Bzou

In Arabic: بزو / Bzou; also Bzu 

A town in the Azilal Province, Morocco.

Originally a large Berber village, Bzou is located just off the main road between the major cities of Beni-Mellal and Marrakesh, on the way to Kaba Tadla, on the territory of the Ntifa tribal confederation in the High Atlas Mountains. The place is known for its fine wool fabrics, orchards, and olive oil.

The Jewish presence in Bzou can be traced back to the 18th century. There was not a separate Jewish quarter (mellah) in the area. Most Jews made a living as tinsmiths, saddlers, cobblers, and peddlers in the region’s many villages.

During the first half of the 20th century the Jewish population numbered about 200 people. The vast majority immigrated to Israel during 1963-1964. During the early 2000s, there was one Jewish inhabitant in Bzou.

Morocco

المغرب‎

Kingdom of Morocco  المملكة المغربية

21st Century

Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 2,100 out of 35,000,000 (0.006%)

Conseil des Communautés Israelites du Maroc
Phone: 212 522 48 78 51/ 522 29 57 52
Fax: 212 522 48 78 49
Email: ccimsec@gmail.com

HISTORY

The Jews of Morocco

687 | The Jewish Khaleesi

According to Sefer Josippon – a book written in the middle ages, which documents the history of the Jewish people during antiquity – some 30,000 Jews fled after the destruction of the Second Temple to the Maghreb area (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), which was at the time inhabited by Berber tribes.
Legend has it that these Jews founded Jewish kingdoms in the vicinity of modern-day Morocco and even caused many of the Berbers to convert to Judaism. Some sources, part historical and part mythical, mention a Jewish queen named Dihya al-Kahina, who headed the resistance to the Arab conquest in the late seventh century. Al-Kahina, who was described as “A true desert queen, beautiful as a horse and strong as a wrestler”, fascinated many scholars. They describe her as a beautiful, charismatic leader, tough and brave, who yet treated captive enemy warriors mercifully, even adopting two of them.

800 | Fez De-Talmud

In the early ninth century, the great yeshivas of Babylon passed the torch to several heirs, among them the Jewish center in the city of Fez, in northeastern Morocco.
While the Arab conquerors imposed an inferior “dhimmi” status on the Jews of Fez, they still thrived relatively speaking. Muslim historian al-Bakhri noted that “In Fez the Jews lived better than in any other city in the Maghreb”.
Indeed, in Fez there gathered many Jewish scholars, who contributed to its growth as a vibrant spiritual center. The best known were linguist and poet Judah ibn Kuraish and Rabbi Isaac Alfasi, who founded a great yeshiva in the city and wrote the “Sefer HaHalachot”, which refined the essence of religious rulings from the Mishna and the Talmud and won its author eternal fame, as it is an integral part of any yeshiva's library and curriculum to this day.

1146 | Doctor Muhammad and Mister Moses

In order not to fall prey to the cruelty of the Almohad dynasty, which seized control of Morocco in 1146, the Jews were forced to choose between two options: Die or convert. Some chose a third option: To become anusim (crypto-Jews), which is to say, Jews at home and Muslim in public. This situation roused Maimonides, who lived in Fez at the time, to write his famous “Epistle on Martyrdom”, which gave the anusim permission to live in a bi-polar state of identity, until the need should pass. According to tradition, the house in which Maimonides' family lived stands to this day in the old city of Fez.

1492 | A Moroccan Righteous Among The Nations

The expulsion from Spain has been burned into the collective Jewish consciousness as a national disaster that will live in eternal infamy. Like other cases in Jewish history when Jews were uprooted, in the Spanish expulsion too there was no great desire among most nations to take in the Jewish refugees.
One exception was King Muhammad al-Sheikh, a ruler of the Wattasid dynasty, a “Righteous Among the Nations” of his time who was one of the few rulers to open his country to the Jews fleeing Spain.
The refugees from Spain acclimated naturally to their new country. They settled mostly in the urban communities of Fez, Meknes, Sal'e and Marrakesh, and soon integrated into the local Jewish community, creating a new economic and rabbinical elite.

