ALGERIA · 36.8°N 3.1°E · CITY
Algiers
Refuge of the 14th-century Spanish exiles (Rivash, Rashbatz) and pivot of the 1870 Cremieux Decree granting French citizenship; the 1961-62 near-total exodus to France and Israel ended the community.
Modern locality anchor
Algiers
Algeria · City · 36.8°N 3.1°E
This anchor orients the sourced locality record. It is not a reconstructed historical position or border; the single map below provides geographic context.
View locationTHE COMMUNITY TIMELINE · EVERY NODE DATED
What happened to the Jewish community of Algiers?
14th-c. refuge from Spain (Rivash; Rashbatz)
French Algeria; 1870 Cremieux Decree (rescinded by Vichy 1940, restored 1943)
1961-62 near-total exodus to France/Israel
Today
No organized community; memory lives in the French Algerian-Jewish diaspora (Jacques Derrida was born near Algiers).
LANGUAGES & COMMUNITY
What did Algiers sound like?
Judeo-Arabic is a language with its own grammar, literature, and history — not “broken” anything, and not a dialect of Hebrew.
AFTER · IN FULL COLOR
What survives today?
In Algiers
No organized community; memory lives in the French Algerian-Jewish diaspora (Jacques Derrida was born near Algiers).
Former Great Synagogue building
former synagogue · public landmark
Built 1865; later converted to a mosque - documented fact, described neutrally.
Casbah quarter
historic quarter · public landmark
In Israel & the diaspora
The community's story continued elsewhere — these places carry it now.
KEEP GOING
Related places & stories
SOURCES & REVIEW
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (place entry)
Macmillan Reference USA · 2007
Algeria - Virtual Jewish History Tour
Jewish Virtual Library · open source
Reading about Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)? Baba can help you understand the languages in context →