Moroccan Jews

Etching of Jewish home in Mogador, Darondeau (1807–1841)

Old Jewish quarter, Essaouira

Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community, immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. In accordance with the norms of the Islamic legal system, Jewish Moroccans had separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities (Muslim sharia, Christian Canon law and Jewish halakha law-abiding) were allowed to rule themselves under their own system.

Particularly after the Alhambra Decree, many Sephardi Jews migrated from al-Andalus to the Maghreb as refugees fleeing the inquisition in Spain and Portugal.[14] They are referred to as the Megorashim,[15] while the Jews already in Morocco are referred to as the Toshavim.[16] Many Iberian Jews settled in Fes and Marrakesh.[14] In the following centuries, Conversos who had been banished to Iberian colonial possessions in the Americas and the Atlantic reclaimed their Judaism and also resettled in Morocco.[14]

In the mid 19th century, Moroccan Jews started migrating from the interior of the country to coastal cities such as Essaouira, Mazagan, Asfi, and later Casablanca for economic opportunity, participating in trade with Europeans and the development of those cities.[17] The Alliance Israélite Universelle opened its first school in Tetuan in 1862.[18]

After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and due to domestic strife in the 1950s, the next several decades saw waves of Jewish emigration to Israel, France and Canada. Moroccan Jews emigrated for a variety of reasons. Some have emigrated to Israel for religious reasons, some faced persecution, and others left for better economic prospects than they faced in post-colonial Morocco. With every Arab-Israeli war, tensions between Arabs and Jews would rise, sparking more Jewish emigration. By the time of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the majority of Morocco's Jewish population had emigrated.[19]

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.

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, as Algerian Jews gained French citizenship with the Crémieux Decree. Algerian Jews were granted right of passage to France, and this only furthered the desire of Moroccan Jews to embrace French culture to the extent of the Algerian Jews.[20]

Early photographs of Moroccan Jewish families, taken in the early 20th century by German explorer and photographer Hermann Burchardt, are now held at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.[21]

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.[22] As of 2017, according to The Economist, "No Arab country has gone to the lengths of Morocco to revive its Jewish heritage."[23] The country has restored 110 synagogues and has the Arab world’s only Jewish museum.[23] More than 50,000 Israelis visit Morocco annually.[23]

Beth-El Synagogue in Casablanca in 2017

Netivot Yisrael congregation in Brooklyn.

Jewish cemetery, Essaouira

• Morocco: In 2012 it was estimated that 2,000–2,500 Jews still lived in Morocco, mainly in Casablanca.[9] Other towns are said to have smaller, aging populations.
• Israel: The 1950s saw large waves of Jewish emigration from Morocco to Israel. Many Moroccan Jews were transferred to peripheral development towns while others settled in larger, established cities. Today, Jews of Moroccan descent can be found all across Israel.
• France: Large communities in France include Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, Lyon and Nice.
• Argentina: Mainly in Buenos Aires and Rosario.
• Brazil: Amazonian Jews mainly in Belem (about 450 families), Manaus (about 250 families) and Rio de Janeiro (about 100 families),[24] with small communities scattered throughout the Amazon region. 2009 marked 200 years of the first wave of immigration to the Amazon region.[25] One distinguished descendant of Moroccan Jews in Brazil is Brazilian Senator for the Amazonian province of Amapá, Davi Alcolumbre, who became President of the Senate in 2019.
• Canada: In the 1950s Canada began extending visas to Jews from Morocco. Large communities developed in Montreal and Toronto. Moroccans were attracted to Canada because of its high quality of life and to Montreal in particular because of the French language. Toronto is known for its significant Moroccan population originating from cities such as Tangiers and Tetouan. In the recent past, however, an emergence of French-Moroccan musical liturgy and customs has been noticed even in this dominant Moroccan city. For example, the traditional Moroccan Bakashot, classical music sung by Sephardic Jews in the winter months across countries in the Middle East on Friday night, has come to life in recent productions by Magen David Congregation and Abir Ya'akob Congregation.
• Venezuela: Concentrated mainly in Caracas.
• Gibraltar: The Jewish community in Gibraltar originates from Tangiers and Tetouan.
• United States: In 1972 the Moroccan Jewish Organization (MJO)[26] was founded. Founding Members created Moroccan Services & a Synagogue in Forest Hills, NY named Shaar Hashamayim Sephardic Synagogue. Members and Participants of MJO went on to create other Moroccan Synagogues and Batei Midrashot / Houses of [Torah] Study in Manhattan (Manhattan Sephardic Cong.), Brooklyn (Netivot Yisrael), Fort Lee, NJ, Cedarhurst (HaChaim veHaShalom) and Philadelphia, PA.

