History of the Jews in Tunisia

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The history of the Jews in Tunisia dates back nearly two thousand years to the Punic era. The Jewish community of Tunisia grew following successive waves of immigration and proselytism before its development was hampered by the imposition of anti-Jewish measures in the Byzantine Empire in late antiquity. After the Muslim conquest of Tunisia, Tunisian Jews experienced periods of relative freedom or cultural apogee which were followed by periods of more marked discrimination and persecution. Under Muslim rule, Jews were granted legal status as dhimmi, which legally assured protections of life, property, and freedom of religion, but imposed an increased tax burden on them. The community developed its own dialect of Arabic, but the use of Judeo-Tunisian Arabic has declined due to the community's relocation from Tunisia. The arrival of Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, often through Livorno, greatly influenced the community's composition, inter-group relations, and customs. The economic...

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