- Population
- 12,000
- Location
- Netivot, Ofakim, Beersheba and moshavim of the western Negev (Eitan, Zimrat, Gilat, Sharsheret, Beit HaGadi, Tlamim, Brakhia); Jerusalem, Or Akiva, Haifa, Bnei Brak
Tunisian Jews came to Israel mainly between 1948 and 1967, about half of a community of some 100,000; the other half went to France. Many Djerba families settled together on new farming villages of the western Negev, such as Eitan, Zimrat, Gilat and Beit HaGadi, and in the nearby towns of Netivot and Ofakim. Djerban Judaism, known for its strict traditionalism and its rabbinic scholarship, continues in Israel through the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva of Bnei Brak, moved from Tunis in 1971. Each year Tunisian and Moroccan Israelis gather at the Beersheba grave of the Djerba-born sage Rabbi Haim Houri for his hillula, and families still keep Tunisian customs such as the girls' festival of Rosh Hodesh Tevet and the Se'udat Yitro feast.