Moroccan Jews

Moroccan Jews(Arabic:اليهود المغاربة,romanized:al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba;Hebrew:יהודים מרוקאים,romanized:Yehudim Maroka'im;Ladino:Djudios de Maroko) areJewswho live in or are fromMorocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating toRomantimes. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were later met by a second wave of migrants from theIberian Peninsulain the period which immediately preceded and followed the issuing of the 1492Alhambra Decree, when Jews were expelled fromSpain, and soon afterward, fromPortugal. This second wave of immigrants changedMoroccan Jewry, which largely embraced theAndalusianSephardic liturgy, to switch to a mostly Sephardic identity.
The immigration of Moroccan Jews to theLand of Israelhas occurred throughout the centuries ofJewish history. Moroccan Jews built the first self-made neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem (Mahane Israel) in 1867,as well as the first modern neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias.
At its peak in the 1950s, Morocco's Jewish population was about 250,000-350,000,but due to themigration of Moroccan Jews to Israeland other nations, includingOperation Yachinfrom 1961 to 1964, this number has been reduced to approximately 2,250.The vast majority of Moroccan Jews nowlive in Israel, where they constitute the second-largest Jewish community, approximately half a million.Other communities are found inFrance,Canada,Spain, theUnited StatesandSouth America, mainly inVenezuela,BrazilandArgentina.
The affection and respect between Jews and the Kingdom of Morocco is still palpable. Every year rabbis and community leaders across the world are invited for the Throne Celebration held every 30 July in Rabat. During the celebration in 2014, Rabbi Haim A. Moryoussef of Canada dedicated his book "Le Bon Oeil - Ben Porath Yossef" to the KingMohammed VIand offered him a handwritten blessing on parchment wishing him a healthy, long and successful life.
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community with possible origins dating back to before 70 CE. Concrete evidence of Jewish presence in Morocco becomes apparent inlate antiquity, with Hebrew epitaphs andmenorah-decorated lamps discovered in the Roman city ofVolubilis, and the remains of a synagogue dating to the third century CE.In accordance with the norms of the Islamic legal system, Moroccan Jews had separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities (Muslimsharia, ChristianCanon lawand Jewishhalakhalaw-abiding) were allowed to rule themselves under their own system.
During theLate Middle Ages, and particularly after theexpulsion of Jewsmandated by theAlhambra Decree, manySephardi Jewsmigrated fromal-Andalusto theMaghrebas refugees fleeing the inquisition inSpainandPortugal.They are referred to as theMegorashim,while the Jews already in Morocco are referred to as theToshavim.Many Sephardic Jews settled inFezandMarrakesh.In the following centuries,Conversoswho had been banished to Iberian colonial possessions in the Americas and the Atlantic reclaimed their Judaism and also resettled in Morocco.
In the mid 19th century, Moroccan Jews started migrating from the interior of the country to coastal cities such asEssaouira,Mazagan,Asfi, and laterCasablancafor economic opportunity, participating in trade with Europeans and the development of those cities.TheAlliance Israélite Universelleopened its first school inTetuanin 1862.
After the establishment of theState of Israelin 1948, and due to domestic strife in the 1950s, the next several decades saw waves of Jewish emigration to Israel, France and Canada. Shay Hazkani found that of the 20,000 who  performedaliyahin 1948-1949, 1,000 served in the IDF, of which 70% wished to return home. Only 6% managed to do so, given various bureaucratic obstacles like the Israeli confiscation of their passports and Moroccan resistance to their repatriation.Moroccan Jews emigrated for a variety of reasons. Some have emigrated for religious reasons, some faced persecution, and others left for better economic prospects than they faced inpost-colonial Morocco. With every Arab-Israeli war, tensions between Arabs and Jews would rise, sparking more Jewish emigration. By the time of theYom Kippur Warin 1973, the majority of Morocco's Jewish population had emigrated.
As a protectorate of France, parts of Morocco were heavily influenced by French culture, while the same is true of the portions of the country that belonged to Spain. Traditionally, the Jews were classified as being French-Moroccan or Spanish-Moroccan depending on where in Morocco they lived, and remnants of these classifications can be felt today. These differences are reflected in language, foods, last names and even liturgy.Early photographs of Moroccan Jewish families, taken in the early 20th century by German explorer and photographerHermann Burchardt, are now held at theEthnological Museum of Berlin.
