Jewish Sheikhs in Tunisia 1881-1957<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Highly trusted, the Ca\u00efds of Israelites in Tunisia had always been the beys\u2019 chief treasurers or tax collectors. But the 13 July 1888 decree (under French Protectorate) ended the secular function of the Ca\u00efd of Israelites and grouped the Jewish community under a Charity Committee (Fr. Comit\u00e9 de Bienfaisance<\/i>) run by the Grand Rabbi of Tunisia. The previous civil function of the Sheikhs or Ca\u00efds of Isrealites (providing birth certificates, reporting about the citizens, collecting tax, etc.) was relegated to a local Sheikh or Muharrak chosen and monitored by the provincial governor (or Ca\u00efd). The existence of \u201cethnic\u201d Sheikhdoms in Tunis and Djerba, and the form of decentralization the 1888 decree brought, drove the Jews, in various parts of the country, to seek the appointment of Israelite Sheikhs to serve them. A coreligionist Sheikh in their \u2018hara\u2019 or district would serve them well and spare them the trouble to travel to Tunis to plead a case or seek support. The idea did not displease the Beys as it provided for more well-backed regional Sheikhs or \u201cCa\u00efds of Israelites\u201d or tax agents who could monitor their coreligionists in the best way possible. <\/p>\n
Irrespective of their administrative status (official, semi-offical, or unofficial) or appellation (Ca\u00efd, Sheikh, Kebir, Bash-Muharrak, Muharrak, or Tax-Collector), of the 57 Jewish Sheikhs having been chosen by the Jewish notables to serve their coreligionists 21 resigned when they realized that the pressure on them or on their coreligionists was about to go beyond a certain level of dignity, 20 were dismissed for \u2018insolence\u2019 often when their resignations were refused, 5 died in office (ranging from a few months after one\u2019s appointment to 37 years in office), and 11 were relieved of their function and conferred the title of Honorary Sheikh<\/i> when ethnic Sheikhdoms were abolished in Aug. 1957.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jewish Sheikhs in Tunisia 1881-1957 Highly trusted, the Ca\u00efds of Israelites in Tunisia had always been the beys\u2019 chief treasurers or tax collectors. But the 13 July 1888 decree (under French Protectorate) ended the secular function of the Ca\u00efd of Israelites and grouped the Jewish community under a Charity Committee (Fr. Comit\u00e9 de Bienfaisance)… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n