El Ghriba Synagogue
DAR ENNOUR,
GUEST HOUSE DJERBA
Just a stone’s throw from EL GHRIBA, DAR ENNOUR – GUEST HOUSE:
Whether you are coming to Djerba to step back in time on the pilgrimage to El Ghriba or for a holiday with friends, Dar Ennour offers you an unrivalled stay in a charming riad that honours local traditions.
With 6 rooms sleeping more than 12 guests, and ideally located just 2 km from the oldest synagogue in Africa, Dar Ennour is the perfect place to share unforgettable moments with your family, thanks to the magic of the setting.
The pilgrimage:
Officially, the pilgrimage marks the anniversary of the deaths of two eminent Kabbalist rabbis: Rabbi Meyer Baal Nich, a miracle worker, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, to whom the Jews of North Africa attribute one of the commentaries of the Zohar, the Book of Splendour, one of the great works of Jewish mysticism. Legend, however, says that the pilgrimage honours a stranger (Ghriba) who was said to have miraculous healing gifts and an aura of holiness.
At pilgrimage time, people come from all over the world to pray here for their wishes to be granted.
A little history:
Of all the places of worship in North Africa, El Ghriba is considered the most sacred. According to the oral tradition of Tunisia’s rabbis, the story of this holy site goes back to the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar in 565 BC. The temple’s priests, the Cohanim (plural of Cohen), escaped the massacre and managed to carry away one of the temple doors. They fled by boat, following the route of the Phoenicians who built Carthage, and that of Ulysses who, held captive on Djerba by intoxicating flowers, named it the Island of the Lotus-Eaters.
The Cohanim chose this enchanting island, laden with fruit trees, which reminded them of the Garden of Eden. Here they built the first synagogue in Africa, where they honoured the precious relic from the temple. The present synagogue, built in the last century, stands on the very same site.
Joined over the centuries by descendants of the other tribes of Israel, the Jews of Djerba converted the local Berber tribes to Judaism – most of whom were later converted to Islam by the Arabs. The word Ghriba means the stranger, the wondrous one, the solitary one.