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History
of the Moroccan Sephardic Community
by
Alicia Sisso Raz
The Jewish settlement
in Morocco can be traced back
to the Second Temple period, when merchants arrived
with the Phoenicians and settled there. They peacefully coexisted with the Berbers,
the original inhabitants of Morocco,
but circumstances had changed during the seventh century upon the Arab
conquest. Some moved to the hinterland together with the Berbers, while others
remained in the cities. However, the
history of the Moroccan Jewry is intertwined with that of the Iberian Jewry; both communities maintained close contacts as
early as the sixth century, when Spain was under the Visigoth
control. It is recorded that Jews fled persecutions in Spain and found refuge in Morocco when
the Visigoths reigned there. Members
from both communities went back and forth either escaping prosecution in one
place or the other, for commercial activities and later on for learning and
for teaching purposes. The Golden Age of
the Spanish Jewry attracted many Jews throughout the Arab world, but the majority who immigrated to Spain
came from Morocco, and according to scholars, most of the Iberian Jewry is
of Moroccan origin (Zafrani).
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The Jews of Spain took part in all
aspects of the societal life, and lived according to the Sephardic paradigm: "Be an
observant Jew at your home and a man of the world outside." The Sephardic
Jewry ("Sephardi" means "Spaniard" in Hebrew) produced an
admirable number of scholars in a variety of disciplines; it was a
magnificent period, unparalleled in Jewish history for centuries. Books were
written on Jewish thought, mysticism, Biblical and Talmudic commentaries, as
well as on philosophy, medicine, linguistics, grammar, poetry, etc.. Artists and artisans of all kind, such as goldsmiths,
silversmiths, and weavers, worked independently or in collaboration with
Christian artists at famous workshops. (Mann). It is a period that gave us Ḥasdai Ibn Shaprut, Samuel Hanagid, Yeudah Haleví, Isaac Alfasi, the Ibn
Ezra family, and Solomon Ibn Gabiról, whose book Fons Vitae had been mistakenly attributed
to a Christian author until the 19th century! Spain was also the birthplace
of Moses Maimonides (Rambam, acronym of: Rabenu Moshe Ben Maimon,), Naḥmanides,
Moshe de León, and
the *Zohar, Abraham and Yehuda Cresques, famous
for their exquisite shoreline maps and marine devices, and Don Isaac Abrabanel, to name but a few.
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But
these golden years that started in the 10th century came to a gradual end, and decades of worsening conditions,
persecution and uncertainty followed. Battles, power struggles, and discord amongst
the Muslims in Spain coupled with persecutions and pogroms by the Spaniards
wherever they managed to regain possession of their towns, sent continuous
waves of Sephardim to exile. For some,
whenever the situation in Spain worsened, the direction was to North Africa, and
when it improved or the circumstances in their new place was even worse, the Mediterranean
was crossed northward, back to Spain.
Maimonides and his
family fled from Spain to Morocco in
the 12th century. Maimonides has been the towering figure in Jewish
history. A philosopher, physician,
astronomer, rabbi and leader of his people, whose intellectual depth and principal
works (*Mishne Torah and the *Guide
for the Perplexed) justify the name he has been referred to: "The
great Eagle" and the saying “From Moses (the biblical) to Moses (Maimonides),
there was no one like Moses." Maimonides and his family settled in Fez where he studied medicine, but the family continued to
Egypt nine years later,
due to persecutions by the fanatic Almohades, the ruling
dynasty in Fez
at that time. Many Jews were forced to
convert to Islam during those years, though most were able to return to
Judaism later on.
Fez was the important intellectual center in North
Africa during the middle ages, and the focal point of the Moroccan Jewry
until the mid eighteenth century; the majority of
the Jews who fled from Spain
even before the expulsion ended up living there. The community was well
established, economically successful, and was famous for its yeshivot (academies), its scholars, the learning
tradition, and its prestigious rabbinical leadership. The Jews of Fez spoke
Spanish until the 18th century, and the Takkanot,
the ordinances of the Rabbis of Fez for the Castilian community of Morocco, were
written in Spanish until it has been gradually replaced by Judeo-Moroccan in
the eighteenth century (Gerber). The local Judeo Moroccan-dialect, however, contains
vocabulary in Spanish and Portuguese. The
gradual replacement of Spanish with Judeo-Arabic was characteristic to the
Sephardim who settled in southern Morocco, while the communities in northern
Morocco have retained their Judeo-Spanish; this vernacular is called Ḥaketía. Nonetheless, Edmundo D'amicis, the Italian
author who visited Fez
in the turn of the 19th century, was surprised at the fact that all the
Jewish women, whom he met at a reception at the house of a European
ambassador, spoke Spanish. (De Amicis)
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The rabbis of Fez
were constantly responding to kusiot (queries)
from all parts of Morocco
and beyond, and they left an extensive responsa.
