Hundreds of Israeli Jews are expected to travel through Malta this weekend as they make the annual pilgrimage to the synagogue of El Ghriba on the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Security on the island of Djerba is expected to be stringent this weekend, considering that it has been only five years since a terrorist attack on the synagogue, the oldest on the African continent, claimed the lives of 21 people including 14 German tourists, six Tunisians and one Frenchman. The attack, carried out by an al-Qaeda North African group, left another 30 wounded.
Due to the fact that there are no direct air links between Israel and Tunisia, the expected 5,000 Jews of Tunisian descent, many of whom now reside in Israel, will make their way to Djerba via Malta, France and Turkey.
The El Ghriba synagogue is located in the former Jewish village of Harah Sghira and, according to one tradition, was established by a group of Kohanim, from the Bais Hamikdash, who supposedly settled on the island immediately after the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash. (The tradition holds that the refugees brought a door and a stone from the destroyed Bais Hamikdash with them.)
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Attention Travel agents… Chap Arein. I smell big potential here!
I could picture it already! The screaming adds “Shabbos in Djerba”. Although I’ll admit it doesent sound as Haimish as names like Lizensk or Mezibuzh but hey people are desperate & will go for anything these days as long as you make some segulah out of it.