Ghost Town of Algeria, Plight of Jews Described in JDC °Field. Trip Report
.
For the Jews. still there; Algeria
has become a country of ghost
,towns, empty and haunted by mem-
vories, it was reported by. William
Shapiro, representative of the Joini
Distribution Committee in Algeria,
after a recent field trip deep into
the desert country east and south
of Algiers.. His mission was to find
out how many Jews were left in
the small towns and if any of them
needed help from JDC.
With the exodus of over 100,000
Jews in the summer. of 1962, most
of the local community organiza-
tions collapse d. JDC instituted
emergency welfare programs in the
larger . cities, caring for several
hundred sick, elderly and handi-
capped people who were left
stranded by the exodus and by the
breakdown of community services.
JDC receives its funds chiefly from
the campaigns of the United Jew-
ish Appeal. .
By the beginning of this year it
was estimated that between 3,500
and 4,000 Jews remained in all of
Algeria. Three-fourths ofthem were
believed to be in Algiers and Oran.
Figures gathered from Nstribution
of Passover supplies indicated that
there were some 2,000 Jews in
Algiers and about 1,000 in rOran.
However, nobody knew what the
situation was in the hinterland.
Traveling south and east, cover-
ing an area of some 6,000 square
miles, Shapiro found fewer than
500 Jews. Of these, over half were
living in Constantine and Bone; the
rest were scattered through 19
towns. The same is true of western
Algeria where two rabbis, who took
an independent census, found some
700 Jews living in 30 towns.
Why have they stayed on? Ac-
cording to'Shapiro, some are still
trying to liquidate their assets,
some have adjusted to the neW
conditions and hope to make a
go of it, and then there are the
old, the sick and , the handicapped.
who are either unable or unwill-
ing to leave.
Shapiro told of a couple he met
on his way to the desert, the only
Jews living in the community. They
owned a large store which con-
tinued to prosper. The man and his
wife were on excellent terms with
their Moslem neighbors. Neverthe-
less, they were preparing to leave.
"We are lonely," the man said.
AT YOUR MARKET
"Why should I sit here making
money? I can't spend it. I can't
take it out of the country. I want
to pass the rest of my days in
peace, so we are going to Lyons
to be with our son."
Some have even prospered, their
business improved by the departure
of competitors. Still, in a country
in the process of socialization their
economic future is uncertain. Goods
are in short supply, prices are high,
and there is much unemployment.
There are few Jewish children
in Algeria today; there , are no
bar mitzvahs, Shapiro said. The
marriage of a Jewish couple in
Oran in February was the first in
a year. he added. Their isolation
has made them more Jewish.
There is a closer solidarity with '
the others who have stay ed.
Shapiro noted that in Algiers
they turn out in amazing num-
bers at parties celebrating Purim
and Fjanukah -and other events.
This feeling has led to the recon-
stitution, on a limited basis, of
the old Federation of Algerian
Jewish Communities. One of its
aims is to acquire legal posession
of abandoned community assets
and administer them for the
benefit of .the remaining Jewish
population.
Outside of Algiers and Oran
there are fewer than half a dozen
towns and cities which have a suf-
ficient number of Jews to warrant
reorganization of the community
structure. Most of the communities
haVe been using their reserves and
these are at the point of exhaus-
tion, since, in the past, their in-
come depended mainly' on such
things as taxes on kosher meat and
fees for religious services.
The government itself has been
not, only tolerant but helpful in
encouraging religious activities.
The Ministry of Religious Affaiis,
has been paying monthly: grants to
religious functionaries, including'
rabbis. In addition, the French con-
sulate has continued to assist needy
French Europeans, and this in-:
eludes Jewish relief clients.
Shapiro uncovered relatively few
new instances of people in need
of assistance. However, with local
resources drying up, he predicted
a rise in the welfare caseload and
Unlimited Supply of Light
By I. 'Friendlander
Scientists tell us that coal • is
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. . . The story of the Russian Jew
.
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is the story of coal. Under a sur-
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suply of light and heat for our
minds and hearts. All we need
is to discover the process, long
known in the case of coal, of trans-
forming latent strength into living
power.
Pearls of. Yiddish Tears
By I. L. Peretz
Yiddish, the language which will
the emergence of a hard core wel-
fare problem for JDC in Algeria ever bear witness to the violence
acid murder inflicted on us, bear
for an indefinite time.
the marks of our eiplusions from
With the help of the French land to land, the language which ,
Jewish community several hundred absorbed the wails of the fathers,
needy Algerian Jews were resettled the laments of the generations, the
in France either in old age homes poison and bitterness of - history,
or were reunited with their fam- the language whose precious jew-
ilies. There still remain over 300 els , are the undried, uncongealed
Jews in Algefia who are dependent Jewish tears.
on JDC for assistance. Most of
them, 60 per cent, are 65 years of THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 4, 1964 27
age or older. _
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