The Jewish quarters in Morocco were called mellahs. Jews in Morocco were considered ''dhimmis''' under Muslim law, meaning that they were seen as an inferior religious group, that were distinguished from the Muslim majority, and were prevented from participating in certain activities.[27] However, dhimmis such as Jews were tolerated, following the Pact of Umar in the 7th century, unlike the policy of intolerance that the Christians practiced with the Jews at that time in Europe. Sultans put Jews in the mellahs, as what most see as an attempt to ostracize the Jews, and keep them from being exposed to insurgents.[28] The Jewish quarters in Moroccan cities were called Mellahs. The Sultans also wanted the Jews to be protected for political reasons. An attack on minorities was seen as an attack on the Sultan's power. The Sultan put the Jews in the Mellah for their safety, as well as to protect the Sultan rulings from being tested by insurgents.[27] The word mellah is similar to the Hebrew word for salt, melach (מלח). The term mellah refers to the salty, marshy area where the Jews of Northern Morocco were originally transferred and gathered.[29] The mellah was not a ghetto and was not structured in a way similar to Jewish quarters in Europe.[29] By the 1900s, most Moroccan cities had a mellah.[29]

Moroccan Jewry has developed as a hybrid of the many cultures that have shaped Morocco itself, namely Jewish, Arab, Berber, French and Spanish.

Music

Jewish Festival in Tetuan, Alfred Dehodencq, 1865, Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History

Even before the arrival of Sephardi Jews to Morocco, Moroccan Jews performed and developed the traditions of the Andalusian classical music and introduced it into their Liturgical music. In his book "Jews of Andalusia and the Maghreb" on the musical traditions in Jewish societies of North Africa, Haim Zafrani writes: "In Spain and Morocco, Jews were ardent maintainers of Andalusian music and the zealous guardians of its old traditions ...."[30]

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.[34]

Moroccan Jews have held important positions in the Makhzen throughout their history. André Azoulay currently serves as an advisor to Muhammad VI of Morocco.

In the 20th century, there were a number of prominent Moroccan Jewish Communists including Léon Sultan, Elie Azagury, Abraham Serfaty, and Sion Assidon.[37]

In Israel, many Moroccan Jews have risen to prominence in politics such as Amir Peretz, Orly Levy, Arye Deri and Miri Regev.

Over the years the Moroccan Jews' DNA was examined and studied by numerous studies, the general image of it showed that in terms of Y-DNA it was mainly from the same Levantine source as the vast majority of the world's Jewry, meaning that they too are descendants of the Ancient Hebrews/Israelites from the Biblical times. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular Moroccan Jews), who are apparently closely related, the non-Jewish component is mainly southern European.[38]

Genetic research shows that about 27% of Moroccan Jews descend from one female ancestor.[39] 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.[40] The analysis concludes that Jews from this region do not share the haplogroups of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups (M1 and U6) that are typical of the North African Berber and Arab populations. Similarly, while the frequency of haplogroups L, associated with sub-Saharan Africa, are present in approximately 20–25% at the Berber populations studied, these haplogroups are only present in 1.3%, 2.7% and 3.6% respectively of Jews from Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.[40]

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," or endogamy. 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.[40]

• History of the Jews in Morocco
• Moroccan Jews in Israel
• Migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel
• Operation Yachin
• The Jewish Community of Fez
• Amazonian Jews