Obj. ID: 942
  Architecture  Rabbi Eliezer Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia

Isolated and fringed by its own small cemetery, the Rabbi Eliezer Synagogue (Slat Eliezer) is one of the most beautiful synagogues in Hara Kebira. Its origins, much like the identity of its namesake, Eliezer (or Eizer), remain a mystery, including whether he was actually a rabbi.

Despite unfounded claims of a much older history, its current structural features (specifically the use of T-beams) confirm that the building was constructed, or at least significantly reconstructed, during the French colonial period in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Exterior

The free-standing building is relatively small, measuring only about a dozen meters per side. The modest scale, especially when compared to larger synagogues like Rabbi Shalom Synagogue, gives the space a distinct sense of intimacy. The layout of Rabbi Eliezer Synagogue is defined by a contrast between the white stone peristyle and the blue wood main prayer hall.

The synagogue compound includes its own small, private cemetery.

Interior

Inside, the synagogue is known for its beautiful overall volume. Before entering the main prayer hall, visitors pass through a peristyle with twisted marble columns, which was recently reconstructed (probably 2007). There are a wooden heikhal and a wooden movable tevah in the peristyle. Benches are attached to the walls decorated by ceramic tiles.

The main prayer hall is attached to the eastern side of the peristyle. It is a square space surrounded by an arcade painted blue and white. The central part of the ceiling is raised as a skylight: four wooden octagonal pillars with scarlet decorations in their upper parts support two huge beams on which the boards are lying. The ceiling is painted as nine bays: each one contains a circle featuring blue, dark green and ochre geometric and floral motifs. Twelve large windows pierce the walls of the central part, three on each side. 

The heichal is situated along the eastern wall and consists of three wooden closets. On two columns in front of the central closet, there are dedicatory inscriptions by Shalom Mamou, which point to past repairs (Bismuth-Jarrassé and Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie, p. 161).

The tevah in the heart of the interior is a wooden platform with a balustrade nestled between the four pillars. The tevah is entered on the western side through a wooden ogee arch. It is echoed by four larger ogge arches attached to the pillars; each one is crowned by a hamsa.

Walls are decorated by color tiles. Glass lamps hang from the ceiling.

The seats are arranged along the walls, as built-in benches. Wooden two-sided benches stand between the columns.

Nowadays

In recent years, the synagogue has undergone a major renovation. Since 2007, the prayer hall’s walls, floors, and skylight have been restored. However, this has brought significant preservation concerns. The original, irregularly shaped handmade ceramic tiles were removed and placed in renovated wooden frames with faux stucco moldings. Critics note that replacing these historical, artisan-crafted elements with modern, industrial replicas damages the building's unique charm (Bismuth-Jarrassé and Jarrassé, Synagogues de Tunisie, p. 161). 

Description made by Ariella Amar in 2011:

The synagogue complex comprises a prayer hall, two courtyards and a learning room all set in an L-shape structure.

A broad rectangular yard reached from the alley through an arched entrance is preceding a small room built at the northern wall and used for learning and for genizah (see: main photograph).

The compartment leads to an inner courtyard built to the north, which borders the prayer hall to the east. The patio is delineated at the south and north by arcades of horseshoe arches. An additional wooden roof supported by four octagonal columns was added along the arcades surrounding the open-air space, widening the peristyle and used for building a booth (sukkah). Benches are built around the walls.

The entire yard is painted blue and white; the columns are in blue while the capitals and arches are white. The colours of the octagonal poles match the entire setting; the lower part is blue, the upper part is white.   

A rectangular entrance door leading to the prayer hall is on the east side. It is flanked by two windows and marked by a white façade with a graded architrave. 

Exterior:

The prayer hall, located on the eastern side of the compound, is adjacent to the open-air peristyle. It is a rectangular basilica of a single storey with a central second clearstorey (see: main photograph).

Interior:

The basilica comprises a rectangular space surrounded by colonnades of round columns carrying horse-shoe arches. The columns support a square clearstorey raised above the central space, occupied by the large reader's desk, thus creating a centralised liturgical space.

Three Torah arks are located along the eastern wall. The central ark forms an east-west axis with the teivah and the main entrance. The sittings are on benches, built along the walls and around the corridors.  

Four octagonal columns with two wooden beams are a later addition. They support the wooden ceiling and are delineating the central teivah. Pointed arches adorned with a hamsa are stretched between the columns. 

The clearstorey provides light through twelve rectangular windows, three on each side. Each window is representing one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, but unlike all other synagogues in the island, they are not marked with the names of the tribes (based on the Book of Zohar, part 2, 251:1).  

The entire building is painted blue and white. The walls are paved with colourful ceramic tiles with assorted geometrical patterns. The ceiling is decorated with nine square panels in blue, brown, red and yellow. The central square encloses a central medallion surrounded by four additional circles, one on each corner. While the side squares are painted with radiating medallions. The central panel is abundantly decorated and includes four triangles which frame the central medallion (see: Remarks: no. 1).  

Suggested Reconstruction

The traveler Benjamin the Second, who visited the island in 1853, reports that a flood, which occurred in October of that year, destroyed three-thirds of the island. This flood caused severe damage to the roofs of private dwellings and synagogues (Benjamin, Sefer Masaei, p. 109; Slouschz, Ha-i Pely, p. 157). It is possible that among the several ceilings which had collapsed was the ceiling of the Rabbi Eliezer prayer hall. The synagogue was renovated and the 

wooden ceiling was replaced by a new one, adding at first two columns in order to support and fortify the ceiling. A later renovation, which probably occurred in the first half of the 20th century following a fire in the synagogue, included the replacement of the two poles with four octagonal pillars, similar to those in R. Ezkiah Synagogue (Pinkerfeld, "Batei HaKneset," p. 65).  At this stage the ceiling was painted with medallions, possibly after a new fashion in the island (see: Remarks: no. 1).

At the same time, octagonal pillars were added in the courtyard, supporting a roof rack, which surrounds the patio (see: Eliezer Synagogue Compound).