Tripoli – For Libyan rebel David Gerbi, thought to be the only Jew in the war-torn country, the last fortnight has been like a journey in a time machine.
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Dr Gerbi is talking to rebel leaders about restoring Jewish sites and rights. “What Gaddafi tried to eliminate, a Jewish culture, memories and history here, they want to restore,” he said in an interview from a compound in the Nafusa Mountains.
Dr Gerbi has become a respected adviser to rebel leaders. He has been with them for two weeks and, because he is kashrut-observant, living on a diet of fruit, tinned tuna and milk. He expects to remain in Libya until Rosh Hashanah.
Despite some fears in Libya and the West regarding the presence of Islamists among the rebels, Dr Gerbi has faith that the revolution will result in a tolerant Libya, where different faiths live together peacefully.
Dr Gerbi joined the rebels out of a belief that Jewish and non-Jewish Libyans are united as victims of Gaddafi, and therefore Jews should play a part in effecting a change. “This is an historical conflict in which cruel, unfair things happened to Jewish people and other Libyans,” he said.
His pursuit of the country’s Jewish past has taken him to shuls – mostly found “disgusting and full of garbage” – including in Tripoli, Jadu, and Libya’s oldest in Yafran. In Jadu, he visited a Jewish cemetery that is in disarray. Rebel leaders said that they will restore it and hold a rededication with a minyan of Jewish exiles in three months.
Dr Gerbi’s hope is that with the restoration of Jewish rights – and eventually Jewish property – and well as improvement to the status of other minorities in Libya, it will go from rogue state to a “model for establishing coexistence in the region”.
as the expression goes- someone has been smoking some bad stuff-
maybe they will open a branch of a yeshiva also ?
I say good luck to him. But the history of the people in that region is not like he envisions.
Poor fello what a noble idea!!
Look the the history of every arab country that threw out the Jews!! Look at what happened after!!
Our only obligation is to make certain that the cemetaries are well preserved and with respect. Anything else is a waste of money that can be used for more important causes.
A dreamer. But likely a decent man.