Fradji Sawat

The kabbalist Fradji Shawat (mid-16th c. till early 17th c.) was born in Fes (פאס), Morocco, and later moved to Béja (באג׳ה), Tunisia. Béja’s locals evidently did not at first care much for him but later grew fond of him. Jews who later wrote Tunisian Judeo-Arabic folk-songs about him yearly visited Shawat’s grave in Testour, Tunisia him. Rabbi Shawat’s songs were forgotten for nearly half a millennium.