Most Jews in Morocco lived in desolate areas during the late 1930s. This was in part due to increased taxation by the French protectorate. In 1936,Léon Blum, a Jewish man, was appointed as prime minister of France. This gave some Moroccan Jews hope that they may be able to become French citizens at some point, asAlgerian Jewsgained French citizenship with theCrémieux Decree. Algerian Jews were granted right of passage to France, and this only furthered the desire of Moroccan Jews toembrace French cultureto the extent of the Algerian Jews.
During the Moroccan struggle for independence in the 1950s, several promises were made to ensure equal rights to the Jewish community in a future independent Morocco, in part due to lobbying efforts of Moroccan nationalists in the United States.
A small community of around 2,000–2,500 Jews live in Morocco today. However, in a rapidly increasing trend, young men from the community are emigrating to Israel and France.As of 2017, according toThe Economist, "No Arab country has gone to the lengths of Morocco to revive its Jewish heritage."The country has restored 110 synagogues and has theArab world’sonly Jewish museum.More than 50,000 Israelis visit Morocco annually.
The Jewish quarters in Morocco were calledmellahs. Jews in Morocco were considereddhimmisunder Muslim law, meaning that they were a protected religious minority distinct from the Muslim majority, and were prevented from participating in certain activities.However, dhimmis such as Jews were tolerated, following thePact of Umarin the 7th century, unlike the policy of intolerance that  Christians practiced toward Jews in the Europe of that time. The sultans restricted Jews to themellahs,in what most see as an attempt to ostracize them and keep them from being exposed to insurgents;The sultans also, however, wanted Jews to be protected for political reasons, as an attack on minorities was seen as an attack on the Sultan's power. The Sultans thus restricted Jews to themellahsfor their safety, as well as to protect the Sultans' rulings from being tested by insurgents.The wordmellahis similar to the Hebrew word for salt,melach(מלח); it refers to the salty, marshy area to which the Jews of Northern Morocco were originally transferred and where they gathered.Themellahwas not a ghetto and was not structured in a way similar to Jewish quarters in Europe.By the 1900s, most Moroccan cities had amellah.
Moroccan Jewry has developed as a hybrid of the many cultures that have shaped Morocco itself, namely Jewish, Arab, Amazigh, French and Spanish.
Even before the arrival ofSephardi Jewsto Morocco, Moroccan Jews performed and developed the traditions of theAndalusian classical musicand introduced it into theirLiturgical music. In his book "Jews of Andalusia and the Maghreb" on the musical traditions in Jewish societies of North Africa,Haim Zafraniwrites: "In Spain and Morocco, Jews were ardent maintainers of Andalusian music and the zealous guardians of its old traditions ...."
Moroccan Jewish cuisine blends local Moroccan flavors, culinary traditions from Jewish migrants, andkosher dietary laws. The cuisine is closely tied to social and religious events, particularly Shabbat and holiday meals, and includes dishes such ascouscousandtagine.The cuisine reflects influences fromArab,Berber,FrenchandSpanishtraditions, with an emphasis on spices, herbs, and vegetables.
One of the most famous dishes of Moroccan Jewish cuisine is the traditional sabbath meal:skhina(سخينة, a literal translation ofHebrew:חמין"hot"), also calleddfina(دفينة"buried").There's also a kosher version ofpastilla.Special foods are prepared for holidays, like the post-Passover Mimouna celebration, which features sweet delicacies and symbolic treats such as themofletta, a sweet pancake served with butter and honey.Mahia, anaperitivodistilled from dates or figs, is traditionally associated with Morocco's Jewish community.
Traditional Henna parties usually take place within the week before a special occasion, such as a wedding,Bnei Mitzvah, or baby showers. During pre-wedding Henna parties, the Matriarch of the family (often the grandmother) smudgeshennain the palm of the bride and groom to symbolically bestow the new couple with good health, fertility, wisdom, and security. The henna is believed in Moroccan tradition to protect the couple from demons. The grandmother covers the henna, a dough-like paste produced by mixing crushed henna plant leaves with water, in order to lock in body heat and generate a richer color. Normally, the henna will dye skin orange for up to two weeks. In Moroccan folklore, the bride is exempt of her household duties until the henna completely fades. After the bride and groom are blessed with the henna, the guests also spread henna on their palms to bring good luck.
Although most Moroccan Jews tend to dress in styles of their adopted countries, traditional Moroccan clothing is sometimes worn during celebrations (Mimouna, weddings, Bar Mitzvas, etc.) or even during more intimate gatherings, such as Shabbat dinner. Men usually wear a white jellaba (jellabiya) cloak while women wear more ornatekaftans.