Upon request, rabbis from Fez officiated in
other communities in Morocco,
in Europe, and even as far as in Bukḥara.
The first Rabbi of Tetuan, rabbi Ḥaim Bibas, was a native of Fez, as was also rabbi Isaac Uziel, who was one of the first rabbis of the Spanish and
Portuguese community in Amsterdam. Rabbi
Yosef Maimon, arrived in Bukhara
as an emissary on behalf of the Jerusalem Jews and found an isolated community.
He brought
them Torah scrolls and prayer books, updated them on the current
Jewish thought and law, introduced them to Minhag
Sepharad (Sephardic rituals and customs),
and became their spiritual leader. It
is thought that he went back to Morocco, and returned to Bukhara with several
Talmidei Ḥajamim (students)
from Moroccan Yeshivot. Sheliḥim (representatives) from
other communities kept arriving in Fez, asking for donations to support the
poor in their communities. It is
recorded that sheliḥim from as far away as Poland had arrived,
equipped with letters from their rabbis. At first, the community of Fez gave
them a generous sum of money, but after realizing that there was a lot of
forgery involved, it was decided that donations would only be given to sheliḥim that presented letters from known Polish rabbis. The rest were supplied with food and "two
zuzim" (some money) to cover their
expenses for their way back home. (Gerber)
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Spanish Jews were fleeing Spain for Morocco during many instances even
before the expulsion of 1492. It is estimated
that about 10,000 of them fled the persecution in Seville
around 1391 and settled in Fez, Jews from the
region of Ronda, Spain, settled in Chauen in 1471. In 1489, three years before the
expulsion, there was a wave of Jews from Granada who settled in Tetuan.
(Vilar) There
is no way of calculating the number of expelled Jews who arrived in Morocco in
1492, but it is estimated between 20,000 to 80,000. The
local Moroccan Jewish community at that time numbered about 60,000. Luis del Mármol, the Spaniard traveler who visited Fez in the 16th century wrote that there were about
10,000 Jewish households in the city of Fez,
and he estimated the Jewish community by 40,000 inhabitants, most of them being
of Spanish origin. (García- Arenal)
The expulsion edict of 1492 by
Ferdinand and Isabella brought an end to Jewish life in Spain. Most
of the expelled Jews from Spain
resettled around the Mediterranean and in
the Balkans. Another route was to Portugal. But, after only 4 years, in 1496, they were
forced to convert while in Portugal. Consequently, many converted in order to be
permitted to remain in Spain
and Portugal,
albeit secretly continued practicing their Judaism. Others left for France,
Italy, Turkey and Morocco. The expelled Jews arrived in Morocco
through the Atlantic coastal towns; few landed in Tangier, but they were not
allowed to live in the city; only in the outskirts of town. (Serels) In many
instances they were robbed of their possessions by the Portuguese governors
of the coastal towns, and they suffered incredible hardships. According to
Abraham Ben Salomon de Torrutiel, the Sultan of Fez
showed good will toward the expelled Jews whose possessions were confiscated
by the Portuguese governors at the ports, and sent mules and provisions to Arcila, in order to bring them to Fez. The first northern
African ghetto, the Mellaḥ, was built then
for protection purposes. (Gerber)
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Meanwhile, there was a constant
stream of expelled Jews who kept arriving.
