Tunisia - Mother Tongue

Ariana

Yosef Nataf

"Return to our Fatherland, sing" (LaMoledet Shuvi Roni) by ʾAsher Mizraḥi

Aliya, settlement and life in Israel

Bar mitzva, birth, dating and wedding

Education and acquiring a profession

Education and poetry studies

Relationship between Jews and Muslims

Beja

ʾAsher (Sasi) Dei

Passover

Aliya to Israel

Customs: Se'udat Yitro (Feast of Jethro) and bsisa

Holidays and traditions during the months of Tevet and Adar

Life in Beja (Tunisia)

School and Talmud Tora

Shavuot and Tishʿa BeʾAv

Synagogue

Tishrei holidays

Using secret language when working with non-Jews

Ben Gardane

Shoshana Cohen (of Cohen Jonathan)

Escaping Ben Gardane during the Nazi invasion

Bizerte

Rabbi Nissim Mesika

"When Israel went out of Egypt" in Hebrew and in Arabic

Ḥad Gadya in Arabic

Passover Haggada from Tunisia

Passover Haggada in Hebrew and in Arabic (final part)

The Prayer for Dew

Djerba

Varda (Vardia) Trabelsi

Children's stories

Marani’s grandparents and the burial of the family

Aliya and the beginning of settlement in Israel

Customs of Hoshaʿana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot) at the Trabelsi family

Customs: bsisa, Se'udat Yitro (Feast of Jethro), Daughters' Holiday and Passover

Differences between communities in Tunisia

Djerba's customs (lel ha'zohar, brit mila, bar and bat mitzva, Lag Ba'omer)

Hatarat Nedarim (Annulment of vows and oaths)

Life and wedding at the community of Tataouine

Life in Djerba and connection to the land of Israel

Life in moshav (village) Shuva

Marani's figure

Pre-wedding (part I)

Pre-wedding (part II)

Rabbi Nisim Cohen ZT”L, his family and connections to moshav (village) Sharsheret

The daughter who went missing and was found

The Jewish community in Djerba

The son Gideon in his childhood

The transition to moshav (village) Sharsheret

David Ḥajaj

Dear Moon by Rabbi Fraji Shawat

Mimon Yehoshuʿa ʿAtiya

Aliya to Israel

Bsisa during Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (first month of the Hebrew year)

Establishment of moshav (village) 'Sharsheret'

Holidays

Meeting his future wife and their wedding

Settlement and absorption in Israel

Story of innocence

The education system in South Tunisia

Work and livelihood in Tunisia

Orida Mezig

Song for a bride: Your White Hand

Song for my beloved

Wedding song for the groom

Raḥel Mesika

A tale of a poor man

A tale of a rich man

Bridal song: Your White Hand

Song: Nari ʿAla Zarzish

Song: Ya Ghaliya

Song: Ya Rabbi Ḥnini

Wedding songs and more

Shmuʾel Wezzan

Piyyut for Shabbat from Djerba

Yasmin Shmuʾel

Her mother's poverty, poor girls' marriage and her parents' marriage

Her sister's education and mother's request for help during school days

Keening and bereavement customs - shiva and first 12 months

Men's livelihood and women's house duties

My Dear (ya Ghʾaliya)

Postpartum, the Zohar and brit mila

Smearing oil for medical purposes

Songs for the bride

Djerba (Hara Kebira)

Ḥanna Cohen Yehonatan

How the girls were taught Hebrew in Djerba

Djerba (Hara Zghira)

Saʿada Trabelsi Z"L

Counting of the Omer and Shavuot

Fasting

Hanukka, Tu BiShvat and Purim

Passover

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (first month of the Hebrew year)

Se'udat Yitro (Feast of Jethro)

Selling mitzvot

Sukkot, Hoshaʿana Rabba, Shemini Atzeret and Isru chag

Yom Kippur in Djerba

Djerba (the large quarter)

Rivka Sofer (Bashiri)

Brit mila and Zohar

Education and school atmosphere

The community's atmosphere and foods

Wedding customs against ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Djerba (the small quarter)

Louisa Buchris

Father's song for the birth of the son

Ḥenna crushing song for the bride and her family

Honouring parents

Life story

Mother's song for the birth of the son

Song for a bride on her wedding day

Song for a groom

Song for a groom on his wedding day

The seven days of preparation for the wedding in Djerba

El Ḥamma

Mimon Yehoshuʿa ʿAtiya

Aliya to Israel

Bsisa during Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (first month of the Hebrew year)

Establishment of moshav (village) 'Sharsheret'

Holidays

Meeting his future wife and their wedding

Settlement and absorption in Israel

Story of innocence

The education system in South Tunisia

Work and livelihood in Tunisia

Shaʾul Cohen

Aliya to Israel

Occupations in El Ḥamma

Poor man who found treasure in the woods

Songs and children's games

Gabes

Leʾa Maimon

Childhood memories

Language

The Sultan and the peasant's daughter

Wedding

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) and folk remedies

Madeleine (Bokobza) Bitan

Aliya and absorption into Israel

Celebration at the sacred tombs of Rabbi Meʾir and Rabbi Shimʿon

Clothing and jewellery

Dialects and culture

Folk medicine and cosmetics

Foods

Games

The Nazi invasion, hiding in a train station and returning to destroyed Gabes on Passover Eve

