Two Jewish worshippers and three Tunisian security guards were shot dead on the evening of May 9 near a historic synagogue on the island of Djerba. Ben Haddad, 46 of Marseilles, France, and his cousin, Aviel Haddad, 30, an Israeli living in Djerba, were attending an annual five-day spiritual gathering of thousands of Jews that concludes on Lag BaOmer. At least 10 others were injured during the attack. The gunman, identified as a member of the Tunisian armed forces, was killed by security forces at the scene.
The terrorist had turned his service weapon on fellow officers before heading to the synagogue, which was immediately locked down with most visitors safely inside the historic El Ghriba synagogue as the attack unfolded.
“There was panic everywhere. People were stuck inside, there were gunshots outside, and no one was told what was going on,” Rabbi Moshe Samama, a young Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi told Chabad.org.
Thousands of people had been filing through the synagogue throughout the day. Samama, from Strasbourg, France, had been in the synagogue an hour earlier with colleagues from Paris, Rabbi Levi Hababou and Rabbi Levi Scholte.
“The people inside the synagogue returned to the hotel after three hours. Many women were still weeping, and the men were shaken,” said Samama. “We have been doing our best to bring comfort to them. It was tragic.”
Among the people who were trapped in the synagogue was attorney Yomtob Kalfon, a former member of Israel’s Knesset. “We heard gunshots from outside the synagogue compound, but we did not know exactly what was happening,” he wrote after the attack. “There are several different versions, but we are all fine, thank G‑d. We prayed arvit (or maariv, the evening service) while we were not allowed to go outside.”
The five-day festival on the North African island celebrates the passing of two great rabbis: Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess, the miracle-working sage who passed away on the 14th day of Iyar; and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, who passed away on Lag BaOmer, the 18th day of Iyar. While thousands of Jews attend the festival, only hundreds at a time can fit into the synagogue, the oldest in North Africa, where they light candles, pray for G‑d’s blessings and exchange sweets.
Longstanding Chabad Presence in Tunisia
The festival attracts visitors from around the world to Tunisia, which today has about 1,500 Jewish residents. The nation has a rich Jewish history, though most of its community of 100,000 emigrated to France, Italy and Israel in the 1950s.
The three young Chabad rabbis were sent to the festival by Rabbi Shmuel Pinson of Chabad of Brussels, Belgium, a son of the late Rabbi Nisson Pinson and Mrs. Rochel Pinson, who continues to direct Chabad-Lubavitch of Tunisia. In 1959, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, dispatched the Pinsons to Tunis to serve the nation’s Jews. Chabad-Lubavitch of Tunisia remains an active presence in the country, with residents and visitors—many of whose families lived in Tunisia for thousands of years—served by Rabbi Binyamin and Massuda Hattab in the capital city of Tunis, about 320 miles north of Djerba.
“Our parents lived here until the establishment of Israel,” said Yair Ifargan, an Israeli who was in the synagogue during the attack. “I walked around here yesterday and was very moved to see the Jewish neighborhood. At sundown, we arrived at the festival that has been held here for years,” he told Yediot Achronot. “The Tunisians grant special visas to many Jews who arrive every year, and in my estimation, somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000, were here this year.”
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