1631 | The Holy Zohar

Like in Christian Europe, so in the lands of Islam, the political game of musical chairs never stopped for a moment. The Jews of Morocco were tossed from one regime to the next, each with its own whims and caprices regarding the Jews. These frequent changes ended in 1631 with the ascension of the Alawite dynasty, which rules Morocco to this day. The rulers of this house treated the Jews warmly, allowing them to find their way to key positions in high places, as royal mint managers, royal treasurers and more.
But the main hero of Morocco's Jews in those years was not a high-ranking official, nor a learned rabbinical leader, but a book: The Holy Zohar, considered the foundation text of Jewish mysticism. The “Zohar” had its greatest influence on the cities of southern Morocco, where Kabbalah literature flourished. Among the most famous sages of this stream of thought one can list Rabbi Shimon Lavi, Moshe Ben Maimon Elbaz and Yaacov ben Itzhak Ifargan, and also Rabbi Avraham Azoulay, great-grandfather of the Hid”a, the gaon Chaim Yosef David Azoulay.

1739 | Imprint of a Genius

While the printing press was invented in Germany back in the 15th century, it had yet to be heard of in Morocco even 300 years later, and so the belated creative explosion experienced by the Jews of Morocco during the reign of King Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif in the late 17th and early 18th century has not received the acclaim it deserves. Among the greatest of that forgotten generation were the members of the Toledano and Bardugo families and the rabbis Even-Tzur, Azoulay and Ben-Hemo. But one member of that era still managed to win eternal fame: Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, author of “Or HaChaim” (“Light of Life”).
It was fate that drove Ben Attar to make aliyah in 1739, after a bitter inheritance dispute within his family. En-route to Israel Ben Attar stopped in Livorno, Italy, where he printed his books, and the rest is history.
The greatness of Ben Attar crossed all sectarian and geographical boundaries. According to legend, when the founder of the Hasidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov, heard that Ben Attar was making aliyah, he wished to join him, but heaven itself prevented it, on the grounds that if the two great tzadikim were to meet, the messiah would have to come, and the People of Israel were not yet ready.

1838 | The Moroccan Roots of Tel Aviv

In 1838 a clipper set sail from the shores of Morocco bound for the Land of Israel. Aboard it were Moroccan Jews whose hearts longed for the Holy Land. But the treacherous sea ended their hopes and sank the vessel. Among the few to survive the tempest was Avraham Shlush.
Although most discussions of the aliyah of Moroccan Jews focus on the early years of the State of Israel, the great Shlush family – which in 1887 founded the neighborhood of Neve Tzedek (the first Jewish expansion outside of Jaffa and one of the kernels of the city of Tel Aviv), and participated in the founding of Tel Aviv itself 20 years later – is but one of the proofs that this community began making aliyah long before the establishment of the state, and continued doing so in a slow but steady manner until it was founded.
Another famous pioneer who bears mentioning is Chaim Amzaleg, who participated in the purchase of land for the moshavot (colonies) of Rishon LeZion and “The Mother of Moshavot”, Petah Tikva.

1860 | Renewed Ties

For many years the Jews in Morocco were relatively cut off from Jewish communities in Europe. This changed somewhat thanks to the “Tajar al-Sultan” (Royal Merchants) – a new class of Jews that developed in the late 1850s. This group of merchants conducted trade relations with the powers of Europe on behalf of their sovereign, while at the same time establishing ties with their European brethren.
In those years there also began a large migration of Jews from Morocco to South America, following the booming rubber trade in the area, mostly in Brazil. One of the leading international merchants of Jewish origin in this period was Moses Elias Levy from the city of Mogador, who upon reaching adulthood migrated to Florida of all places, and in an act of solidarity purchased hundred of thousands of acres with the intention of providing refuge for persecuted Jews in Eastern Europe.

