Tunisia

Ancient Jewish Community Endures on Tunisian Isle

Ancient Jewish Community Endures on Tunisian Isle

20 Photos

When school lets out, the streets around the ancient synagogue on this Tunisian island fill with rambunctious boys wearing Jewish kippahs and girls in long skirts, shouting to each other in Hebrew, Arabic and French.

The Jewish community in the resort island of Djerba traces its roots all the way back to Babylonian exile of 586 B.C., and is one of the few communities of its kind to have survived the turmoil around the creation of Israel, when more than 800,000 Jews across the Arab world either emigrated or were driven from their homes.

Here the faithful pray at the La Ghriba synagogue — widely believed to be Africa’s oldest — beneath intricate tile walls bearing blue and yellow geometric shapes that would not seem out of place at a mosque. The synagogue’s name can be translated as “strange” or “miraculous.”

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Mourning Tunisia massacre dead, Confederate flags fly, Zombiewalk in Warsaw | June 27

Mourning Tunisia massacre dead, Confederate flags fly, Zombiewalk in Warsaw | June 27

31 Photos

After 40 people were killed at a resort in Tunisia, people gather to mourn the dead, Confederate flag supporters drape themselves in the “Stars and Bars,” and Warsaw streets are living with the undead — and more — in the day in photos from around the world.

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March 22 Photo Brief: Obama in Israel, World Water Day, mystical Islam and tiger tongue kisses

March 22 Photo Brief: Obama in Israel, World Water Day, mystical Islam and tiger tongue kisses

22 photos

U.S. President Barack Obama visits the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, the world observes World Water Day with the theme “Water Cooperation,” adepts of Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, self-pierce to earn salvation, a pet tiger plays with a keeper at an Indonesian school and more in today’s daily brief.

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Dec. 17 Photo Brief: School violence, remains of a Soviet submarine, death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, Micro Teatro por Dinero

Dec. 17 Photo Brief: School violence, remains of a Soviet submarine, death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, Micro Teatro por Dinero

21 photos

School violence, remains of a Soviet submarine, death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, the ‘Micro Teatro por Dinero’ in Madrid and more in today’s daily brief.

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July 31 Photo Brief: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the Middle East, soccer ball stitching programs, bull racing in India

July 31 Photo Brief: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the Middle East, soccer ball stitching programs, bull racing in India

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on a five-day trip to the Middle-East, Pakistan’s military launches a soccer ball stitching program in the town of Chaghmalai, bull racing in India and more in today’s daily brief.
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