Libyan Jew Reopens Tripoli’s Lone Temple

Wall Street Journal October 3, 2011 By Charles Levinson TRIPOLI—Wearing prayer tassels, a yarmulke and Star of David pendant, the man who says he is the first Libyan Jew to return to the country since Moammar Gadhafi's ouster on Sunday reopened the city's lone synagogue for the first time in 44 years. Reopening the Dar Bishi Synagogue stands as a bold challenge to the country's new leaders to prove their commitment to the pluralistic democratic values they espouse, said David Gerbi, who fled to Rome in 1967 at the age of 12. "You now have a test for the NTC, to see if they will discriminate or if the new Libya will be a real democracy," said Mr. Gerbi, referring to the National Transitional Council, the interim governing body in charge of post-Gadhafi Libya. "My intention is to restore it and make it a normal functioning synagogue." That leadership includes a fragile alliance of more secular leaning, Western-educated liberals and Islamists, whose repeated pledges to uphold democratic values have gone largely untested so far. How Libya's new leadership deals with its exiled Jewish minority is likely to help shape U.S. and European opinion of the new Libyan government. Their continued support will be crucial as Libya struggles to rebuild. On Sunday, fighters loyal to the NTC continued to press their siege of one of the last pro-Gadhafi enclaves in the country, his hometown of Sirte, as hundreds of residents fled the city, the Associated Press reported. Two children and their parents were gunned down as they tried to flee, but it was unclear who killed them, the AP reported. Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander for Africa, Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, told the AP that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's mission in Libya was nearly complete and could begin to wind down as soon as this coming week and that the decision would depend on the outcome of a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministers this week in Brussels. Libya's new leaders have taken historic steps to empower other long-persecuted minorities, including the country's Berbers. But the return of Libyan Jews is certain to prove a far-more-sensitive issue. All but a handful of Libya's some 40,000 Jews fled the country between the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967. Mr. Gerbi said those Jews and their descendants now number around 200,000. Many of the Jews who fled, including Mr. Gerbi's family, left behind substantial property holdings. Any attempts to reclaim those properties, as Mr. Gerbi said he would like to do, would likely worsen a relationship already marred by decades of mistrust and simmering hatred. In Libya, as in much of the Arab world, animosity toward Israel has often translated into vehement anti-Semitism. One of the more common swipes at Col. Gadhafi in recent months by Libyans was the widely believed allegation that he had Jewish grandparents. Further complicating the question of how to handle Libya's Jewish diaspora, most of the Jews emigrated to Israel and are now Israeli citizens. Even most Libyans who fully support the repatriation of Libyan Jews say that shouldn't include those who went to Israel. The country's new leadership has tread carefully around the issue. NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil met with Mr. Gerbi in Benghazi late last month. Libya's Berber minority have emerged as vocal advocates of Libyan Jews, with some prominent Berber leaders backing Mr. Gerbi's bid to secure a seat on the country's governing council. Still, Mr. Gerbi said his request for formal permission to reopen the synagogue was totally ignored. NTC officials responded coolly to the news of the synagogue's reopening, calling it premature to tackle such a sensitive issue. It was unclear whether they would allow Mr. Gerbi to go forward with his plans to renovate and restore the synagogue or would move to stop it. "It should be no problem, but this isn't the time for it," said NTC spokesman Jalal el-Gallal. "This is an issue that needs to be addressed, but only when there is a stable and legitimate elected government in place." Mr. Gallal said he feared an attack by even a single lone extremist against Mr. Gerbi could derail the new leadership's efforts to establish a stable and functioning government and be used by critics to discredit the new government in U.S. and European capitals. Lacking formal government sanction, Mr. Gerbi said he instead secured the support of residents surrounding the synagogue. He won the backing of the local militia that helped secure the neighborhood in the wake of Col. Gadhafi's fall and from a pair of clerics who serve as imams at the local mosque. Throughout the day, neighbors trickled into the synagogue, stepping gingerly through the cinderblock rubble, charred mattress springs, and rotting pigeon corpses that covered the floors of the sanctuary, tucked deep inside Tripoli's decaying and labyrinthine old city. Local residents, some with their children in tow, marveled at a site that had been sealed off for decades. Several offered to pitch in and help clear out the rubble. Others voiced alarm. Still, the vibrant debate in the heart of Tripoli between Libyan Muslims and a lone Libyan Jew proudly sporting Jewish garb was a spectacle that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago in Libya, and remains an exceedingly rare sight throughout the Arab world. "I've watched the Jews attack the Palestinians. What if they turn against us? The Jews are no good," said 39-year-old Ali Jamal, another neighbor. Mr. Jamal's neighbor, Abdel Majid, 43, challenged his friend and neighbor. "This is freedom," he said. "I shook [Mr. Gerbi's] hand. I hugged him. He's Libyan, it's his right to return to his country and practice his religion." When Sheik Jamal Abdullah, one of two local Muslim clerics who signed off on the temple's reopening, arrived, Mr. Gerbi ushered him into the sanctuary, to the ark that once held the congregation's Torah scrolls. Mr. Gerbi pointed to the faint remains of a Hebrew inscription pledging fealty to God above the ark. "Here is the name of God, your God, my God," he said. "Is it right that the name of God will reside among all this garbage?" The elderly imam in a white robe and skull cap clutched Mr. Gerbi's hands. "We must clean this up," he said. "Only when Jews and Muslims again live together, will there be no more war, no more fighting." Read article hereOctober 24, 2011Posted on No Comments

Wall Street Journal
October 3, 2011
By Charles Levinson

TRIPOLI—Wearing prayer tassels, a yarmulke and Star of David pendant, the man who says he is the first Libyan Jew to return to the country since Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster on Sunday reopened the city’s lone synagogue for the first time in 44 years.

