Beit El Synagogue for the Immigrants from Libya

The story

The synagogue “Beit El for the Immigrants from Libya” stands at 2 Ha-Kaf-Gimel Street, in Neighborhood Gimel of Beersheba, and is listed in the register of synagogues of the city's Religious Council. Libyan Jewry, known in Israel as Tripolitans or Tarablus Jews, is a community of ancient days: historical evidence points to its establishment in Cyrenaica already in the Hellenistic period, and the community had a close connection with the Land of Israel, with Jerusalem and with the Temple. In the year 115 CE the Jews of Cyrenaica began the “Diaspora Revolt”, which spread to further places in the Roman Empire, and the revolt and its suppression were especially cruel. In the sixteenth century, with the arrival of those expelled from Spain, an economic and spiritual flowering came upon the community; among the newcomers Rabbi Shimon Lavi stood out, a kabbalist and physician, author of the hymn “Bar Yohai”. Between 1911 and 1943 Italy ruled Libya, and in the period of British rule and after it the Jews suffered from riots; the most notable of them took place in Tripoli in 1945 and in 1948. On the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel the community numbered about thirty-eight thousand people, and its center was in Tripoli. After 1948 most of the Jews immigrated to Israel, and in 1969 the last of its members left Libya. The gabbai listed in the register of the Religious Council is Avraham Ifergan.

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