The Rabbi's disaster at the maʿabara (absorption camp) in Tiberias

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) and folk beliefs

Madeline (Bokobza) Bitan

Father's livelihood amongst the villages

Matsliaḥ Ḥacmon

'Eḥad Mi Yodea' (Who Knows One) and 'Dayenu' ("it would have sufficed us”)

1941 Gabès riots

Birth and bar mitzva

Diseases and natural remedies

Education, occupation and livelihood

Family story and Aliya to Israel

Life in Tunisia, World War II, settlement and absorption

Occupation and livelihood

Passover and bsisa night

Shabbat and holiday

Wedding and bereavement costumes

ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye and fish

Mrima Maimon

Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan customs

'Ḥebron' synagogue

After birth customs

Bereavement customs

Children's songs and hand games

Description of the house

Father, mother and grandmother

Female education - advice from mother to daughter

Female etiquette: modesty, dress, hygiene and make-up

Holiday traditions

Life in Matmata

My mother, my family and I

Proverbs

The Muslim neighbours

Tishʿa BeʾAv customs

Wedding

Rachel Chakmon

Childhood

Dialects in Tunisia and proverbs

Health, pregnancy and birth

Jewellery, mikve and ḥenna

Tamar Cohen

Natural remedies

Recreational songs

Relationship with the Muslims

Yehudit Sarusi

Rabbi Moshe Chalphon Hacohen and the Nazi invasion

The stay in the concentration camps during World War II

Yom Kippur

ʾAvraham Bar-Shay (Benʿatia)

Asida

Clothing

Education and schooling

Housing

Occupation and livelihood

Rabbis

ʾEster Bokobza

Relationships with non-Jews

Shabbat, Rosh Ḥodesh (first of the month) and holidays

The Jewish circle of life: brit mila, bar mitzva, wedding

Women

Women and men's occupations

ʿAmos Maimon

Atmosphere at school

Bridal gifts preparations

Bsisa

Children's songs and hand games

Clothing

Description of the father and grandfather

Family life story

Folk remedies and protection against ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Hebrew as a secret language

Medicine and products

Proverbs and word play

Rabbi Ḥaim Ḥuri

Relationship with Livorno Jews

School curriculum

Song for son's birthday

Studying at the Rabbi's

Wedding

Gafsa

Mazzal Hadassa (Fortuna ʿAsis)

Aliya, absorption and family life

Parable about beauty

Pogroms during the holocaust

Proverbs and songs

Relationship with the Muslims and roots trip

Women's gathering, story readings and women's honour

Israel

Rabbi Yosef Ben Shushan

"Let Us Praise" - Passover Piyyut from Tunis

Kiddush for Seder from Tunisia

Passover Haggada from Tunis

La Goulette

Nissim Naʿim

A tale of the lagmi drink

Aliya and absorption into Israel

Bereavement customs

Bsisa

Education and life in La Goulette

Grandfather the painter and dream

His father's rescue from the Nazis and the fate of La Goulette's Jews

Let Us Praise and Drink Wine

Passover

Proverbs and blessings

Purim

Revisiting Tunisia

Songs

Mateur

François Baruch

Passover Haggada

Song of the Sea

Matmata

Mrima Maimon

Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan customs

'Ḥebron' synagogue

After birth customs

Bereavement customs

Children's songs and hand games

Description of the house

Father, mother and grandmother

Female education - advice from mother to daughter

Female etiquette: modesty, dress, hygiene and make-up

Holiday traditions

Life in Matmata

My mother, my family and I

Proverbs

The Muslim neighbours

Tishʿa BeʾAv customs

Wedding

Medenine

Ilan ʿAmarusi

Ḥanna's lamentation and her seven sons (Qesat Ḥanna)

Moknine

Adrian Perets

Childhood memory from World War II

Adriane Perets

Adriane's father

Difficulties in livelihood

Proverbs

Recipe for lemonade

The uses of crude oil in Moknine

Walking and returning from the mikve

Ḥanna Megides

Aliya and settlement

Clothing

Foods

Greeting song from mother to son

Holidays

Oslo (Hurum) air disaster

Proverbs

Reciting children's hand game

Synagogues, Rabbis and righteous

Nabeul

Farji Guez

Ḥad Gadya in Arabic from Nabeul

Passover Haggada from Nabeul‎

Ḥaim Ḥadad

"Ki Lo Naʾeh" (To Him it is Proper) from Nabeul

Belief in demons

Candles lighting custom

Community life in Nabeul

Difference between the perception of faith in Hakadosh Baruch Hu (Almighty) in Tunisia and Israel

Different features in towns and areas in Tunisia

Dowry amongst Jews and Muslims

Faith in saints and righteous

Folk beliefs and ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye)

