About the Book

With the tragic destruction of Central and East European Jewries, the Oriental Jewish communities have grown in importance in the balance-sheet of Jewish existence. This book is the result of twenty years of research into the Jewish communities of North Africa and covers a period of more than two thousand years in the history of those communities. Though the origins of the North African Jewis...

About the Author

Andre Chouraqui ---

Andre N. Churaqui was born in Algeria and educated in the University of Paris. In 1958 he immigrated to Israel. In 60s Andre Churaqui served as counselor to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and deputy mayor of Jerusalem. He has written extensively on the Jews of North Africa.

Contents

Introduction

PART 1. FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE BYZANTINE PERIOD

1. The Carthaginian Era: 813-146 B.C.E.
2. Pax Romana: 146 B.C.E.-430 C.E.
3. Vandals and Byzantines: 430-642 C.E.

PART 2. THE RULE OF ISLAM

4. The Moslem Conquest of the Maghreb: 642-ca. 900
5. The Status of the Jews under Islam
6. Judaism in the Maghreb: The Oriental Components
7. Judaism in the Maghreb: The Spanish Component
8. The Condition of the Jews in the Nineteenth Century

PART 3. THE FRENCH PERIOD

9. The Emancipation of Algerian Jewry: 1830-1962
10. The Status of the Jews in Tunisia (1881-1956) and French Morocco (1912-1956)
11. Population Trends Among the Jewish Communities
12. Facing West
13. Social Conditions
14. Judaism in Modern Times

PART 4. DISSOLUTION

15. Independence and Exodus
16. Israel

Notes

Statistical Appendices

Bibliography

Index

An Excerpt from the Book

The Attitude of Islam toward the Jews The attitude of Islam toward the Jews was based in large measure on a zealous devotion to what they considered the true will of their God. It developed out of the first relationships between Mohammed and the Jews of Arabia, the early opposition of the merchants of Medina, the first battles and triumphs of the followers of the new faith over the resistance of Jews and Christians, and finally the establishment of a vast empire governed by the progressive re...

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