Moroccan Judaism ~ A Lecture and Documentary

What was once a key part of Moroccan culture and society is now on the way to being forgotten. There is much confusion and even resentment caused by the massive Jewish immigration to Israel and many people now confuse terms such as Judaism and Zionism. This confusion and lack of information has caused many people to forget or to even look negatively on a people who were once their neighbours and a culture that is even now intricately a part of their own. This film seeks to resolve the confusion and to educate people about this history of a culture which cannot be separated from Moroccan culture as a whole.

"My Neighbour...the Jew”

"My Neighbour...the Jew” highlights Muslim-Jewish relations in Morocco. Muslims in Morocco talk about their Jewish neighbours in a very nostalgic manner, and Jews remember Muslims as good neighbours and friends. The Jewish interviewees are strongly attached to their roots and history in Morocco, which they are not willing to give up. The title accentuates the concept of “neighbour,” which echoes the message of the documentary. The neighbour in both Islam and Judaism, as well as in the Moroccan culture, is almost hallowed. The Hebrew Bible says "Love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). There is a Hadith narrated by the Prophet of Islam that states "The best neighbour in Allah's estimation is the one who is best to his neighbour" (Al-Tirmidhi, Number 1287), and the famous Moroccan proverb "Choose your neighbour before your house."

This lecture, organised by the ALC-ALIF Cultural Heritage Club, is free and open to the general public.

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Morocco's Sephardic Jews Can Gain Spanish Citizenship

Under a new law administered by the Spanish Ministry of Justice that recognises the expulsion of Jews during the period of 1492-98, the descendants of those families can qualify for full Spanish citizenship and apply for a Spanish passport

Spain's Federation of Jewish Communities praised the mass naturalisations, adding that most applicants were from Morocco, Turkey and Venezuela.

The new law gives Sephardic Jews and their descendants three years to seek a Spanish passport, with the right to work and live in the 28-nation European Union.

Like others seeking Spanish citizenship, applicants must be tested in basic Spanish and pass a current events and culture test about Spain.

They also must establish a modern-day link to Spain, which can be as simple as donating to a Spanish charity or as expensive as buying property.

The Spanish Jewish federation has received more than 5,000 requests for information about the Spanish law. No one knows how many people might be eligible, though some estimates run into the millions.

The applicants don’t have to be Jewish, but the process of tracing family history back to the group of Jews known as the Sephardim who lived in Spain at the time may not be easy. Applicants also need to pass an online test in basic Spanish language and civics. The period to apply is three years, ending Oct. 1, 2018. There is also a requirement for a criminal background check, and documents have to be submitted in a specific format. It allows you to live and work not only in Spain, but in any of the European Union countries, any place you choose. It’s a tremendous opportunity.

Spain also allows dual nationality for people born in countries that used to be Spanish colonies.

For further information please contact Pippa Smith at Carbray Law Firm Spain. Tel: 0034 934 880 972

Story thanks to Pippa Smith

Historical note

Moroccan Jews (Arabic: اليهود المغاربة‎‎ al-Yehud al-Magharibah, Hebrew: יהודים מרוקאים‎‎ Yehudim Maroka'im) are the Jews who live or lived in Morocco. The first Jews migrated to this area after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and settled among the Berbers. They were later met by a second wave of migration from the Iberian peninsula in the period immediately preceding and following the 1492 Alhambra Decree, when the Jews were expelled from kingdoms of Spain, and soon afterwards, from Portugal as well. This second immigration wave deeply modified Moroccan jewry, who largely embraced the Andalusian Sephardic liturgy, making the Moroccan Jews switch to a mostly Sephardic identity.

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Judeo-Arab Music Collection at Casablanca's Jewish Museum

The Museum of Moroccan Judaism of Casablanca is a museum of history and ethnography, created by the Jewish Community of Casablanca in 1997 with the support of the Foundation of Jewish-Moroccan Cultural Heritage. It uses world-class standards of conservation for its national and international collections. Recently it featured an impressive collection of Judeo-Arab music recordings

Since 2007 the performer and researcher, Vanessa Paloma El Baz, has been collecting recordings of Judeo-Moroccan songs.

