Libya's 'revolutionary Jew' returns to restore Tripoli synagogue

[Turborama]

Source: AP Via The Guardian

David Gerbi has secured permission from new rulers to begin the project and wants to promote tolerance in a new Libya

Associated Press in Tripoli | Monday October 3 2011 11.00 BST

To Libya's rebels he was known as the "revolutionary Jew" – David Gerbi, a 56-year old psychoanalyst returned to his homeland after 44 years in exile to help oust Muammar Gaddafi, and to take on what may be an even more challenging mission.

That job began on Sunday, when he took a sledgehammer to a concrete wall. Behind it, the door to Tripoli's crumbling main synagogue, unused since Gaddafi expelled Libya's small Jewish community early in his decades-long rule.

Gerbi knocked down the wall, said a prayer and cried.

"What Gaddafi tried to do is to eliminate the memory of us. He tried to eliminate the amazing language. He tried to eliminate the religion of the Jewish people," said Gerbi, whose family fled to Italy when he was 12. "I want bring our legacy back, I want to give a chance to the Jewish of Libya to come back."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/libyas-revolutionary-jew-restore-synagogue

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David Gerbi's family fled Tripoli in 1967. Gaddafi expelled the rest of
Libya's 38,000 Jews two years later and confiscated their assets.
Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

[apnu]

1. An atheist here... This guy's willpower and bravery are breathtaking. (nt)

[KeepItReal]

3. A Southern Baptist here and I agree with you.

All I can say is wow.

I hope tolerance will be part of the new Libya.

[DesertFlower]

2. K&R. nt

[iandhr]

4. what a brave man

[COLGATE4]

5. Shema Yisroel