ABSTRACT
The Jerban Jews emerge as an ethnic group among the other communities of the island, each having at its disposal for internal and external use an entire array of signs, gestures and words which fashion their identity. Until the Pacte Fondamental of 1857 which granted them a legal status equal to that of Tunisian Muslims, Jewish males could wear only a dark-colored chechia. Jewish women wearing the indigenous costume are recognizable by two distinctive features, the headcovering and the outer garment. For school-age boys, the indigenous costume has now entirely fallen into disuse, and there remains only one mark of identity, their headcovering. Currently, the Jews draw upon yet another onomastic repertory derived from Modern Hebrew and imported from Israel. On the basis of the common Tunisian model, the Jerban Jews created an original variant, a specifically Jewish architecture and decor which simultaneously satisfies their ritual needs and the autarchic familial ideal they cultivate.
