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Morocco's last Jews

Judaism, Fall, 1997 by Richard Gunther

Within ten years all the jews will have left, and only a memory will remain of their 2,800-year history in Morocco.

The first Jews arrived in North Africa with the Phoenicians around the time of the founding of Carthage (813 B.C.E.) and were involved in handicrafts and trade along the caravan routes from Africa to the Mediterranean.

The destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. resulted in a wave of Jews fleeing to North Africa. The Romans conquered this region in 140 B.C.E., and their written records documented the existence of the Jewish population. A second wave of Jews entered North Africa after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. During this time many of the local Berber tribes converted to Judaism, resulting in the mixture of native practices with Jewish traditions.

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Then the Vandals overthrew the Romans, the Byzantines overthrew the Vandals, and in the 7th century C.E., the Arab invasion shifted power once again.

Because the Koran gave specific directions on how Muslims should behave toward Jews, under the protective arm of Islam the Jews lived peacefully with their neighbors and played a key role in the golden age of Spain and North Africa.

The Catholic domination of Spain brought the Expulsion Bill of 1492, which drove many Jews to escape and settle in Morocco. Muslims and Jews lived in Morocco with little outside contact until the French Protectorate in 1912. Traveling in Morocco during this period was a hazardous adventure, tribal hostilities high, and such journeys were a privilege reserved for Jews by the King, who had give them a monopoly on trade across the country. To create a map of Morocco in 1882, a French officer disguised himself as a Jew and hired a Rabbi to travel with him.

The French Revolution of 1789 emancipated the Jews and the French Jewish community created the Alliance Israelite Universelle in 1860 to help Jewish communities and functioned in North Africa in their continual struggles with their neighbors and the authorities. The Alliance opened schools throughout Morocco to teach French culture and Western behavior.

In 1912 the French took control and found the Jews very receptive to French culture, changing from Arab and Berber language and practices, and thus a new identity emerged as Jews living in a French society and French colony.

Emigration

Before the Jews started to emigrate in the 1940s, there were 300,000 to 400,000. Today only 6,500 remain. They left, motivated by several factors:

1. Moroccan Jews are religious people, were inspired by Zionism, and the rebirth of the State of Israel was for many an irresistible attraction.

2. Seeing the potential of mass immigration to Israel by Moroccan Jews, Zionists actively recruited. They saw people devoted to Judaism, adapted to Mid-East climate, and accustomed to living among Arabs. Estimates are that over 70% of the emigrants from Morocco went to Israel.

3. The Holocaust had a traumatic effect on Moroccan Jewry, even though their community was saved from the devastation which struck the Jews of Europe. When Jews looked ahead, particularly after Moroccan independence in 1956, and even though the new Constitution said that only Muslims and Jews could be citizens, they saw an uncertain future.

4. The practice among Moroccan Jews of sending their children out of the country for college was a reflection on inadequate Moroccan post-high school education. Few young people return. We visited a Jewish high school, spoke with the graduating students leaving for college, and asked where they were going. We heard mostly Israel, two to France, one to the U.S. If their families can't afford the cost, the local Jewish community helps. When asked if they would return at the completion of their education, all replied "NO" with comments like "Why return? There is no future here for us." When they settle in their new overseas homes (mostly Israel), in time their parents follow.

Those of us in Los Angeles who visited our first Project Renewal community of Musrara in Jerusalem know that these residents are almost entirely of Moroccan origin. Most of them came to Israel in the 1950s, have large families, and are totally integrated into Israeli society.

About Morocco

Morocco has an exploding population, which rose from 10 to 12 million in 1950 to 30 million today, with an estimated increase of 60 million expected over the next 20-25 years. This surging population is outstripping the government's ability to provide schools and housing. Unemployment is at 30%, and everywhere we went we saw men with nothing to do - just standing around. King Hassan II seems to be respected, rules with a strong hand, and has stopped Moslem fundamentalism from gaining a foothold. But he has 48 palaces around the country and just spent $800 million on "his" mosque in Casablanca - this extravagance in a country where we saw six-year-old children working in a dark, windowless basement, under stifling conditions, for one dollar a day. All fertile growth for future political unrest.

Morocco's last Jews

Judaism, Fall, 1997 by Richard Gunther

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