1912 | All Israel Are Friends

In 1912 the signing of the Treaty of Fez turned Morocco into a French protectorate. For the Jews of Morocco this treaty heralded the end of a dark period replete with pogroms and the beginning of a new era, in which the Jews enjoyed a cultural, social, and political renaissance.
During these years the teaching of Hebrew, combined with the ideas of Enlightenment (both the general kind and Jewish Haskala) spread throughout Morocco via the global Jewish school network Alliance Israelite Universelle (translated into Hebrew as "All Israel Are Friends"), which took the children of Morocco under its wings. It was then that the Jews of Morocco began to exit the Mellahs (the Jewish quarters, somewhat akin to the European ghettos) and move to the new European-style neighborhoods in the major cities.

1940 | The Holocaust Stops in Morocco

In 1940 the Nazis conquered France and established the Vichy regime – a German wolf in French sheep's clothing. Historians are divided as to the extent to which Moroccan King Muhammad V acquiesced to the edicts of the Vichy regime. In any event, the Jews were soon expelled from government positions and thrown back into the ghetto-like Mellah. In addition there is a well-known story of 153 Moroccan Jews who happened to be in Paris and were sent to Auschwitz. In 1942 the Allies conquered Morocco and stopped the plans of the Nazi death machine in North Africa.

1948 | Aliyah to the Melting Pot

The establishment of the State of Israel caused much excitement among the Jews of Morocco. However, this was not just due to love of their people, but also resulted from the hardships of life in Morocco.
During those years the struggle for national independence escalated in Morocco and the national press often incited against Jews. The high tensions led to deplorable incidents including the pogroms of Oujda and Jerada, in which 42 Jews – men, women and children – were murdered.
Between 1948-1956 some 85,000 Jews made aliyah from Morocco, then still under French rule. The immigrants were forced to adjust to the national “melting pot” policy led by then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, and many of them felt that their rich culture was being trampled by the Zionist steamroller. Thousands of them were led in the dead of night to frontier settlements in order to man and populate the borders. In time these settlements would come to be known as “Development Towns” (“Ayarot Pituach”). This trauma stayed with the immigrants for many years, and found expression in Israeli music, literature and film.

1967 | The Perils of Independence

In 1956 Morocco was liberated from French rule, and banned the Jews living in its territory from emigrating to Israel. One reason was apparently the important role played by the Jews in the Moroccan economy. In 1960 the Israeli Mossad embarked on a daring mission to smuggle the Jews of Morocco to Israel aboard the fishing vessel Egoz. On one of its excursions the ship sank near the Straits of Gibraltar, and nearly all those aboard perished, including 44 immigrants. The disaster drew significant global notice, followed by international pressure on Morocco, until it relented, allowing its Jews to leave under various restrictions. Between 1961-1967 approximately 120,000 Jews made aliyah from Morocco to Israel.
In 1967, following the Six Day War and the growing threats to the Jewish community in Morocco, the final wave of aliyah from the country began, leading to the relocation of some 10,000 people.
In 2014 the Jewish community of Morocco numbered around 2,500 people, as opposed to 204,000 Jews who lived in the country in 1947. Many of the Jews of Morocco also immigrated to other countries, including France, Canada and the United States.

Marrakesh

In Arabic: مراكش‎‎ 

One of the former capitals of Morocco. Situated at the foot of the Atlas Mountains

Marrakesh was founded in 1062 by Yusuf ibn Tashifin, the ruler of the Almoravides who reigned from 1061-1107. However, ibn Tashifin's son and successor, Ali, forbade the Jews of Aghmat-Ailan (an important commercial center further to the east which was exclusively inhabited by wealthy Jews) to live in Marrakesh, under penalty of death. The Jewish community was reconstituted in 1232 after it had been devastated by the Almohads in 1147, though its members later fell victim to a massacre. After the conquest of southern Morocco by Abu Yusuf the Merinid in 1269, Jews once again returned to settle in Marrakesh.

