Jewish
There is a Jewish community, here. We have a synogogue in town. It's discreetly unmarked and guarded by 2 uniformed policemen. And no parking is allowed in front. One lady from Marrakesh used to work at a downtown clothing boutique run by a Jewish woman. She said, at least one luxury hotel down by the beach is owned by a local. The stereotype of the rich Jew still pervades local common thinking.
On the other hand, one family gave respectful comments to local Jews: "There is a singer from Casablanca who is really good." In one magazine, Femmes du Maroc, an article featured a Jewish wedding, complete with photos showing their faces. I even located a FaceBook group for the Agadir Jewish community.
At one time before the 1960's, 200,000 Jews lived in Morocco. Out of a population of 16 million, that was a substantial percentage. Most of them left by 1967, but there are still connections to their former "home".
There are former Jewish villages in the South. We've visited 2 of them. One was quite large, complete with an old mud-brick medina wall and synogogue. We even found scraps of paper with Hebrew written on it. The cemetary had candles left by Jewish relatives who return annually to pay respect to the dead.
In fact quite a few Moroccans are of Jewish ancestry and may not know it. There is a book out with all the Jewish family names listed. So, if you want to find out who has Jewish origin, look them up. One example: Moshe. That's Moses.
I caught this interesting bit below on the news and post it here.
Jews stress ties to Morocco during pilgrimage
Posted : Mon, 26 May 2008 11:17:02 GMT
Rabat, Morocco - Moroccan Jews have stressed their ties with their country on the occasion of an annual pilgrimage to the sanctuary of a Jewish saint, rabbi Nessim Ben Nessim, in the province of Essaouira 400 kilometres south of the capital Rabat, press reports said Monday. The week-end pilgrimage, which brought hundreds of Jews from several countries to the village of Ait Bayyoud, was a sign of the respect and fraternity between Jews and Muslims in Morocco, said Boris Toledano, president of the Jewish community in Casablanca.
Simon Levy, president of the Jewish community in Agadir, called on foreign Jews to invest in Morocco. Visitors to the moussem (festival honouring a saint) also included Andre Azoulay, an advisor to King Mohammed VI, who also advised Mohammed's father Hassan II. Azoulay, who attended a reception on Sunday, is of Jewish faith.
Islamic Morocco has a Jewish community of about 3,000 people.
© 2008 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved
On the other hand, one family gave respectful comments to local Jews: "There is a singer from Casablanca who is really good." In one magazine, Femmes du Maroc, an article featured a Jewish wedding, complete with photos showing their faces. I even located a FaceBook group for the Agadir Jewish community.
At one time before the 1960's, 200,000 Jews lived in Morocco. Out of a population of 16 million, that was a substantial percentage. Most of them left by 1967, but there are still connections to their former "home".
There are former Jewish villages in the South. We've visited 2 of them. One was quite large, complete with an old mud-brick medina wall and synogogue. We even found scraps of paper with Hebrew written on it. The cemetary had candles left by Jewish relatives who return annually to pay respect to the dead.
In fact quite a few Moroccans are of Jewish ancestry and may not know it. There is a book out with all the Jewish family names listed. So, if you want to find out who has Jewish origin, look them up. One example: Moshe. That's Moses.
I caught this interesting bit below on the news and post it here.
Jews stress ties to Morocco during pilgrimage
Posted : Mon, 26 May 2008 11:17:02 GMT
Rabat, Morocco - Moroccan Jews have stressed their ties with their country on the occasion of an annual pilgrimage to the sanctuary of a Jewish saint, rabbi Nessim Ben Nessim, in the province of Essaouira 400 kilometres south of the capital Rabat, press reports said Monday. The week-end pilgrimage, which brought hundreds of Jews from several countries to the village of Ait Bayyoud, was a sign of the respect and fraternity between Jews and Muslims in Morocco, said Boris Toledano, president of the Jewish community in Casablanca.
Simon Levy, president of the Jewish community in Agadir, called on foreign Jews to invest in Morocco. Visitors to the moussem (festival honouring a saint) also included Andre Azoulay, an advisor to King Mohammed VI, who also advised Mohammed's father Hassan II. Azoulay, who attended a reception on Sunday, is of Jewish faith.
Islamic Morocco has a Jewish community of about 3,000 people.
© 2008 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved
posted by Carl | 5:49 AM
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