Concerning Judaism, Morocco is a fascinating place. Jewish history here predates the arrival of the Arabs. There is a history that maintains that Jews in some number were here during the 1st temple period, if not earlier. History paints a picture of harmonious coexistence between the native Berbers and the Jews throughout time. There are many Moroccan towns and cities named for Jewish families and the history of collaboration between the Jewish people and the Berbers and Arabs is well documented and a point of pride for many communities at present. In fact, pre-Arab conquest, as the story has been retold to me, the Berbers and Jews got along so well that, though there was no “nation” they viewed their intermingled communities as “one people.” And there definitely is a history of Berber Jews.
With the arrival of the Arabs came the introduction of Islam to the Berbers, and a new population of practicing Muslims, a people wholly new to this region of the world at the time. The Berbers and the Jews still maintained pretty good relations, and the Berbers still maintained some of their traditional practices and beliefs while also acting (and being) as practicing Muslims.
On the whole, Morocco turned out to be a be a decent place to be Jewish, for the most part. Currently, it’s the only Muslim country in the Arab world to have a Jewish cultural/history museum. Hebrew is even a language offered at some universities here. During World War II when Adolf Hitler came looking for the population the King famously said, “There are no Jews here” (didn’t the Swedish king say much the same thing?) meaning that he saw no differentiation between his subjects and so Hitler was turned away.
The problem in modern Morocco with regard to the average citizen’s knowledge of Judaism or Jews, as I have perceived it, is that most of the living, literate, population of Morocco has never known a Jew, or a community of Jews, personally. Once the State of Israel was established in 1948, the vast majority of Moroccan Jews left shortly thereafter. Almost the entire population had emigrated by the end of the 1980s. Today there less than 5,000 Jews in the country, most of which of centered in and around Casablanca.
The only people who remember living among Jews are the elderly, for the most part. And more specifically, elderly Berbers, who if they don’t recall living among Jews themselves, doubtlessly (depending on their geographical location) their communities were familiar and there was a history of amicable relations.
But these times have ended. And in today’s world, in country where there are hardly any Jews, let alone ones who walk around boldly proclaiming their faith (would you?), where most of the news comes from sources heavily biased against Israel (and since Jews don’t seem to exist elsewhere representative of all Jews), there is a disconnect between the modern Moroccan and the Jew. There is a mutual ignorance. Not on the part of the Jew in Morocco but the Jews of Morocco who left. They don’t appear to have returned, or to visit (not in large numbers or frequently anyway), or to have maintained relations here. And I’m not saying they were supposed to or even should have—all I know, from what I have witnessed, is that with the abrupt depletion of the majority of the population and with the remaining people who knew the communities dying off fairly quickly, for a place that was once a hospitable refuge with a very old Jewish history, both Morocco and its Jews abroad are forgetting themselves… and that does not bode well for the perception of Jews by future generations of Moroccans given the nature of the selected knowledge has been made most easily accessible for dissemination here.
I started reading a book entitled Saint Veneration Among the Jews of Morocco. It’s an interesting work that gets into some of the history of the Moroccan jewry but really delves into the strange practice of sainthood among the Jews here (something not commonly practiced in mainstream Judaism). There are 656 saints buried here, 20% of whom were born in Israel, 80 of which are women, some include generations of single famiies, some have Arabic names and titles, some are even revered by Muslims. Yes, Jewish saints prayed to by Muslims alike. This is a really interesting country. (Though it should be noted that I think this practice, for Jews and Muslims both, is dying out. The Jewish population is small and only very few come back, let alone those who are pious enough to be making a pilgrimage to the gravesite of a saint from generations gone.)
There’s a map of the country in the book (not including Western Sahara) that shows the gravesites of the Jewish saints. It reads like a list of Peace Corps sites. So many people I know live near places, or in places, that used to have Jewish populations. The map shows Jews everywhere throughout the country, there is no inhabited region that is devoid of the presence of Jews as evidenced by the burial sites.
Many (okay, a few) volunteers have told me about people in their sites that have pointed out to them Jewish cemeteries in their midst and/or lamented the loss of their Jewish community. It really seems to be a point of pride, as related to me by other volunteers, that their communities once had a Jewish population. And that is to say proud that it existed, not proud that it exists no more. I know a volunteer who in his site has become friends with three guys who are close, a Muslim, a Jew and an atheist. No, I’m not about to tell you a joke (lol)… and I think that’s incredible. Especially since he lives far from the very large cities of Morocco. Actually, I think the most incredible part is the guy who is actually a self-professed atheist. Here? With religion so pervasive, so inescapable, so… mandatory? Well, then again, just because his friends know, and just because I know he exists, that doesn’t mean his family knows. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t pretend. And in those words, I guess it’s not that extraordinary at all.
As for my experiences, you may recall that in my first homestay family in the north of the country, my host sister had lived and worked in Jerusalem for seven years and when she was busy not speaking to me in Darija, Hebrew was one of the many languages she used to communicate with me. I was culturally very comfortable in their midst and in the town in general. I’d walk around wearing silver jewelry laden with Hebrew and not really being apprehensive about anything at all. Here in my final site, my host family didn’t have the same ties, and the news proclaiming all the atrocities occurring in Gaza is all that there appears to have been about ‘Jewish education,’ which made for an unwelcoming atmosphere for me Jewishly. But they didn’t know that aspect of my life. And out of fear, I have yet to enlighten them. Outside of my home, the only other references to Jews I have heard has been about Israel not existing (looking at a world map) and proclaiming that it’s Palestine. How to say ‘just because this truth doesn’t suit your ideal reality the fact of that nation’s existence is no less true’?
Anyway, there are two places near-ish to me where volunteers live (3 and 6 hours away) where there are Jewish saints buried. I am curious to find the graves/cemeteries. No, I have no desire to start venerating saints, but I am curious to see what condition the sites are in and who is maintaining them and to actively search for the evidence of a waning a memory. When/if I make it to any of the grave sites, I’ll be sure to let you know.
For now, here are pictures of what was both sought out and stumbled upon in Marrakech.
with Matthew
Cemetery
New synagogue
Here’s a link to an interesting article about a festival the last week of October that happened to touch on some Jewish issues I just found in a PC email (after writing this update) http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/reportage/2010/11/05/reportage-01
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