"Many young people here have never heard of Judeo-Arab music," she says.

Vanessa Paloma El Baz, a Moroccan Jew,  presented her collection at the Museum of Moroccan Judaism, as part of a debate.

El Baz says her passion is to revive the memory of a not so distant past: in the 1950s, the kingdom had nearly 300,000 citizens of the Jewish faith. But successive Arab-Israeli conflicts, calls to emigrate to Israel and many departures to France and Canada in particular have brought this presence to less than 5,000. Moroccan Jews, however, remain the largest Jewish community in North Africa.

The music project was presented under the title of "Khoya: sound archives of Jewish Morocco" - was chosen to reflect a common heritage. "Khoya" has a double meaning, "my brother" in Arabic dialect and "jewel" in Spanish.

"Morocco's Jews and Muslims are brothers that share the same customs and who must work together to revive this heritage," said Ms. El Baz.

The sound library includes two types of records: songs and popular Moroccan Jewish music in a commercial format and recorded stories told by Moroccan Jewish families of citizens both Jews and Muslims.

"Khoya" is still incomplete, notes Vanessa Paloma El Baz, explaining that many Moroccan Jews settled in Israel, Europe and North America have recordings, videos and photographs that could enrich the collection

Gathering the Moroccan Jewish music "was not easy," she said, referring to the reluctance of some families to hand over these records.

On one of the photos she has collected are two Jewish singers in the side of Sultan Mohammed V,  on the occasion of a celebration for the birth of the future king Hassan II.

For Ms. El Baz, this photograph is a symbol of "living together in peace."

Adopted in 2011 in the context of the Arab Spring, the new Constitution of Morocco recognized the Hebrew component as part of the culture of the kingdom.

The Museum of Moroccan Judaism, founded in Casablanca by the Moroccan writer and politician Simon Levy. has a large display of clothing, jewelry and handicrafts .

The presence of Jews in Morocco "goes back 2,500 years" and was reinforced by waves of refugees especially from Andalusia, says the curator of the museum, Zhor Rhihl.

Fleeing the Reconquista of the Catholic kings, the Jews of Andalusia flocked to Morocco from the fifteenth century.

Beyond the preservation of a period of history, Vanessa Paloma El Baz has a larger vision. "I dream of a national sound library that would save the Moroccan oral culture as a whole, not just the Jewish heritage," she said, "otherwise, it is a legacy that could disappear."

The Museum, which covers an area of 700 square metres, is the first of its kind in the Arab world. It consists of a large multipurpose room, used for exhibitions of painting, photography and sculpture. Three other rooms containing exhibits on religious and family life (oil lamps, Torahs, chanukah lamps, clothing, marriage contracts (ketubot) Torah covers…) and exhibits on working life. Two rooms displaying complete Moroccan synagogues. There is also a document library, a video library and a photo library.

The Museum offers guided visits, sponsors seminars and conferences on Jewish-Moroccan history and culture, and organizes video and slide presentations.

On special request, it organizes group visits in Arabic, French, English or Spanish.

The Museum details
81, Rue Chasseur Jules Gros, Oasis-Casablanca
Tél : +(212) 5 22 99 49 40
Fax : +( 212) 5 22 99 49 41
E-mail : fondationmusee@yahoo.fr/casajewishmuseum@gmail.com

Entrance fee is 40 dirhams - school groups are free

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Moroccan News Briefs #111

Fez Court of Appeals acquits Christian convert

On Thursday the Court of Appeals in Fez acquitted Mohamed El Baladi, 31, who was sentenced on September 3rd by the Trial Court in Taounate to thirty months in prison for converting to Christianity and inducing young Muslims to convert.