Some of them stayed in the coastal towns of Larache,
Azemmour, Safi, and
Arcila, while others continued to Fez, Tetuan, and Salé; to Alcazarquivir, Debdu, and later
to Mogador and to other places. Years
later, during the 16th and 17th
Centuries, Anusim (forcefully
converted Jews) from Spain
and Portugal
stared to arrive at the Moroccan coastal towns, yearning to return to the
faith of their forefathers. Unfortunately, quite a large number returned back
to the Iberian Peninsula because of the hardship they had encountered in Morocco. Other Anusim
chose to settle in Holland, where life
conditions resembled those of Portugal.
The latter community gave us the great
philosopher, Barukh Spinoza. Although he was excommunicated by the Rabbis
of Amsterdam, he never renounced his Jewish faith and continued his
intellectual activity in solitude. Spinoza is considered the first modern
philosopher, and is one of the most influential philosophers, admired for his
noble character and his philosophical system.
Similar to other Sephardic communities
around the Mediterranean during the first years that followed the expulsion,
the Megorashim (expelled Jews) in Morocco
formed their own communities, apart from the existing communities -- the Toshabim (Autochthones). However, many of the Toshabim
were familiar with the Iberian way of life; they had been going to and fro Spain for
generations. Many sought education in Spain or went to live there, as did Dunash ben Labrat and Rabbi
Isaac Alfasi (the RIF),
adding to the splendor of the Spanish Jewry.
As a result, the division between Toshavim
and Megorashim dissipated with time, yet the
customs of the Megorashim prevailed and
became the minhag for all the Moroccan
Jewry. (Assis)
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The expelled Jews were regarded
very highly during the first centuries that followed the expulsion, because
of their sophistication and advanced skills which surpassed those of the
local population. Likewise, they benefitted from their experience and
familiarity with various languages, nations, and cultures. They became
involved in Moroccan diplomacy, and contributed to the economy and to the
political relations with Europe, acting as
ambassadors to European kingdoms in the services of the Sultans, and
representing European kingdoms at the Moroccan courts. They thrived as
translators, interpreters, agents of the authorities, and financiers. They established
international trading firms, and were instrumental in the import and export, the
trade of grain, and of other goods. Their artisans were also highly regarded;
the expelled goldsmiths and silversmiths were the finest in the country and
beyond.
Many Moors fled Spain for
similar reasons as the Jews, and there was initially a sense of a shared
destiny, but this sentiment had faded with time. Life conditions were in
constant fluctuation, and the circumstances for most of the Moroccan Jewry have worsened
since the 18th century. One of the main reasons for it was the lack
of central government. Morocco
was composed of several kingdoms that were in constant strife with each other
in addition to the battles against the Portuguese who
controlled the coastal towns. A sympathetic Sultan could have been succeeded by
a less favorable one, and the Jews were at the mercy of different Sultans,
living a life of uncertainty and instability. When fighting and chaos broke
out, those who could afford to leave moved
to other places.
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According
to the Pact of Umar, Jews throughout the Muslim world were considered Dihmmi, a status which granted them certain
protection and rights, for which they had to pay in return the Jizya: a poll-tax imposed on each individual. However, this limited protection was not equally
respected at all times. For years, Moroccan
Jewry endured humiliating laws, pogroms and looting raids, and they were constantly
asked for excessive taxation (the Jizya was
only one of them). The representative of the community who delivered the
collective Jizya to the government official,
had to bow his head and get a blow on his neck, as a reminder of the "Jews'
inferiority". Whenever conflicts erupted between the various Sultans, devastation
followed. The battle between the
sultans of Fez and Marrakesh
ended up with the latter gaining control over Fez. This was followed by even more hardships
and additional taxes, in order to cover the expenses for the numerous
battles. The community of Fez was affected severely
by this development, which caused it to dwindle; it became impoverished, and subject to continuous
raids, attacks and fires. Many left Fez and moved to Meknes, Tetuan, Rabat, Marrakech,
and to Palestine.
Meknes and Tetuan
succeeded Fez
as important spiritual centers, and Tetuan became known
as "The little Jerusalem of North Africa". (Gerber)
The
Jews of Tangier were expelled several times from their homes. A positive change started only as late as the
19th Century. The Jews of Arcila, Larache and Alcazarquibir were massacred at many other times. The Jewish
quarters of Fez,
Chauen, Tetuan and other
communities were sacked, robbed and set on fire several times. This
unbearable situation prompted Sir Moses Montefiore, who was 79 years old at
the time, to travel to Morocco
with the hope to ameliorate the living conditions. He was received by the Sultan and his officials
with great fanfare and honor. The Sultan
made many promises, which were neglected soon after Sir Montefiore returned
to his home in England.
