History of the Jews in Kairouan

The Tunisian city of Kairouan (Hebrew: קירואן‎‎, Arabic: قيروان‎‎  Qirwān), also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan was a world center of Talmudic and Halakhic scholarship for at least three generations.

The first Jews arrived in Kairouan with its founders from the Cyrenaica region of what is today Libya, and a second wave of Jewish settlers arrived at the end of the 7th century. The community's golden era began in the late 8th century and lasted until the early 11th century, i.e. from the reign of the Aghlabids to the reign of the Hafsids. The city housed a synagogue, yeshiva, a cemetery ("Jabanet Lihoud"), a community charity and other institutions. Jews in the city were in contact with the Babylonian academies of Pumbedita and Sura, and with Jewish communities in western Spain.

In 880, Eldad ha-Dani visited the city and the local community to describe his travels. He enthralled the audience with his fluency in Hebrew, and brought with him a collection of laws he claimed were practiced among the ten lost tribes. These laws puzzled the Kairouan Jews, and so they sent an enquiry to Rabbi Tzemach Ben Haim of the Sura Academy, who attempted to explain them and reconcile them with halacha. Other rabbis, including Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and members of the Tosafists were not similarly sympathetic.

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