“The judge has just acquitted this Moroccan who converted to Christianity,” said Mohamed Oulad Ayad, president of the regional branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) in Fez.

On August 27th, the police of Aïn Aicha, a rural town in the Taounate province, arrested Mohamed El Baladi on charges of converting to Christianity and attempting to spread the Christian faith among young people in his village of Aïn Aicha.

Since the beginning of the trial, El Baladi had always defended his right to embrace the Christian faith.

The Moroccan constitution guarantees religious freedom, but any attempt to shake the faith of Muslims by proselytising is punished according to the Moroccan Penal Code.

In accordance with Article 220 of the Moroccan Penal Code, a proselytizer may face “six months to three years prison and a fine of 100 to 500 Dirhams” for using the “means of seduction in order to convert” a Muslim “to another religion, either by exploiting his/her weakness or his/her needs, or using for these purposes education, health, asylums and orphanage institutions.”

According to AFP, Morocco’s higher council of religious scholars (CSO), the only institution entitled to issue fatwas in the kingdom, “called for the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith.”

After admitting their failure to spread what they call “the message of Christ” in the Kingdom, Christian missionaries have used Facebook to distribute more than 30,000 Bibles translated into “Darija,” Moroccan Arabic, in an attempt to entice Moroccans to convert to Christianity.

According to the 2012 International Religious Freedom Report of the U.S. Department of State, the predominantly Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian expat community in Morocco “consists of approximately 5,000 practicing members, although some Protestant and Catholic clergy estimate the number to be as high as 25,000”.

Story thanks to Morocco World News

French firm lights up Rabat

The French Company LEC Lyon has announced an LED lighting project in the historic city of Rabat.

LED-based lighting is increasingly finding use in UNESCO sites in part because of concerns over light pollution and the need for low-energy usage in older structures with dated infrastructure.

Lighting of the walls of Rabat was undertaken along with restructuring of the Hassan II roadway that runs alongside the old-town area of the city. The walls protect the south and west sides of the city and were built in the late twelfth century. The walls stand 8m high and the 1.5-km lit section features architectural elements that the city chose to preserve and highlight with the dual-color project.

"The walls encircle the old city of Rabat, the ones that are illuminated today are the one that are the most visible," said Fouad Bahechar, president of Electrimar. "Every 30m, the turrets project over the street. We thought that this rhythm was interesting to explore; that’s the reason why we chose to use two colors, warm white for continuity and red for relief."


German programme will restore second Moroccan synagogue

The historic Essaouira synagogue in Morocco will be refurbished in a joint project with the German Foreign Ministry. This will be the second that has been restored under the scheme.

Tuesday’s announcement came as the Moroccan ambassador in Berlin, Omar Zniber, launched an exhibit at the embassy’s cultural center of photographs of Moroccan Jews from the 1960s as well as new photos of synagogues in the country, both pre- and post-renovation.

At the time of the photos, there were still tens of thousands of Jews in Morocco. Today the population is estimated at about 2,500.

In addition, a conference on Moroccan Jewish cultural patrimony was hosted at Berlin’s Pergamon Museum this week.

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said that the restoration of the 19th century Simon Attias Synagogue in Essaouira is to be completed in 2015. It is a joint effort with the Foundation of Jewish-Moroccan Cultural Heritage.

“With this project, the Federal Foreign Office supports the preservation of Jewish heritage in Morocco, thereby helping to strengthen the national identity of the country,” he said.

The programme already completed the restoration of the 17th century Slat al Fassiyin synagogue in Fez, which had been used as a carpet factory and then a boxing ring. It was rededicated in ceremonies last year.

At that ceremony, Moroccan King Mohammed IV called for the restoration of all synagogues in the country “so that they may serve not only as places of worship, but also as forums for cultural dialogue and for the promotion of our cultural values.”

Moroccan Writers on Booker Shortlist

Two Moroccan novelists are on the short list of six finalists vying for the 2014 Booker Prize for Arab novels, organizers announced Monday in Amman.

Youssef Fadel on Booker shortlist

“Tayer Azraq Nader Youhalliq Mai” (A rare blue bird flies with me) by Youssef Fadel and “Taghribat al Abdi al Machhour bi Ould al Hamriyya” by Abderrahim Habibi, are the shortlisted novelists, organizers said during a press conference in the presence of the jury chaired by Saudi critic and scholar, Saad El Bazi.

The shortlist also includes the works by Khaled Khalifa (Syria), Ahmed Saadawi and In’am Kajaji (Irak), and Ahmed Mourad (Egypt).


Valentine's Day in Morocco - the Eid I Love you!

According to Larbi Arbaoui, writing for Morocco World News, Moroccans are generally either sceptical or ignorant about Valentines Day. When The View from Fez toured Fez's Ville Nouvelle we discovered a fair amount of Valentine's advertising and so we asked shoppers what they thought it was all about. "It is like Eid," one woman told us, "It is the Eid I love you." Cute.

Larbi Arbaoui writes, St Valentine is a special day in Morocco. When you go downtown, you see hundreds of teenagers buying St Valentine gifts sold in most shopping malls in Rabat, Morocco’s capital.

Morocco’s new generation is more influenced today than its precedents by foreign cultures, traditions, and celebrations.

However, Morocco’s old generation is more reluctant to change, and preserve its own values and traditions. We can say that not a great majority of Moroccans celebrate Valentine; some do not even know about it; others neglect it or simply don't believe in it.

According to Rachid Jankari writing for Zawaya, Valentine’s Day is not an Islamic tradition. Muslims in general, including Moroccans, believe that this expression of love is an “imported” tradition, and an expression of cultural alienation vis-à-vis the Western social model.

On the economic field, however, the “rejection” or “refusal” of this Western celebration of love do not stop stores and brands from decorating their shop windows predominantly in red in honor of this holiday.

Franchises of large brands have also “relocated” the European offers dedicated to Valentine’s Day in their parent companies, to the major shopping areas of Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakech, to name these large cities only.

Restaurants and cafés do not skimp on possible means to adapt their menus and services to the traditions of this annual emotional event.

An online travel agency was even more creative this year, as it launched a quiz in partnership with an airline operator. The proposed prize was a round-trip fare to many European capitals with free accommodation for two people, in order to celebrate this unbreakable love tie.


Morocco's changing attitudes towards unmarried couples

Due to the internet, television and Facebook, a change is taking place among young Moroccans. As a society, Morocco is the 4th highest user of social media in Africa and the effect of open communication is affecting every facet of their lives from fashion and diet to sex am=nd marriage. An interesting article appeared recently in the Malaysian Chronicle which took a look at the way a younger generation is breaking from ways of the past when it comes to couples living together.

When Moroccan divorcee Soumaya moved in with her new French boyfriend she was hoping to forget the unhappiness of her marriage. Instead, she lost her children.

It's a crime in Muslim Morocco to live together out of wedlock, and unmarried couples not only face police harassment but also the prying eyes of disapproving neighbours.
Soumaya, a mother of two, says her jealous ex-husband ratted on her to the police when she started living with her boyfriend in Marrakech, accusing her of prostitution and finding 12 witnesses to support his story.

"I didn't want to make the same mistake twice," she said of her decision not to remarry. But the boyfriend eventually left her and she lost custody of the kids.

Cohabitation may be relatively common in Morocco's swish urban districts, but conservative religious attitudes can be stifling, especially for young couples living in downscale, traditional neighbourhoods

Ibtissam Lachgar, an activist and co-founder of a campaign group to promote individual liberties, says she lives happily with her boyfriend in her apartment in the centre of the capital, Rabat. "I don't feel my sexual freedom is restricted, even though we're not married. The neighbours don't bother me, probably because I own my apartment," she says. The problem begins, she says, when they travel to the country's hinterland and try to stay in a hotel. "It's impossible; the law forbids it. They ask to see a marriage certificate. So we're forced to seek alternative arrangements, like staying with friends."