The community was led by Rabbi Judah Djian of Jaen (southern Spain) in 1492. Although large numbers of Spanish and Portuguese refugees arrive in Marrakesh in 1496, the core of the community was made up of the Atlas Jews. Later, during the 16th century, many Marranos immigrated to Marrakesh. Consequently, the city became an important center for reconversion to Judaism and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews controlled most communal affairs. For a long time, these Jews lived in two quarters of their own and were completely separated from the indigenous Jews, who were mainly found in the Mawasin quarter. However, in 1557 Sultan al-Ghalib Billah concentrated all of the Jews in the mellah (Jewish Quarter). At that time, they numbered more than 25,000 though this number would fluctuate through the rest of the century due to the epidemics that swept through the city; for example, in 1558 a cholera epidemic killed 7,500 people. After this catastrophe, however, the community enjoyed a great period of prosperity. It lent an extremely large sum of money to Sultan Abd al-Malik, and had a large role in his rise to the throne in Marrakesh in 1576.

Under the rule of the Sa'adian sharifs beginning in 1525, the Jews of Marrakesh, acting as trade agents for the Sa'adi sultans, were entrusted to manage the principal industries and the commerce of Morocco. All of the sharifs chose their physicians, bankers, advisors, and ambassadors from among the Jewish upper classes. However, when the Alawite dynasty came to power during the latter half of the 17th century, its sultans did not always display such tolerance towards the Jews. When Moulay Rashid conquered the city in 1670 he ordered the Jewish counselor to be publicly burned, along with the ruling prince Abu Bakr and his family, in order to inspire terror among the Jewish community. Moulay Rashid destroyed the city's synagogues, and imposed enormous taxes on the community. His brother Moulay Ismail succeeded him in 1672, and was a cruel tyrant who also imposed enormous taxes on the Jewish community.

In the 18th century, Marrakesh lost its status as the capital of Morocco in favor of Fez (Muhammad ibn Abdallah would retain Marrakesh as his preferred residence and as the de facto capital when he became Sultan of Morroco in 1757). Nevertheless, the city retained its commercial and economic importance. The Jews of Marrakesh saw their economic and social situation improve, especially after 1745. Samuel Sumbal, who lived in Marrakesh and was a scholarly kabbalist who promoted Torah study, was a favorite of Sultan Muhammad ibn Abdallah and served as his interpreter and counselor. The flourishing yeshivas of the town were headed by Talmudic scholars such as Rabbi Abraham Corcos, the av beit din from 1735 to 1780, and his student Abraham Pinto, or by kabbalists such as Rabbi Solomon Amar, Rabbi Abraham Azulai, and Rabbi Shalom Buzaglo. Many foreigners also came to study under these teachers, such as the kabbalist Chiya Cohen de Lara of Amsterdam, who completed his studies in Marrakesh.

Traditionally, the Jewish community was governed by the same families; one of them was the Corcos family. In spite of the favors given to certain Marrakesh Jews by the sharifs, the community never returned to the state of general prosperity which it had enjoyed during the period of the Sa'adian sharifs. In addition to 200-300 wealthy families, some of whom even lived in opulence, there were 2,000 families who barely earned a living, and a further 2,000 who were poverty-stricken. In 1908-1909 Si Madani al-Glawi, the governor of Marrakesh and the surrounding areas, bestowed on Marrakesh's Jewish elite a number of social and economic privileges. He also lifted the enormously high taxes that the Jewish community of Marrakesh was forced to pay, and maintained close ties with the community president, Joshua Corcos of the abovementioned Corcos family.

During the 19th century the Jewish population of Marrakesh increased with the arrival of groups from Jewish communities throughout the Atlas region. Until 1920, the mellah of Marrakesh was the largest in Morocco and was the center of considerable activity.

The 1951 census indicates that there were 16,392 Jews living in Marrakesh. This number had dropped to 10,007 by 1960.

Since 1899 there had been Alliance schools in Marrakesh, attended by 3,026 pupils in 1953 and an Otzar HaTorah School, with 350 pupils in 1961. There were also Lubavicher, ORT, and other educational institutions, bringing the number of Jewish students in school to 4,392 in 1961.

After the Six Day War and the subsequent attacks on Jews throughout Morocco, there was a mass exodus from the city. In 1970 the community of Marrakesh consisted of a few hundred people who had long since left the mella, and whose socioeconomic standing was particularly high. In 2005, there were several dozen Jews left in Marrakesh.

