What are the remaining Moroccan Jews?

WORLD NEWS

11 May, 2018

?What are the remaining Moroccan Jews

Most Moroccan Jews live in major cities, such as Casablanca, Rabat and Fez

?What are the remaining Moroccan Jews

Special for "Free Site" - Ibrahim Mittar

In the absence of official figures, it is difficult to talk about the number of Moroccan Jews who preferred to settle in Morocco to emigrate to Europe or the United States or to Israel, where there are more than one million Moroccan Jews, according to the Federation of Moroccan Jews in Washington

However, it is enough to take a small tour of the old city of Fez or visit a Casablanca market to see dozens of Moroccan Jews, and according to associations active in the protection of the Jewish heritage of Morocco, more than 3000 people in Casablanca alone.

In the southern city of Agadir, for example, there are a community of 60 people who continue to perform their religious rituals and walk in the streets of the city with their "Talit" groups and exchange greetings with those who meet on their way to Moroccan or Amazigh language.

Why did they prefer the stability of Morocco to emigrate?

The family of Herve Levy, a member of the Jewish community, did not think of leaving the city of Agadir, where he ran the projects of his father, who was a parliamentarian. He stressed in a statement to the site "free" that the history of the Jewish Amazigh extends in Morocco for more than 2500 years.

"In Morocco there are dozens of religious shrines that are an annual pilgrimage that Jewish Moroccans are keen to visit from all the Bekaa, where our grandparents and our righteous parents are buried," said Hervey, who works in the tourism sector.

Not far from Agadir, and in the city of Taroudant, there is a religious shrine that receives thousands of Jews from Israel and Europe every year. They gather there to revive the "Hillel David ben Baruch", a religious ritual in which Moroccan Jews are keen to be blessed with the "good guardian" Relationship with their relatives and their country of origin. "

The season of Taroudant or other seasons in central and northern Morocco, attended by a representative of King Mohammed VI, brings visitors to the protection of King Mohammed V and their rejection of the request of the pro-German Vichy government they wanted to deport in the midst of World War II.

Moroccan Jews consider these gatherings to be a link between those who favored stability in Morocco and those who had been deported to Israel or European countries since the 1960s.

"Here we live in coexistence and brotherhood and we do not feel any discrimination. We live in full mutual respect with our Moroccan Muslim brothers," Hervey adds to the Al Hurra website.

How many Moroccan Jews remain?

There have been numerous governmental initiatives in Morocco aimed at rehabilitating the Jewish component, including projects by King Mohammed VI, such as restoration of Jewish churches, such as the "Fasin prayer" in 2013, and active associations in the same field.

"Through our field initiatives, we believe that there are now about 4,000 people, most of them settling in big cities," says Aziza Dalil, vice president of the Mimouna Association, to Al Hurra.

** only in Morocco **

Abdelilah, A Moroccan Muslim from the city of Oujda, baked homemade matzah for his Jewish Friend Ariel who was having difficulty finding matzah on local store shelves.

These stories warm the cockles of the heart, and remind us of the idyllic relationship which connected Jews and Muslims in Morocco.

** Seulement au Maroc **

Abdelilah, Un Marocain Musulman de la ville d'Oujda, a préparé du pain matza maison pour son amie juive Ariel qui avait du mal a touver du pain Matza dans les grandes surfaces de la ville.

Ces histoires réchauffent le coeur, et nous rappelle la relation idyllique qui a connecté les Juifs et les Musulmans au Maroc.

** Only in Morocco **

Abdel Ilah, a young Moroccan Muslim from Oujda, is preparing Jewish bread for his Jewish friend Ariel, who has not been able to obtain it in the city's commercial centers.

These stories are heartwarming and remind us of the strong and good relationship that brought together Jews and Muslims in the land of Morocco.

"We are organizing a series of meetings and celebrations of religious events aimed at reviving the common memory of Moroccans," she said. "For example, we organize a Ramadan breakfast where Moroccans meet with different religions about the same Table ".

"Muslims celebrate Mimouna, a ritual deeply rooted in Moroccan Jewish culture," she said.

See the auspicious celebrations of 2016

the auspicious celebrations of 2016

The Mimouna Society, a non-governmental organization established in 2007, organized an international symposium on the Holocaust in 2011, which the New York Times described as "the first of its kind in the Arab world."

She explained that the political stability in Morocco is one of the factors that make Jews settle in it.

"Today Morocco enjoys a high level of security compared to the countries of the region, Jews live in safety alongside Muslims, they trade with each other and return to each other on holidays and occasions.

The head of the Federation of Moroccan Jews in Washington Charles Dahan, for his part, said that many Moroccan Jews now want to return to stability in Morocco.

Charles Dahan

"Most of the Jews who are currently settled in Morocco are older, and many of the settled Jews outside the country are thinking of returning to it, most of them from the new generation, who have grown up outside Morocco, wanting to go back to their country and the homeland of their ancestors."

"Morocco is the best country in the Arab world, it is the country of political and economic stability," he said.

Another initiative is to restore the original names to the Jewish quarter of Marrakesh. Dahan says: "Imagine with me that a Moroccan returns to this city and finds that the neighborhood where he grew up bearing his family name will inevitably have an impact. eloquent".

Pictures of the Jewish Quarter of Marrakesh: