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Book publishing is an act of piety among the Tunisian immigrants of Israel. The literary content of books is less important than their talismanic value. The Tunisian community in Israel has abandoned many of its traditional religious practices, substituting for them pious acts such as pilgrimages and the publishing of religious books.

Tension between citizenship and ethnicity is expressed in an Israeli ethnic synagogue by changes in ritual and symbolism. The symbolic expression of these changes relates worshippers of the synagogue, who are recent immigrants to Israel, to their new heterogenous environment. Analysis of the changes in symbols demonstrates that the referential aspects have expanded, consistent with alterations in traditional relationships. The reinterpreted symbols may be categorized in terms of a typology of religious change as instances of "innovation," in the sense that the experiential range to which the symbol applies has been changed.

It is commonly argued today that the Jews of Djerba—an isolated, mysterious island across from southern Tunisia—held to worldviews and halakhic concepts similar to those common among Ultra-Orthodox European Jews. Yet researchers have singled out one supposed exception: the positive attitude of Djerba's rabbis towards Zionism and its leaders. A closer examination will show that this assumption of a shared outlook is unsupported. By clarifying and explaining the concept of Orthodoxy, I will suggest that the key challenges created by the tension between conservatism and modernity regarding human rights—i.e., democracy, free choice, human autonomy, etc.—caused European rabbis, headed by Moshe Sofer (the "Chatam Sofer") to formulate a religious response characterized by conservatism and a complete rejection of modernity. On the other hand, I will show that Djerba's rabbis and Jewish community, headed by Rabbi Khalfon Moshe Hacohen (1874–1950), impressively handled the challenges posed by modernity for religious Jews, on precisely those same points at which European orthodoxy rejected modernity. It is worth noting that Djerba Jews retained their strict religious principles, and even became an ongoing source of religious and halakhic inspiration for the rest of North African Jewry. I will present examples of Rabbi Hacohen's positive attitude towards modernity and explain why there is no real similarity between European Orthodox Judaism and Djerba Judaism. Finally, I will speculate as to the origins of the false notion of the comparability of the halakhic attitude of Djerba Jews and that of the European Jewish communities.

The author publishes an Arabic document from the Cairo Geniza, now at Cambridge. It is the letter of a Jewish spice-dealer whose affairs had taken him as far as India, and who sent his goods from Aden in Southern Arabia to his brothers whose business was taking them to Egypt. In the letter he mentions inter alia that he had heard a rumour of the Riots in North Africa. The date of the letter is roughly 1149, and the writer presumably refers to the massacres and forced conversions of the Jews in North Africa following the conquests of ʿAbd el-Muʾamân in 1147. The cities to which he refers include a number known to us from other sources, and also Karkana and Sfax.