Boujad

أبو الجعد / Boujad; also Boujaad

A city in Khouribga Province, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, Morocco.

Boujad had a significant Jewish population. As of the late decades of the 19th century through early 1950s, the Jews made up between 10% to 15% of the general population with 1,010 recorded in 1926. Unlike many other places in Morocco, they did not live in a separate district. The community had a synagogue, that was closed in 1963, and a cemetery that continues to be visited by Jewish pilgrims to the grve of Rabbi Levi Ben-Levi. One of the teachers at the local Alliance school, opened in 1927, was the renowned scholar Haim Zafrani.

Most Jews made a living as traders or peddlers travelling among the villages of the neighboring region. During WWII, the Jews of Boujad were protected against the persecutions of the Vichy regime by the local Muslim merchants.

Jews left Boujad during the mass emigration from Morocco in late 1950s and early 1960s. Distinguished natives of Boujad include Yehuda Lancry (b. 1947), an Israeli politician and former Israeli ambassador to France and then to the United Nations, Amir Peretz, a trade union leader and former member of the Knesset and Israeli governments, and Shaul Amor (1940-2004), former mayor of Migdal Haemek in Israel.

Foum Jamaa

In Arabic: فم الجمعة / Foum Jamaa; also Foum Jemâa, Foum Djemaa  

A town in Azilal Province, Morocco. Is is located on the territory of the Ntifa tribal confederation in the High Atlas Mountains.

Foum Jamaa was home to the largest Jewish community in the Ntifa region. It seems that the first Jews arrived in the region in the 18th century coming from villages in the Dades and Toghda valleys. By late 19th century reportedly there were about 200 Jews living in Foum Jamaa out of some 1,500 inhabitants of the town. The local weekly market held on Mondays, known as Tnayn Ntifa, attracted numerous Jewish merchants and had a major impact on the local economy. The Jews maintained trade ties with the nearby communities of Bzou and Demnate.

During the first half of the 20th century, more Jews arrived in Foum Jamaa from the region’s mellahs. The 1936 census recorded 741 Jews in Foum Jamaa out of a total population of 5,728. This number remained basically unchanged until mid-1950s, when the local Jews joined the mass emigration. By 1964, almost all the Jews from the Ntifa region had emigrated, except for a few who continued to live in Bzou well into the 1990s. The local Alliance Israélite Universelle school was opened in 1953, but closed a few years later due to the dwindling of the town’s Jewish population.

Tizgui N'Barda

Also known as Tizgui-n-Barda, Tisgui, Imi n’Tizgui

A village in the Draa-Tafilalet region, Morocco. It is located about 35 km northwest of Ouarzazate.

In early 1950s, the village was home to eight Jewish families. They all left in the same day during the Jewish mass emigration out of Morocco.  

Aït Ourir
 

In Arabic: آيت ورير
 

A town and municipality in Al Haouz Province in the region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Morocco.
 

There was a Jewish community in Ait Ourir until the mass emigration of the Jews of Morocco. A mudslide on a nearby hill caused by heavy rain uncovered dozens of Jewish graves that have been hidden and forgotten beneath layers of earth. The cemetery is believed to be hundreds of years old. It seems that more graves have yet to be uncovered. Many of the old graves have been restored by David Ohayon, the last Jewish glazier in Marrakesh and member of the Jewish community of Marrakesh.

Ait Ourir is also the site of Rabbi Habib Mizrahi’s shrine. According to local traditions, he came from the Land of Israel centuries ago as an emissary to the local Jewish community. Known as Mulay Tadot, “Master of the acacia”, after a tree that grows by his tomb, Rabbi Habib Mizrahi’s shrine is also venerated by Muslims. Located on a hill, this shrine too was restored by David Ohayon. New buildings and a courtyard were added to the place so that it can accommodate the many pilgrims who come for the annual hillulah on Lag B’Omer.

In 2018 a German non-governmental organization initiated the building of the first Holocaust memorial in North Africa in Ait Faska, a village close to Ait Ourir. The memorial was demolished by the Moroccan authorities in August 2019.