Mimounais celebrated by many Moroccan Jews on the night following the last day of Passover. It has spread to be an almost national holiday in Israel where it is particularly prevalent in cities where there is a large concentration of Moroccan Jews like Ashdod, Ashkelon and Natanya.
Many Rabanim have passed through and sojourned in Morocco leaving behind great influence. In 2008, a project to preserve Moroccan Torah and the words of its Ḥakhamim was initiated. DarkeAbotenou.com was created by a few members of the Toronto Sephardic Community; devoting their time and effort to increasing global awareness of the customs and laws that Jews of Morocco live with every day. Daily emails are sent in both English and French containing the customs, laws, and traditional liturgy of both the French and Spanish parts of Morocco. This daily publication is currently broadcast in both English and French.
The observer of a typical Moroccan Jewish prayer service will note the presence of Oriental motifs in the melodies. However, unlike the tunes of Eastern rites (Syrian, Iraqi, etc.), which were influenced by Middle Eastern sounds, Moroccan Jewish religious tunes have a uniquely Andalusian feel. Furthermore, just as Eastern liturgical melodies are organized into Maqams, Moroccan liturgy can be classified by Noubas. The Moroccan prayer rite itself is also unique among Sephardic customs. The Moroccannusachhas many unique components but has also incorporated numerous Ashkenazic customs due to the country's proximity and exposure to Europe. Some customs of the Moroccan nusach include:
Moroccan Jews have held important positions in theMakhzenthroughouttheir history.André Azoulaycurrently serves as an advisor toMuhammad VI of Morocco.
In the 20th century, there were a number of prominent Moroccan Jewish Communists includingLéon Sultan,Elie Azagury,Abraham Serfaty, andSion Assidon.In the words of Emily Gottreich, "although the [Moroccan Communist Party] welcomed everyone, it held special appeal for urban educated elite; almost all of Morocco’s prominent Jewish intellectuals joined the party at one time or another."
In 1959,Moroccan Jewsstarted ariotinWadi Salib, a neighborhood inHaifathat wasdepopulatedof its Arab inhabitants in 1948 and populated primarily by immigrants from Morocco, against the conditionsMizrahi Jewsfaced in Israel.It led to the first of a series of violent demonstrations against the government, theLabor Partyand theHistadrutaround the country.Shay Hazkani sees the struggle of Moroccan Jews against Ashkenaziracismin Israel that led to the riots as an extension of their political radicalization in theanti-colonial strugglethey had been engaged in against France in Morocco.
All ten of the founding members of theIsraeli Black Panthers—a short-lived 1970-1971 protest movement that worked against "ethnic discrimination and the 'socioeconomic gap,'" a group inspired byanti-Zionistuniversity students—were children of Moroccan immigrants.
Mordechai Vanunu, a whistleblower who revealed information on Israel'snuclear weapons programand was later abducted byMossadin Rome and incarcerated in Israel, was born inMarrakesh.
In Israel, many Moroccan Jews have risen to prominence in politics such asAmir Peretz,Orly Levy,Arye Deri,Miri RegevandNaama Lazimi.
Over the years, the Moroccan Jews'DNAwas examined and studied by numerous studies, the general image of it showed that in terms ofY-DNAit was mainly from the sameLevantinesource as the vast majority of the world's Jewry, meaning that they too are descendants of the AncientIsraelitesfrom theBiblical times. In the case ofAshkenaziandSephardi Jews(in particular Moroccan Jews), who are apparently closely related, the minority non-Levantine component of their DNA issouthern European.
Genetic research shows that about 27% of Moroccan Jews descend from one female ancestor.Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of the Jewish populations of North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya) was the subject of further detailed study in 2008 by Doron Behar et al.The analysis concludes that Jews from this region do not share thehaplogroupsof the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (M1 and U6) that are typical of the North African Berber and Arab populations.
Behar et al. conclude that it is unlikely that North African Jews have significant Arab, or Berber admixture, "consistent with social restrictions imposed by religious restrictions," orendogamy. This study also found genetic similarities between the Ashkenazi and North African Jews of European mitochondrial DNA pools, but differences between both of these of the diaspora and Jews from the Middle East.
In a 2012 study by Campbell et al., however, the Moroccan/Algerian, Djerban/Tunisian and Libyan subgroups of North African Jewry were found to demonstrate varying levels of Middle Eastern (40-42%), European (37-39%) and North African ancestry (20-21%),with Moroccan and Algerian Jews tending to be genetically closer to each other than to Djerban Jews and Libyan Jews.According to the study:
Jewish life in Morocco in the mid-20th century and the emigration of a rural Jewish village were depicted in the documentaryEdge of The Westby Arnan Zafrir.