Algeria may restore synagogues, now that there are no Jews there

AFP (Arabic and French) reports:

Algeria, which has a small discreet Jewish community, is willing to re-open synagogues that were locked in the '90s for reasons of safety, assured the Minister of Religious Affairs Mohamed Aissa, quoted Thursday by the press.

"There is a well accepted Jewish community in our districts. It has the right to exist. Its representative, who is a patriot, is in permanent contact with the ministry," the minister said at a forum organized by the daily Liberté.

Asked about the reopening of Jewish places of worship, he said that Algeria was ready, but added that "the State does not intend to reopen them immediately" because "we must first secure a place of worship before delivering it to the faithful."

Jews were often the target of [Muslim] fundamentalists in the '90s and two leaders of this community were murdered in Algiers.

Let's look at some context.

First, a recent history of Jews in Algeria:

[By the late 1950s] the Jews could sit on the fence no longer when two events forced them decisively into the French camp: the first was the burning of the Great Synagogue in Algiers in December 1960. Arabs went on the rampage ripping memorial plaques from the walls, and torching books and Torah scrolls. The second was the murder in June 1961, while he was out shopping in the market, of the famous Jewish musician, Sheikh Raymond Leyris, a symbol of a shared Arab-Jewish culture and father-in-law of the singer Enrico Macias.

Like the pieds noirs, the Jews were faced with a stark choice: suitcase or coffin. They scrambled to reach seaports and airports. By the time Algeria had declared independence on 3 July 1962, all but a few thousand Jews had left for France.

The watchword was now ‘Muslim Algeria’ not ‘Algeria for the Algerians.’ No ‘foreigner,’ even those who had fought for the FLN, was awarded Algerian nationality, unless they had a Muslim father. There was no place for Jews in the new Algeria, as there is no place for Jews anywhere in the Arab world.

Jewish Virtual Library says:

After being granted independence in 1962, the Algerian government harassed the Jewish community and deprived Jews of their economic rights. As a result, almost 130,000 Algerian Jews immigrated to France. Since 1948, 25,681 Algerian Jews have immigrated to Israel.

In 1994, the terrorist Armed Islamic Group - GIA declared its intention to eliminate Jews from Algeria; thus far, no attacks have been reported against the Algerian Jewish community. Following the announcement, many Jews left Algeria and the single remaining synagogue was abandoned. All other synagogues had previously been taken over for use as mosques.

If there is a remaining Jewish community in Algeria, it is minuscule. In 2011, Mrs Esther Azoulay, the last person in Algeria to get aid from the Joint Distribution Committee, passed away. Maybe there are a couple of Jews left, but I doubt that there is a minyan for a synagogue. Any synagogue, if one ever re-opens, would be a relic.

So what's the minister talking about?

Algeria is next door to Tunisia. In May, Tunisia hosted at least a thousand Jewish pilgrims from abroad for the annual Lag B'Omer pilgrimage to the synagogue in Djerba. Tunisian security maintained order and the country expects more Jews to come back next year.

It seems highly likely that Algeria's new-found tolerance of Jews is a combination of jealousy over the tourist dollars they bring to Tunisia and the fact that the remaining Jews in Algeria are pretty much invisible. (Notice that the religious affairs minister doesn't even mention the name of the Jewish community leader who he says he is in contact with.)

It is also interesting that last year an Egyptian documentary on the Jews of Egypt became an unlikely hit. There is nostalgia in Arab states for the days when Jews lived as dhimmis under Muslim rule - a period of time that Arabs now recall as if the Jews were happy. Some of their friends were Jewish! Why did they leave, anyway?

(One can imagine a similar nostalgia in a future Egypt about those Copts who were treated so well.)

Minister Mohamed Aissa seems to have that same selective memory about Jews of Algeria, not quite remembering how his nation forced them to leave. Sure, Muslims love their Jewish subjects - as long as they are silent or dead.

But they also want some of that Jewish tourism money!