Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/432

384 — Algeria

11

Ali^iers

IK

JEWISH ENX-YCLOPEDIA

for all those who denied the inissidii of MoliiiiDiiied did not, however, create insiipirable harriers between them ami their subjects. On Relations the contrary, there are still Inices of of Jews and lie intercourse that undeniably existed JSoslems. between the two peoples. Unity of lan;jua_!?<'. daily life side by .side, and tineeonoinie position rapidly attaiuc-d by llie Jew in the slothfid Moslem .society, jrrcatly contribtited to was create common usjiges and observances. It not rare that rabbis commanded great respect from Arabs, and at the pri'scnt day (1!H)1) the Jews of the country /eakmsly claim as sainted labbis a number of highlj- venerated traits, t^idi Yakub (Jacob) I

and

Sidi

Yusif

(Joshua) ben

(Jose|)li) at

Nun

TIemecn, Sidi Yonsha'

near HonaVn.

etc.,

all

bearing

384

For four centuries the family of the Duran provided heads of the coiuinunity at Algiers. In other cities, owing to the emigration of 131)1, Siianish lalibis in the course of the lifteentli century olitained the leadership of all the Jewries. At Tlem(en was the well-known Epliraiiii. kawa (il. 1422); atOran and Tlemcen. Abraham .bi Zimra, Isjiae Abi Ziiiini.

Alal beii Siiluii (lirieenlh century), Jo.seph Alashkar. and Judali llala/ (sixleeiitli century), and the family of the tlavis.soii, originally from Seville then

and Granada, who

left

Spain after

r4it2.

is

—

Costume of an Algerian Jewess. (From Jungmann, "

Ctistuin,^,

Ma-urs

et

Csagwt

(ie»

Alg^rlens" (1837).

Biblical names, whom the Arabs, in consideration of their high qualities, exalted after their death to the

dignity of jloslem

3f(ii-ii/)f>iits.

The tombs of

these

illustrious personages have become sanctuaries, the resorts of pilgrims of both races, before which they

the same observances, sometimes highly ]Moreovcr, every year an Arab of Algiers, a self-constituted guardian of one of these marabouts of disputed origin, goes to the province of Gran to make collections among the Jewish comIn the munities, and is generally very successful. .same category with these facts is the well-known veneration i)aid by the Arabs to the synagogue of practise

fanciful.

Hona.

The existence among the Jews of a large number of usages and superstitions is to be attributed wholly to Jloslera influence. Such are: the custom among women of mutilating their faces on the death of their kindred; belief in the sorcery of the jinn; and confidence in the etlicacy of white fowls placed under the sick-bed, etc. These beliefs are widespread, and ministers of religion have difficulty in combatiuir them.

At Con-

the tomb of Ben Menir, surnamed " IleI.Iasid," who arrived there probably after the end of the fourteenth century. His sucees.sor was Najar, author of various casuistic and juristic treatises. The French continest freed the mass of Algerian J<'ws from the Turkish yoke. They welcomed it as a veritable deliverance which it was The French and the very day alter the entrance of Conquest, the French troo])s at Algiers, they became devoted allies of the civilizing ])ower which made an end of Turkish barbarity in that country. The knowledge of the Arabic language jiossessed by the Jews made their services, of which they were not sparing, extremely valuable to the French. The roll of honor of the military interpreters contains the names of a number of Algerian Jew.s, .some of whom died on the field. According io highly respected authorities, the brunt of the defense of Onin when liesieged liy Abd cl-ICader in l.s:^:3 was borne by the Jews. Therefore it is easy to comprehend that from 1830 to 1870 opinion has been .shifting in the direction of the assimilation of the Algerian Jews with the French citizens. Magazine articles, various publications, and the resolutions of the general councils did not cease since 184.5 to pronounce such an assimilation to lie most protitable for the future of French Algeria. And this desire, freriuently expres,sed, naturally found an echo in the various legislative decisions, which, in the forty years before 1870, jiretended to regulate the legalstatusof the Algerian population. In these' decisions the statutes concerning the Israelites were always double in character. In the first place they clearly distinguish between Jew and Moslem among the natives; and in the second place, they more and more approximate the Jewi.sh element to the French. To nienticm instances: after Aug, 10, 18.34, theauthority of the rabbinical tribunals was considerably restricted; henceforth they decided only on matters of marriage, divorce, and liturgy: and seven years later they were comidetelv suppressed (ordinance of Feb. 28, "1841). though " i>ri'toires " of the Mo.slcm cadis in the meantime continued to be in operation. The decree of March 1.5, 18C0, which in penal matters subjected the natives of the territories of the commando to martial law, was not aiiplicable to the Jews, who, no matter in what part of Algeria they lived, were tried before the criminal courts of the civil law. The Jlosaie law in secular matters had been suppressed by the statute of June 16, 1851, and the suppression was continued by the i^cnfl^'Scoiis'illeof 1S.5, which in addition, according to article 2, admitted native Jews to all the rights of French citizens on the demand of each individual. In 1 800 they were granted a special representation Finally, the in the municipal councils of Algeria. decree of Oct. 24, 1870, better known as the decree of Cremjenx, was the last stjige in the long journey toward the legal assimilation of the Algerian Jews. It naturalized them as a whole, and, conforming to the iirinciples of the Revolution of 1789, suppres.sed Judaism as a nationality in the new France of Africa, but i)erniitted it to exist as a religion stantine