The situation remained almost unchanged. (Lipman)
The Spaniards who entered Tetuan in
1860 during their "War of Africa", documented the horrors they saw
in the Jewish quarter: men were set on fire, homes and stores were looted, barefoot
women were covered with rags, and all were starving from hunger for not
having any food for days. (Castillo) As unthinkable as it is, the latest attack
on the Moroccan Jewish quarters, even in the big city of Casablanca,
happened as late as 1912, when Morocco
became a protectorate of Spain
and France.
Especially brutal was the "Pogrom in Fez"-- the "Tritel" with
unimaginable atrocities against old and young, men and women, children and
babies. Community records, libraries with rare
books and other historical treasures and artifacts were burned and lost forever. It is hard to conceive it, but until the imposed
French and Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, the Jews had to take off
their shoes whenever they approached a Mosque or crossed the path of a distinguished
Muslim; they were prohibited from riding horses, the men were obligated to
wear a distinct black hooded cloak, and there were additional humiliating
restrictions. Young girls were
abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry their abductor. This resulted in the custom of having the
girls marry at
a very young age. Fortunately, the Muslims did not touch married women.
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Although
there were members of the community who were rich and influential, especially
in the coastal towns, life for most of the Moroccan Jewry was reduced to humble
living situation as the centuries progressed,
and the lustrous past became a distant
memory. In an attempt to escape persecutions and worsening conditions in
their cities, those who could afford it moved to other cities or left the
country all together. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Jews from Morocco emigrated to Italy, Holland,
England, and later on,
especially natives of Tetuan, to Latin
America. These Moroccan Jews had a very good reputation in Latin America; they were literate, hard
working and spoke Spanish; very different from other immigrant groups.
They sent some of their earnings back
home, and after years of hard work they would go back home and got married. (Vilar)
Few settled in North America; Isaac Pinto, a native of
Tangier who lived in New York city, translated in 1778 the letter from the Moroccan Sultan to President
George Washington, congratulating him
for the newly gained independence. In
the late 19th century, there was a wave of Moroccan Jews, especially from Tetuan, who emigrated to Orán,
in Algiers, to Gibraltar, Melilla and Ceuta. This is why the Ḥaketia (the Moroccan
Judeo-Spanish vernacular) is called "Tetauni"
in Orán! There was an established Sephardic
community in Livorno, Italy, and many, especially from Fez emigrated there. The intellectual leader of the Italian
community in the 19th century was rabbi Elijah or Eliyahu
Benamozegh, whose parents were born in Fez. He was an
exceptional scholar with a cosmopolitan humanistic view who wrote many books
and commentaries: a rabbi and professor of theology; an original thinker who
was called, "Plato of the Italian Jewry". (Trivellato)
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The Jewish communities in the coastal towns, especially
in Mogador, maintained its high status longer than most of the other communities. Members of the Mogadorian
elite were influential entrepreneurs and diplomats. Many of them represented European
countries and enjoyed their protection. They maintained strong commercial and
cultural ties with European countries, and controlled the import and export
of many goods, including, tea, sugar, metal tobacco, gunpowder, leather, and
other goods. A British School
had been established in Mogador, years before the French Alliance Israélite Universelle. Tipad,
boril, and atornar
(terms in Ḥaketia, for "tea
pot", "nuisance" and "defend") for example, signal
to the British ties and cultural influence.
The community of Tangier, which
numbered only 50 members in the 17th century, benefitted as well from the
international status of the city, and the community begun to flourish
and to commercially prosper during the nineteenth
century. It became a desirable dwelling place for the Moroccan Jewry,
and many, from all parts of Morocco,
moved there during the nineteenth century. With the French protectorate in
1912, Casablanca became the desired city for
many throughout Morocco.