Reopening the Dar Bishi Synagogue stands as a bold challenge to the country’s new leaders to prove their commitment to the pluralistic democratic values they espouse, said David Gerbi, who fled to Rome in 1967 at the age of 12.

“You now have a test for the NTC, to see if they will discriminate or if the new Libya will be a real democracy,” said Mr. Gerbi, referring to the National Transitional Council, the interim governing body in charge of post-Gadhafi Libya. “My intention is to restore it and make it a normal functioning synagogue.”

That leadership includes a fragile alliance of more secular leaning, Western-educated liberals and Islamists, whose repeated pledges to uphold democratic values have gone largely untested so far.

How Libya’s new leadership deals with its exiled Jewish minority is likely to help shape U.S. and European opinion of the new Libyan government. Their continued support will be crucial as Libya struggles to rebuild.

On Sunday, fighters loyal to the NTC continued to press their siege of one of the last pro-Gadhafi enclaves in the country, his hometown of Sirte, as hundreds of residents fled the city, the Associated Press reported. Two children and their parents were gunned down as they tried to flee, but it was unclear who killed them, the AP reported.

Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander for Africa, Army Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, told the AP that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s mission in Libya was nearly complete and could begin to wind down as soon as this coming week and that the decision would depend on the outcome of a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministers this week in Brussels.

Libya’s new leaders have taken historic steps to empower other long-persecuted minorities, including the country’s Berbers. But the return of Libyan Jews is certain to prove a far-more-sensitive issue.

All but a handful of Libya’s some 40,000 Jews fled the country between the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967. Mr. Gerbi said those Jews and their descendants now number around 200,000.

Many of the Jews who fled, including Mr. Gerbi’s family, left behind substantial property holdings. Any attempts to reclaim those properties, as Mr. Gerbi said he would like to do, would likely worsen a relationship already marred by decades of mistrust and simmering hatred.

In Libya, as in much of the Arab world, animosity toward Israel has often translated into vehement anti-Semitism. One of the more common swipes at Col. Gadhafi in recent months by Libyans was the widely believed allegation that he had Jewish grandparents.

Further complicating the question of how to handle Libya’s Jewish diaspora, most of the Jews emigrated to Israel and are now Israeli citizens. Even most Libyans who fully support the repatriation of Libyan Jews say that shouldn’t include those who went to Israel.

The country’s new leadership has tread carefully around the issue. NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil met with Mr. Gerbi in Benghazi late last month. Libya’s Berber minority have emerged as vocal advocates of Libyan Jews, with some prominent Berber leaders backing Mr. Gerbi’s bid to secure a seat on the country’s governing council.

Still, Mr. Gerbi said his request for formal permission to reopen the synagogue was totally ignored. NTC officials responded coolly to the news of the synagogue’s reopening, calling it premature to tackle such a sensitive issue. It was unclear whether they would allow Mr. Gerbi to go forward with his plans to renovate and restore the synagogue or would move to stop it.

“It should be no problem, but this isn’t the time for it,” said NTC spokesman Jalal el-Gallal. “This is an issue that needs to be addressed, but only when there is a stable and legitimate elected government in place.”

Mr. Gallal said he feared an attack by even a single lone extremist against Mr. Gerbi could derail the new leadership’s efforts to establish a stable and functioning government and be used by critics to discredit the new government in U.S. and European capitals.

Lacking formal government sanction, Mr. Gerbi said he instead secured the support of residents surrounding the synagogue. He won the backing of the local militia that helped secure the neighborhood in the wake of Col. Gadhafi’s fall and from a pair of clerics who serve as imams at the local mosque.

Throughout the day, neighbors trickled into the synagogue, stepping gingerly through the cinderblock rubble, charred mattress springs, and rotting pigeon corpses that covered the floors of the sanctuary, tucked deep inside Tripoli’s decaying and labyrinthine old city.

Local residents, some with their children in tow, marveled at a site that had been sealed off for decades. Several offered to pitch in and help clear out the rubble. Others voiced alarm.

Still, the vibrant debate in the heart of Tripoli between Libyan Muslims and a lone Libyan Jew proudly sporting Jewish garb was a spectacle that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago in Libya, and remains an exceedingly rare sight throughout the Arab world.

“I’ve watched the Jews attack the Palestinians. What if they turn against us? The Jews are no good,” said 39-year-old Ali Jamal, another neighbor.

Mr. Jamal’s neighbor, Abdel Majid, 43, challenged his friend and neighbor. “This is freedom,” he said. “I shook [Mr. Gerbi’s] hand. I hugged him. He’s Libyan, it’s his right to return to his country and practice his religion.”

When Sheik Jamal Abdullah, one of two local Muslim clerics who signed off on the temple’s reopening, arrived, Mr. Gerbi ushered him into the sanctuary, to the ark that once held the congregation’s Torah scrolls.

Mr. Gerbi pointed to the faint remains of a Hebrew inscription pledging fealty to God above the ark. “Here is the name of God, your God, my God,” he said. “Is it right that the name of God will reside among all this garbage?”

The elderly imam in a white robe and skull cap clutched Mr. Gerbi’s hands. “We must clean this up,” he said. “Only when Jews and Muslims again live together, will there be no more war, no more fighting.”

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