העתונות היהודית בתוניסיה היא תופעה מיוחדת במינה בקרב קהילות ישראל בארצות המזרח וצפון אפריקה: במשך כשמונים שנות קיומה יצאו לאור בארץ זו מספר גדול של עתונים יהודיים, ללא השוואה לנעשה בארצות אחרות. מאז סוף ה- 19 ועד תחילת שנות ה-60 יצאו בתוניסיה 79 עתונים ביהודית-ערבית, בלוב 14, באלג'יריה 10 ובמרוקו 9; בצרפתית ראו אור בתוניסיה 48 עתונים יהודים, באלג'יריה 33 ובמרוקו 28; בעברית הופיעו בתוניסיה בפרק זמן זה 16 עתונים, בלוב 4 ובמרוקו 2. בסך הכל הופיעו בתוניסיה בין השנים 1878-1967 143 עתונים יהודיים, וזאת בקהילה שמנתה בסוף ה-19 כ-35-40 אלף נפש, באמצע שנות ה- 20 כ-55 אלף ובשנת 1948 — כ-70 אלף נפש. The Jewish press of Tunisia was a unique phenomenon within the Jewish communities of the Arabic-speaking countries. During its 80-year history, from the end of the 19th century to the 1960s, it produced more Jewish newspapers than anywhere elso. There were 79 Judeo-Arabic newspapers in Tunis (with 14 in Libya, 10 in Algeria and 9 in Morocco); 48 French-language Jewish newspapers (33 in Algeria, 28 in Morocco); and 16 Hebrew newspapers (4 in Libya, 2 in Morocco). Between 1878 and 1967 there were a total of 143 Jewish newspapers published in Tunisia, in a community that numbered only 35,000-40,000 at the end of the 19th century; approximately 55,000 during the mid-1920s; and some 80,000 in 1948. The earliest newspapers appeared in Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew letters), beginning in 1878. They were small papers, mostly short-lived. The first Tunisian Jewish daily began publication in 1889 — "El Tiligraf," edited by Messaoud Maarek, and linked to the oldest telegraphic agency, Havas. But this paper, as all other Jewish papers, ceased publication in 1895 because of a steep levy imposed on all newspapers in Tunisia. The Jewish press revived in 1904, changed in character. A Zionist weekly, "Al Athad," began publication. An important new daily, "El Sabah" ("The Morning," published until 1936), edited by the accomplished Judeo-Arabic writer Jacob Cohen, along with several other competing papers, were now composed in a modern style, catering to a new generation of educated, European-oriented, French-speaking Jews. Another major paper was the weekly "El Najma" ("The Star"), published in the city of Sousse from 1920 to 1961. The Judeo-Arabic newspapers were highly specialized in orientation: some were literary, some political and some humorous and satirical — a particularly popular format. This press reached its zenith during the early 1900s, to be replaced in popularity by French-language newspapers. The two major French-language papers, both weeklies, were the pro-French, progressive "La Justice" (1907-14; 1923-33), edited by Mordochée Smaja, and the more conservative "L'Egalité" (1911-32; 1940), edited by Joseph Cohen-Ganouna. "La Justice" adopted an anti-religious establishment philosophy, while the rival "L'Egalité" fought to preserve Jewish tradition and prevent Francophilization. Only a few Hebrew newspapers were published in Tunisia before 1948, but they became more numerous thereafter, alongside the French Jewish newspapers, while the Judeo-Arabic press died out almost completely. Similarly, the number of Zionist periodicals in all three languages increased. During the 1940s and '50s, all the Zionist youth movements had their own periodicals. All Jewish papers ceased publication from November 1942 to May 1943 when Tunisia was occupied by German forces and was subject to Vichy law. This was Tunisian Jewry's darkest hour, with thousands of Jews interned in forced labor camps and Jewish property confiscated. Some Tunisian Jews were sent to the death camps of Europe. Fortunately, the Jewish population was saved by the allied victory in Tunisia. The post-World War II period was one of rich Jewish communal life. Moslem Tunisia under French rule, unlike its Arab neighbors, was not hostile to the Jewish population. They were free to demonstrate pro-Israel solidarity, as reflected in the Jewish press. Jewish emigration, especially to Israel, increased during the 1950s, especially after Tunisian independence in 1956, although President Bourguiba was favorably disposed to the Jews. With the number of Jews diminishing, the Jewish press shrank accordingly. The last Jewish periodical appeared in 1967.

Southern Tunisian Jewry has an uninterrupted and relatively peaceful history going back into antiquity. The general Berber population, particularly of the island of Djerba, has since the late 19th century developed a pattern of migrant merchants, who operate throughout Tunisia and retire in their old age to their homes. In this context, the Jews entered local commerce and filled the major local positions, however they did not engage in international or in itinerant commerce or trade. Djerban Jewry is therefore extremely sedentary and lacking in geographic mobility. As a consequence, the local community is relatively powerful over its individual members. Social control, particularly in religious matters, is strong because of the high visibility of individuals. Community organs are highly developed in comparison to other Jewish communities in North Africa. The continued development of community organs in the period under discussion is described in the paper on the basis of rabbinical treatises of recent generations.