Memories of the glorious Spanish
past kept nourishing the hope of the Moroccan Jewry for better times. The Sephardic Jews held on to their customs,
niceties, graceful etiquettes, ceremonies, Dereḥ Eretz (good manners and dignity), cuisine and language. They preserved the romances (ballads)
and cantares (chants, songs) which they had carried with them from Spain, and
keep singing them to date. Characteristic
to all the Sephardic Diaspora, they have a profound spiritual connection to
the land of Israel. Despite the fact that most of the
communities became impoverished in later centuries, they kept sending their
contributions of support to the Jewish communities in Palestine. There was a steady flow of
emigrants from Morocco to Israel over the centuries: the parents of rabbi Haim Yosef
David Azoulay (the ḤIDA) and rabbi Haim Ben Attar, the author of Or
Haḥayim,
arrived in Israel in the 18th century with other Moroccan Jews; the Toledano family who settled in Tiberias,
and whose descendant was rabbi Yaakov Moshe Toledano,
author of Ner Hama'arav.
The latter maintained an extensive correspondence with many European scholars,
researching various topics. Similar
were rabbi Ḥai Gaguin and rabbi Naḥman Meir Batito, who both officiated as Rishon
Le Tzion, (Chief rabbis in Palestine).
(Gerber)
Rabbi Batito
was born on the way from Tangier to Israel in the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Evidently the number of Moroccan Jews who left for Israel (similar
to many others throughout the Sephardic Diaspora) grew during the 19th century,
most likely in response to the call of
the Sephardic rabbis, Yehuda Bibas (born in
Gibraltar) and rabbi Yehuda Alcalay (from Sarajevo)
to go and live in Israel. They preached for activism, and prompted the idea
that the Geula (redemption) will be hastened
by the actual dwelling in Israel,
rather than staying in the Diaspora and wait indolently for the Messiah. (Spector
Simon)
In his book Shema
Israel, rabbi Alcalay addressed the Sephardic rabbis,
asking them to deliver this message to the congregants at their synagogues. There
are scholars who think that rabbi's Alcalay's ideas
influenced Theodor Herzl, the creator of the modern Zionist movement. Herzel's
grandfather met Rabbi Alacalay and was familiar with
his ideas. The activism found in the
ideas of the Sephardic rabbis was in a sharp contradiction to the standpoint
of the contemporary Ashkenazi rabbis. The latter thought that no one should interfere
with the divine plan, and they held that Jews should remain in the Diaspora,
until the arrival of the Messiah. (Angel) The majority of the Moroccan Jews that
went to Israel following this call, settled in Tiberias,
Zefad, Ḥebron and Jerusalem, in
which they established the community of the Moghrabim. In 1860 a group from Tetuan immigrated to Israel
and settled in Haifa.
(Elazar)
The creation of Israel, the Arab - Israeli wars and the
regained Moroccan independence from Spain
and France,
affected the Moroccan Jewish community, which numbered about 300,000 in 1948. Its members emigrated mostly to Israel, Spain,
France, Belgium, England,
Switzerland, North and South America. The
community in Morocco
has dwindled to roughly 2,000. Presently,
thanks to enlightened Moroccan kings, the situation in Morocco has
improved remarkably, and there are Jews who hold key positions in the Moroccan economy. King Mohamed V
protected the Jews and resisted the French Vichy policies during World
War II. His son, King Hassan II, followed his
footsteps, as also has his grandson, the present king of Morocco, King
Mohamed VI.
And now, as if the nostalgia for the
long lost golden Spanish past was not enough, there is a nostalgic sentiment
for the life in Morocco
as well. Thus members of the community have managed to lead their life with
these two yearnings, for these two pasts, one more remote than the other.
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*Glossary
Cabbala - collective
Jewish mystical thought.
Guide for the
Perplexed - Philosophical reasoning of Judaism by Maimonides.
Halakha - the Jewish collective
body of its religious law.
Mishne Torah - Code of Jewish Law by Maimonides.
Talmud - Commentaries and explications of the Torah by ancient rabbis that
form the Jewish law.
Torah - The books of
Moses.
Zohar - The book of
splendor. It is the primary book of Cabbala.
Pronunciation
Ḥ= to the Hebrew "ח"
KH = to the Hebrew
"ק"
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Israël et l'humanité
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© January 2010,
Alicia Sisso Raz
The article is at the Data Base of Beit Hatefutsot, the Museum of Jewish Diaspora,
Tel Aviv
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