SHABBAT READING
Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf—A Targum Tradition: Dr. Shlomi Efrati, The Torah.com, July 14, 2022 — The Jewish Aramaic renderings of the Hebrew Bible, collectively known as “Targum”—the Hebrew/Aramaic word for both “interpretation” and “translation”—were composed over several centuries, in various places and for different purposes. While the earliest Targums for the Pentateuch and the Prophets, known as Onqelos and Jonathan respectively, were presumably composed during the first centuries of the common era in an Aramaic speaking environment, the latest Targums—for (most of) the books of the Writings—were probably composed sometime towards the end of the first millennium C.E., in a place and time where Aramaic was no longer a spoken language.
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Lost Between Recognition and Rejection: Tunisia’s Relations with Israel: CDR. David Levy, BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,204, June 27, 2023
After Synagogue Attack, Tunisia Ignores Elephant in the Room: Simon Speakman Cordall, Foreign Policy, June 2, 2023
Inside Tunisia’s 2,000-year-old Jewish Community: Discrimination and a Glimmer of Hope: Rachel Gilmore, Global News, June 13, 2022
Rebuilding Tunisia’s Democracy Will Require a Long-Term Strategy: Daniel Brumberg, Arab Center Washington, DC, June 22, 2023
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Tunisia’s Ambiguity Toward its Jewish Community: Frédéric Bobin, Le Monde, May 11, 2023 — Even if it is the work of a “lone wolf,” the murderous rampage of a Tunisian police officer on Tuesday, May 9, that brought him to the gates of the Ghriba – the synagogue of Djerba (southeast of Tunisia) which is a famous pilgrimage site – will have an effect on the relations that Tunisian Jews have with their country. Old wounds are being rekindled, feelings of insecurity that were buried have resurfaced.
Naval Guardsman Attacks Synagogue in Tunisia, Killing 5: Vivian Yee, NY Times, May 10, 2023 — A naval guardsman opened fire near an ancient synagogue on the island of Djerba off Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast that has previously been the target of Islamist militants, killing two visitors and two guards, and wounding 10 other people during an annual Jewish pilgrimage to the synagogue, the country’s interior ministry said Wednesday.
Tunisian President Compares Israel to Nazi Germany: Lennox Kalifungwa, Zenger, June 24, 2023 — Tunisian President Kais Saied recently compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany. “While Tunisians protected Jews during the Holocaust, today, elderly women and children are being bombed in Gaza,” he said.
Historian Vilified Over Symposium with Israeli Academics: Simona Gonzalez, World University News, May 4, 2023 — The University of Manouba in Tunis, Tunisia, has said it will withdraw the title of emeritus professor from a historian and former dean of its faculty of letters, arts and humanities over his participation in an international academic symposium in Paris alongside Israeli academics
Is There a Future for Tunisia’s Jews?: Marc Fisher, Moment Magazine, July 28, 2012 — Tunisia is one of the success stories of the Arab spring.
