Obj. ID: 3521
  Sacred and Ritual  Rabbi Sassi Synagogue in Djerba - Prayer Hall

To the main object: Rabbi Sassi Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia

The rectangular synagogue compound comprises a prayer hall and an open terrace. It is situated on the second storey of a dwelling house and is reached through an inner staircase built at the eastern wall (fig. 1).

Interior

The longitude prayer hall is divided into southern and northern aisles by two rectangular columns, which support the wooden ceiling constructed by beams. It was adjusted to its new function after 1905, placing the Torah ark within a niche, at the southern part of the eastern wall, while the reader's desk was placed at the centre of the northern side (see: Remarks: no. 1; main photograph and figs. 1, 2). Wooden benches are around the walls and between the columns.

The reader's desk is a rectangular high table surrounded by a banister on three sides. The banister comprises four rectangular columns in its corners enclosing undulating flat colonnades. A colourful carpet covers the table.

Several windows are set along the prayer hall walls. A door is situated at the north-eastern corner, leading to two small rooms serving as storage and a genizah.

The south wall borders the open-air terrace, reached through a rectangular door up three stairs. The porch functions as a praying yard on hot days and for the Sukkah (booth), during the feast of Tabernacles (fig. 1, 3). The terrace is surrounded by four low walls, to which wooden benches are attached, running along the east and south.

The inner space is painted white with brown furniture, while the terrace is in white with blue openings, as customary in the Djerban synagogues.