Hundreds of Jewish worshippers flocked to Africa's oldest synagogue in Tunisia on Wednesday, reviving an annual pilgrimage after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reported.
Pilgrims passed through airport-style scanners and passed a heavy, armed police guard to enter the Ghriba synagogue on the southern Tunisian resort island of Djerba.
Inside, they lit candles, prayed and handed each other sweets and nuts. Many took photos and filmed relatives and friends inside the intricately decorated synagogue.
Others sat praying or reading scripture on their own, before leaving with their friends and family.
The pilgrimage marks the Lag Ba’omer festival, which starts 33 days after the start of Passover.
Djerba is home to one of the last Jewish communities in the Arab world, and the synagogue is believed to date to the sixth century BCE.
In the past, thousands would flock to the synagogue for the annual Lag Ba’omer pilgrimage. In 2013, only 1,000 pilgrims visited the synagogue amid security concerns.
In 2018, about 3,000 people took part in the festivities. In 2019, the most recent year in which the pilgrimage took place before this year, hundreds of people attended. Last year the event was held with much reduced numbers and strict sanitary conditions.
The community is still recovering from a suicide bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda at the synagogue in 2002 that killed 21 people.