Foods: appetisers, daily and Shabbat foods

Ḥad Gadya from Nabeul

Ḥaim Ḥadad father's will

Kiddush and Passover Haggada from Nabeul

Medicine and natural products

Melave Malka : Shabbat meal

Non-Jews in Nabeul: way of life and relationship with Jews

Proverbs and short wisdom stories

The Jewish dialect in Nabeul: stress, pronunciation and unique words

Wisdom story: faith for the poor

Kuka Uzan

Bar mitzva and engagement in Nabeul

Rabbi Pinḥas (Herzl) Gaziʾel

Jewish holidays

Story of praising good deeds and doing mitzvot

The Jewish community in Nabeul: education, management and relationship with non-Jews

Tishrei holidays

Use of Italian and Hebrew in Jewish dialect

Nefta

ʾAvraham Saʿadon

Secret language

ʾAvraham Saʿadon

Community life and relationship with the Muslims in Nefta

Family story and Aliya to Israel

Holidays and festivals

Passover customs

Shabbat customs

The synagogue in Nefta

Tishrei holidays

Sfax

Mazzal Shelly

Sick child passed away

Sousse

Bia Hajaj

Boy and girl romance (recitation)

Raḥel Buchris

Children's songs

Recreational songs

Song of World War II distress

Songs of World War II and making Aliya

Women's songs: birth

Women's songs: divorce

Women's songs: marriage

Women's songs: singleness

Sulayman

David Damri

Aliya, maʿabara (absorption camp) and home

Childhood and life story

Connection between Jewish communities and roots trips

Holidays and foods

Matchmaking and wedding

Wedding and its customs

Tozeur

Raḥel (Ganon) Saʿadon

Aliya and settlement story

Birth, brit and pidyon haben (redemption of the firstborn)

Engagement and wedding

Holidays, festivals and fasting

Life in Tozeur's oasis

Livelihood and relationship with the Muslim neighbours

Passover

Righteous Hannah's Lament

Shabbat

Song of Queen Esther

Tishrei holidays

Tripoli

Ḥaim Bublil

Ma Nishtana (why is tonight different from all other nights?)

Tunis

David Ḥajaj

Piyyut for brit mila: Hadi Mila u'bada

Jacqueline Bokra

The family in Tunis, Aliya and settlement in Israel

Mazzal Tabeka

Shabbat, holidays and foods

Rabbi Yosef Ben Shushan

"Let Us Praise" - Passover Piyyut from Tunis

Kiddush for Seder from Tunisia

Passover Haggada from Tunis

Reuven Sarusi

The café

The synagogue, school and holidays

Zohar and brit mila

Zarzis

Shashuna (Shoshana) Cohen

Recitation for a newborn

Moshe Rabbenu: story and piyyut

Honor thy parents

Josef and his brothers

Josef the righteous

Longing song for Jerusalem

Proverb: the eye sees what is written on a man's forehead

Rabbi Shalom and the non-Jew

Rabbi Shalom the miracle maker

Song for encouraging prayer and piety

Song for good measures and piety

Song for Passover: "ya ilahna ya ilahna rəbbi fraji ikun mʿana"

Song of Aliya and praise to the Land of Israel

Song of Aliya to the Land of Israel

The story of the rabbi's son and the king's ring

The story of the wise student and the rabbi's daughter

Baḥla Sofer (Mazuz)

Aliya and adjustment

Jewish holidays

Nature of communities and folk beliefs

Shabbat and Rosh Ḥodesh

Tishrei holidays

Mili Hadas Cohen

Education in Tunisia

Making Aliya and settling in the maʿabara (absorption camp)

Moshe Amram Cohen

In his life he longed to eat one date, and when he died they hung a cluster of dates on his neck

A bald woman takes pride in her sister-in-law's hair

Anyone who relied on a wedding meal, would sleep without dinner

Anyone who walks on fire gets burnt

Beware of a dripping house and a chattering wife

Dog's tail placed in a press for forty years and still remain curved

Even if you found honey, don't eat it all

Haste is from the devil and patiently you will sell things

Health advices from Maimonides

If a brother would have loved his siblings, they would not weep for their father's death

if it wasn't for eating, man would have grown diamonds

If the camel saw its hump, it would cut its neck off

If the Hakadosh Baruch Hu (Almighty) had not blinded the gentiles, we couldn't have lived with them

If you find honey, eat it and leave a little

Making Aliya and importing garlic to Israel

Many captains drown the ship

Rooster sunk in stool and calls Kukuriku

Selling the monkey and laughing at the buyer

Settlement in Israel

Thanks to the oil all the merchandise is sold

The layabout has the advice

The satiated man does not cry over hunger

Zehava Mezig

Attempted abduction of her sister

Birth

Bsisa

Foods and medicinal herbs

Her future husband's courtship

Matchmaking, wedding and early days of marriage

Rabbis, oaths and celebration customs

Removal of ʿAyin Haraʿ (the evil eye) and life in Zarzis during the German invasion to Tunisia

Song about Zarzis' girls

The Nazi invasion to Zarzis

Zehava's mother and relationship with the Muslims

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