The Jews of North Africa
From Dido to De Gaulle
By (author) Sarah Taieb-Carlen Translated by Amos Carlen
Publication date:
23 February 2010Length of book:
196 pagesPublisher
University Press of AmericaDimensions:
232x155mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780761850434
Before the Arabo-Muslim conquest of 698, the Jews lived peacefully in North Africa with the other inhabitants of the region, except for a few brief periods of Roman and Byzantine rules.
Under Islam, life was at times so good that some of the most important religious works since Babylon were written by North African Jewish scholars. Often, however, the Jews suffered because of the dhimmi status that the Muslims imposed upon them and through which they were discriminated against and even persecuted.
Consequently, they welcomed the French colonization of their country from 1830 to 1962. Their enthusiastic adoption of everything French - among which the rejection of religion - came with a high price: the almost total loss of their Jewish identity, which caused them to feel so alienated in their native land that when the French left, so did they, mostly for Israel but also for other countries.
Under Islam, life was at times so good that some of the most important religious works since Babylon were written by North African Jewish scholars. Often, however, the Jews suffered because of the dhimmi status that the Muslims imposed upon them and through which they were discriminated against and even persecuted.
Consequently, they welcomed the French colonization of their country from 1830 to 1962. Their enthusiastic adoption of everything French - among which the rejection of religion - came with a high price: the almost total loss of their Jewish identity, which caused them to feel so alienated in their native land that when the French left, so did they, mostly for Israel but also for other countries.
While the study of East European Jews has produced whole libraries, other major communities such as the Jewish community of North Africa, have been in a state of neglect. As those "worlds" slip into their final dusk, it is a great service to future generations that their "story," too, shall be preserved. Dr. Carlen's work is a true asset to scholars or own-interest readers in many related fields.