their livingconditions were starkly similar to those ofother Eastern European Jewish internees,the Libyan Jews were consideredprivileged, for they were permitted to liveas family groups (although segregated bygender), a condition that helped them tosurvive. They also sporadically receivedpackages from the Red Cross, althoughthey were still malnourished. They werevirtually isolated from the other inmatesby lack of a common language, but all theinmates, Europeans and Libyans, lived inthe shadow of the crematoria, whichinduced a relentless dread.

Libyan-born Jews with only Libyancitizenship were rounded up for forcedlabor and detained in internment campsthat the German-Italian conquerorsestablished throughout Libya. Thesecamps were also established in the

neighboring countries of Tunisia andAlgeria. The camps in North Africa werenot quite as deadly as their Europeancounterparts, which were systematicallyexterminating Jews; these camps weredesigned, rather, to break the Jewsthrough excruciating slave labor andstarvation. The Giado internment campnear Tripoli was known to be particularlybrutal, and its Italian commandants werenotorious for their sadism.

Giado survivor Giora Roumanirecounts, “[The Italian officers] took usall outside and put us in a large circle andwanted to kill us. But after fifteenminutes a call came through from higherItalian authorities who said, ‘Don’t killthe Jews. Make them suffer.’ That’s whatthe Italian commandants did. The Italianstold the elderly rabbis with long flowingbeards to sweep the floor with theirbeards. And that’s what the rabbis did.They swept the floor with their beards,on their stomachs, as they were orderedto do.”

Inmates of Giado were forced tobuild roads, and their barracksresembled an austere warehouse. Thelack of adequate hygiene wasexacerbated by the extreme rain andcold in winter, and the stifling heat of

North Africa’s summer. Starvation wasrampant, for Arab overseers—who wereoccasionally more humane than theItalian officers—did not have enoughfood for the imprisoned Jews. Faminebred disease, and many died ofcombined hunger, hard labor, andillnesses such as malaria. Jews fromTripoli were permitted to send food toGiado’s malnourished inmates, butdespite their efforts, provisions wereinsufficient and many victims starved todeath.

The British recaptured Libya from theItalians in 1943. At the war’s end,following the Allied liberation of theconcentration camps, Libyan survivorswere permitted to return to their war-torn, razed cities and villages. The LibyanJews had come home, but they wereunaware that their stay in Libya wouldprove to be very short-lived. ❚M

To be continued

This article was partly based on the book The Jewsof Libya; Coexistence, Persecution,Resettlement, by Maurice M. Roumani, Ph.D.Quotes from Elia and Giora Roumani are from thedocumentary film The Last Jews of Libya, directedby Vivienne Roumani-Denn, used with permission.

Several rabbis studying Torah in one of Tripoli's yeshivos. Second from left:-Rabbi Zion Bitan; secondfrom right:-Rabbi Refael Dabush.

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