Morocco’s Jewish past, as well as the coexistence of Jews with Berbers and Arabs, are important considerations in why the country is safe for Jewish travelers today. As a Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage, it is important to mention that Morocco is a Muslim, Jewish, and Christian country. Jews originally came to Morocco before Christianity, joining the Phoenicians on their commercial voyages along the Moroccan coast.
For over two thousand years, Moroccan Jews were so cordial with the other Moroccan citizens that Jewish and Berber tribes worked side by side in the countryside, speaking the Berber dialect. Jewish traders and merchants were appreciated by successive Moroccan kings who safeguarded them in various towns and cities.
In this Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage, we’ll take you down memory lane to uncover the truth about Jews as pillar stones in Morocco. Morocco had 260,000 Jews in 1948, making it the Arab-Muslim country with the greatest Jewish community.
Yet, in only a couple of decades, these statistics would be completely shattered as a result of a catastrophic human, cultural, and theological hemorrhaging that stripped Morocco of its Jewish character and, as a result, of the ability to be an extraordinarily significant melting pot of cultures.
In fact, throughout thousands of years, the existence of Jews in Morocco has been tied to historical events in the Mediterranean area. Archaeological discoveries in Volubilis, near Fes, have proven the presence of numerous Amazigh tribes of the Jewish faith dating back two thousand years (2nd Century BCE). While the Moroccan Jewish community was nearing its end, the upheaval occurred over a few years and may be traced to the following historical events:
- The colonization by the French and Spanish,
- The establishment of the State of Israel (1948),
- The ensuing conflicts between Israel and Arab nations.
An Ultimate Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage: Moroccan Cities
Morocco is sometimes described as a sacred land for Jews, and this is accurate when one considers the large proportion of Jewish sites of worship; synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and sanctuaries scattered across the nation – from Tangiers in the far north to Tafilalt in the desert, from Oujda in the east to Mogador on the Atlantic Ocean’s coastlines. Until around 50 years ago, several areas in the Atlas Mountains’ center had a Jewish predominance.
Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage: Essaouira
A yearly pilgrimage to the gravesite of the great Rabbi Cham Pinto takes place in Essaouira. His home and synagogue have been maintained as historical and religious landmarks. It is located in Mellah. Every year in September, thousands of faithful Jews from throughout the world visit the Hiloula of Cham Pinto.
The Mellah of Essaouira comprises more than 10% of the town, while Jews made up about 40% of the inhabitants in the late 1880s. Jewish stars on the Mellah doors demonstrate the extent to which Jews were welcomed in Essaouira, to the point that many of the wealthier Jews did not even dwell in the Mellah. The locations of synagogues are marked with commemorative plaques.
The Jewish community provided an essential link between Morocco and the rest of the world, not only in regard to commerce but also in art and culture. For instance, André Elbaz, a painter, is one of several who resides in France yet returns to his birthplace of Essaouira to show at the Contemporary Art Centre of Essaouira.
Essaouira was formerly an example of a tiny town where Muslims and Jews coexisted together in both affluent and impoverished neighborhoods, working alongside but socially divided. Moreover, with over a dozen synagogues, a Talmud school, as well as other structures remain physical reminders of Essaouira’s centuries-long Jewish presence to this day.
The emergence of Essaouira as a commercial port in the nineteenth century, owing to the cotton trade and connections with larger ports like those of England, saw the Jewish population participating in export-import commerce in Essaouira reach a peak. It was distinct in that there were nearly as many Jews as Muslims, therefore the label “minority” was not utilized as it did in every other city and town in Morocco and throughout the Arab world.
Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage: Marrakech
Marrakech’s Jewish population was estimated to be 70,000 at the start of the Middle Ages. It had dropped to 35,000 by the end of the 18th century and had continued to fall dramatically over time. Before WWII, there were 15,000 Jews in Marrakech, which has since decreased to less than 75 in 2020, with just 10 residing in the Jewish district. The rest of Marrakech’s Jewish population lives in the French town of Gueliz.
Marrakech’s Jewish legacy extends back over 2,000 years. The Mellah was teeming with life for many centuries. The Jewish Quarter has long been a tourist appeal, with a busy spice souk (market) and the hammering sound of silversmiths, but a journey through the convoluted lanes evokes ghosts of the recent times. The keen observer will notice carved Stars of David and streets renamed in Hebrew.
The Ibn Lazama Synagogue, a 16th Century Jewish monument and essential witness to Moroccan Jewish culture, will be the first stop on your tour through Marrakech’s Jewish heritage. The construction of the synagogues is in the classic riad form, with a central atrium.
This is the primary operational synagogue in the Jewish Mellah of Marrakech and was established in 1492, precisely one year after Jews left Spain during the Inquisition. If the walls of the Lazama Synagogue could talk, they would tell stories of legendary Rabbis and the way the Jewish community of Marrakech once approached its bema for Torah study and dialogue during Shabbat prayer.
The Jewish cemetery Museum and Miara Jewish cemetery, which trace back to the sixteenth century, are next on the list of historic sites. Miara is Marrakech’s lone Jewish cemetery. It was founded in 1537, earlier to the Jewish district, and features vast walls surrounded by white-washed graves. The Miara cemetery is historically significant to Morocco’s Jewish population since several Tsadikkims are buried there.
Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage: Fes
Fes was home to Morocco’s first segregated Jewish enclave (est. 1438), subsequently known as the Mellah. Second, several of Fes’ most famous Muslim families have Jewish ancestors. Family names like Ben-Choukroun or Ben-Soussan, which are shared by Muslims and Jews, are thought to reflect a Jewish origin.
Ben-read as a Hebrew term meaning “son of,” and as contrasted to the Arabic equivalent, Ibn-is widely accepted as evidence of Jewish lineage by both Muslims and Jews. Moroccans may use instances of wholesale conversions of Fasi Jews under the control of medieval Moroccan dynasties to contextualize this idea.
Despite the lack of active synagogues in the Mellah, some are being repaired with UNESCO money, and one near the cemetery has been transformed into a museum of Jewish antiques and memorabilia. With its small pathways, public fountains, and retail kiosks, Fasis recognizes the Mellah as distinctly Moroccan in character. At the same time, they point out its distinctively Jewish characteristics.
As per some of the Fasis, there is a distinct Jewish architectural that may be seen in the Mellah. The main road is flanked with towering structures with ornately carved and ornamented façade. The windows, which are covered with well made metal grates, are noticeably long and narrow. The balconies that protrude out over the streets below can be found nowhere else in the ancient city.
The Jewish heritage of Fes and Fasis is not limited to the confines of the Mellah. Remnants of Jewishness may be seen in the heart of Fes’ ancient city to the northeast and in the colonial era new city (la ville nouvelle) to the southwest.
The name of one of the quarters in the ancient city, “funduq l-yihud” (roughly “hostel/warehouse of the Jews”), implies to certain Fasis a history of Jewish settlement in medieval times. A local Muslim man’s observation of an eight-pointed star engraved in relief over a door in “funduq l-yihud” exemplified this inclination to read Jews into the history of the ancient city.
Eight-pointed stars, which seem like overlapping squares, are a popular pattern in Moroccan architecture, appearing in everything from mosques to residential dwellings. Despite the prevalence of such motifs in both Muslim and Jewish adornment, the man viewed this specific star as a particularly Jewish icon, representing the home’s and neighborhood’s Jewish past, recognizing the Jewish presence in Fes, and acting as a Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage at that time. Despite his friends’ retorts that he may be mistaking the star for its six-pointed counterpart, the pundit stuck to his guns.
Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage: Sefrou
Sefrou, in the heart of the Atlas Mountains, is located in northern Morocco, not far from the imperial capital of Fes. It was a refuge of peace and cooperation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where Muslims and Jews lived in complete harmony.
Sefrou, as a Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage, constructed the idea of a land where cultures, creeds, languages, and customs might mix peacefully without bias or animosity. Despite its modest size, Sefrou embodied the ethos of a multiple, multiethnic, and tolerant Morocco, with Arabic (Moroccan Darija) spoken alongside Tamazight/Berber dialects, Hebrew, and French.
Sefrou arose from the gathering of residents who had lived along the river in a walled settlement for security reasons. The Mellah, or Jewish district, occupied a central position within the Muslim neighborhoods of the medina for the same safety purposes, demonstrating quite clearly that the Muslim population did truly care a great deal about the safety of their Jewish brothers and sisters that they positioned them in the center of the city for maximum security. The neighborhood of al-Qal’a (meaning citadel in Arabic) dominates the river, a secession from the city meant to remind tourists of the city’s rebellious past and rebellious attitude.
In 1967, Sefrou lost its last Jewish inhabitants as a result of the Middle East’s six-day war. The Jews have resided in Sefrou since their arrival in Morocco in 70 AD, following the demolition of their second Jerusalem temple by the Romans, and it has been the capital of Moroccan peace and tolerance for generations. It had the largest number of Jews per square meter in the entire world, earning it the nickname “Little Jerusalem.”
Amazighs, Arabs, and Jews coexisted peacefully inside the city’s boundaries. The Amazigh exercised agriculture and cattle-raising. The Arabs did some agriculture, menial jobs, and petty trade. The Jews worked on banking services and Saharan caravan trade. That’s where the terms “Sitting Jew” (being a banker and shopkeeper), the “Walking Jew” (an itinerant peddler), and “azettat” (caravan guide) came from.
Concluding thoughts: A Guide to Morocco Jewish Heritage Today
In Morocco, Jews have the same rights and responsibilities as Muslims. The right to worship and the ability to resolve disputes through Rabbinic courts is a fully recognized right. In reality, Morocco exists as the only Arab-Muslim country where Jewish religious functions are still held in synagogues (Morocco’s Grand Rabbi is Yoshayaho Pinto), and the legal system comprises rabbinic courts, which continue to be performed today.
Today, many non-Jewish Moroccans still know Jewish Moroccan songs by heart. Singers such as: Sami El Maghribi, Sami Halali (Algerian but lived in Morocco), Cheikh Zouzou, Joe Amar are so on are all on people’s playlists thanks to their famous songs. Discover all of that and more when pay the Moroccan cities mentioned above a visit to get a tour of Morocco’s Jewish Heritage.
I am committed to defending the faith and the community of believers and to fulfilling my mission with respect to upholding freedom of religion for all believers in the revealed religions, including Judaism, whose followers are loyal citizens for whom I deeply care. King Mohammed VI