After the departure of most of them How do Moroccans preserve the Jewish heritage?
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| ?After the departure of most of them .. How do Moroccans preserve the Jewish heritage |
?After the departure of most of them .. How do Moroccans preserve the Jewish heritage
For many, the mention of Judaism in the Middle East makes them evoke a mental image of all kinds of discord and destruction, but the Islamic nation in Morocco is an exception, as this kingdom is no longer a place where Jews only enjoy tolerance, but rather a place that considers them an important part of the history and culture of this part of the world
Even before the arrival of Islam in Morocco, the Jews considered the coastal lands of North Africa their motherland, and for about 400 years, the Moroccan Jewish community established a strong relationship and a great alliance with the ruling dynasty in the country, the Alawite dynasty
After the departure of most of them .. How do Moroccans preserve the Jewish heritage?
After the departure of most of them .. How do Moroccans preserve the Jewish heritage?
Public Broadcasting Service | Translation: I. Al-Saeedi
Saturday 8 August 2015 06:30
For many, the mention of Judaism in the Middle East makes them evoke a mental image of all kinds of discord and destruction, but the Islamic nation in Morocco is an exception, as this kingdom is no longer a place where Jews only enjoy tolerance, but rather a place that considers them an important part of the history and culture of this part of the world
Even before the arrival of Islam in Morocco, the Jews considered the coastal lands of North Africa their motherland, and for about 400 years, the Moroccan Jewish community established a strong relationship and a great alliance with the ruling dynasty in the country, the Alawite dynasty
In the 20th century, persecution across Europe caused new waves of immigration by world Jewry to Morocco, who saw it as a safe haven, and their hope in Morocco was not in vain. In 1940, when the French government issued decrees on anti-Semitism, the Alawite Sultan refused, Mohamed V, those racist laws and expressed his dissatisfaction with them
Today in Morocco, Jews enjoy complete equality with Muslim citizens in all rights and privileges, no evidence of that is the fact that Andre Azoulay, a convert to Judaism from father to grandfather, is one of the top advisors to the country's monarch, King Mohammed VI, and Morocco is a country that funds from Treasury private schools for Jews in addition to the Jewish religious courts
The Jewish courts, called Beiteddine, have jurisdiction over civil cases and separate disputes between the rabbis. Moreover, these houses of religion are the only ones operating this system in the whole world outside Israel, and they are considered an institution officially recognized in the laws of the Kingdom, and described as an alternative legal body, located within the same complex that organizes the courts of Muslims that derive their rulings from Islamic law
Despite the atmosphere of tolerance prevailing with the Jews of Morocco, their number is steadily decreasing. Their freedom from persecution and hostility that they may face in other Islamic countries, and their enjoyment of freedom to a large extent, has not deterred them from leaving the country, since the independence of Morocco, and even in recent years, especially after the series of suicide bombings that Morocco witnessed on May 16, 2003 in the economic capital. To the Queen, Casablanca, where sites frequented by Jews were targeted, and three of them were killed
Moroccan Jews fled to Israel and some European countries and the two continents of the Americas for religious reasons, especially fear of persecution and their attempt to find ways to improve their economic situation, but before that the number of the Jewish population in Morocco in 1940 exceeded 250 thousand citizens, of whom today remained about 4000 in total National territory
The Jewish community left most of its places, which were previously known for being the vibrant places for Jews, such as Tangiers, Fez, Salé, and Tetouan, to become today the city of Casablanca, the city that can be considered the center of Moroccan Jewish life
Today, Casablanca includes 17 active synagogues, three Jewish schools, as well as an extensive Jewish museum, and a community center that cares for the sick and the elderly. But the Jewish neighborhoods, which are termed colloquially in Morocco, the Mallah, in all other Moroccan cities have become empty or, more correctly, deserted
Due to the mass immigration, many Moroccans today are dedicating a lot of their time and effort towards preserving the continuation of the Jewish culture in the country. In the Jewish Museum in Casablanca, for example, which is the only one of its kind in the Arab world, Zuhur Al-Rahehil tries to pass the information it keeps on the history of the Jews in Morocco to all those who visit the place in order to learn about the ancient Jewish culture
Vanessa Paloma, an American researcher who launched a special initiative, called “Khoya”, which is an archive of the Jewish oral cultural heritage, meaning songs, music clips and interviews, and she hopes to collect them to make them available to all Moroccans as a cultural heritage, and says about the initiative that “despite all the defects there are Here, Morocco and what it has available remain amazing, and I do not want this to disappear in the future, and I feel that preserving what exists is our responsibility
For Paloma, preserving what is left of the Jewish cultural heritage in Morocco is the right thing to do. “During the next 20, 30 or 40 years, we do not know if the Jewish community will remain here, indeed I hope so, but I am not sure what will happen,” Paloma says
MOHAMED NAJIB SAAAD
A Moroccan blogger from the outskirts of Ouarzazate, a lover of photography and everything related to informatics...
