“On arrival in Israel,” Deri says, “the communities were dispersed. There was an intentional policy of dispersion. The rabbi lost his authority, the community disintegrated, and the synagogue was very much weakened. But worst of all is what happened to the father. The father figure was broken. Here he could not provide for his family as he had in Morocco or Iraq. Here he didn’t have the authority he had in Tunisia or Libya. He lost his bearings. He was depressed. He ceased to be relevant.