Lachgar's boyfriend Soufiane Fares, who studies law in Rabat's twin city of Sale, said "consensual sex between adults is a personal decision which others have no right to interfere with. "But living together outside of marriage is very difficult in a conservative society."

Ghassan Hakam, in his 30s, has his own experience of this, living in Casablanca with his French girlfriend for three years. Originally from Fez, the theatre director says that even in Morocco's largest city, they are constantly aware of their neighbours' displeasure. "I try to be discreet, avoiding kissing or touching my girlfriend in the area where we live. But I feel we are being watched, even if they don't say anything," he notes.

His girlfriend Fanny is sure that her life would be a lot more difficult if she were Moroccan.
"I would definitely have suffered even more from the hostile looks and prejudices I encounter," she says.

Hakam, who lived in Paris for six years, doesn't believe he needs to get married to prove his love, and questions the reason for criminalising cohabitation.

"Are two people who love each other harming society or committing a crime by living together under one roof," he asks.

Article 490 of Morocco's penal code states that sex outside marriage is punishable by up to one year in jail. In December 2012, 22 feminist organisations called for it to be repealed. Justice Minister Mustafa Ramid, who belongs to Morocco's ruling Islamist party, declared his opposition to that. "These sexual relationships undermine the foundations of our society," he insisted.

Karim, a young entrepreneur who recently moved into a crowded neighbourhood of Rabat, no longer lives with his girlfriend. "She used to come round to my house, but she couldn't stand the looks of the neighbours, especially the men sitting in the cafe opposite. Sometimes we were forced to return late at night to avoid the intrusive looks, which made us feel we'd committed a crime."

A study conducted by the health ministry in 2007 indicated that 36 percent of young Moroccan men had had sex outside marriage, while the proportion of unmarried young women who had lost their virginity was much lower, at 15%.

Full article 

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Weekend of Twinning - Muslims and Jews - "Standing Up for the Other"

Next month, in cities around the world, peacemakers will come together, break bread and discuss ways of improving the world as part of the Weekend of Twinning, which officially takes place November 15-17th

There is a widely accepted but erroneous belief that Muslims and Jews are enemies and will always remain so. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

For the past six years The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding has not only challenged this narrative, but has facilitated a global dialogue between Muslims and Jews that is taking place on all six populated continents.

A flashback to last year and Muslim-Jewish cooperation

Part of this Muslim-Jewish dialogue is an annual Weekend of Twinning which encourages joint Muslim and Jewish programming on the grassroots level in every community across the world where Muslims and Jews reside.

Efforts reveal that actual harmony exists between these two faiths and peoples and the Unity Productions Foundation, has released the video (above) which documents this global Muslim Jewish coalition that is vowing to stand up for one another by combating Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred.

To participate in the Weekend of Twining, please contact ffeu@ffeu.org

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Antique Shopping in the Mellah of the Fez Medina

The Mellah, or Jewish quarter of the Fez Medina, is a wonderful place to explore. Not only does it have very different architecture than the Muslim areas of the city, but it is also home to the gold souq and some of the best antique furniture shops.

Tucked away in a side market near the gates of the Royal Palace, and to one side of the Mellah, is the place for hunting out the odd, the unusual and the very old. Much of the furniture is of from the colonial French era, but there are other finds to be made.

At first glance it looks like junk...

The first official mellah was established in the city of Fes in 1438. In the first half of the 14th century, the Marinids founded, alongside Fes, the town of Hims, which was initially allocated to the archers and the Christian militia. In 1438 the Jews were driven from the old part of Fes to Hims, which had been built on a site known asal-Mallah, "the saline area". 

Ultimately, the term came to designate Jewish quarters in other Moroccan cities. Initially, there was nothing derogatory about this term: some documents employ the expression "mellah of the Muslims", and the Jewish quarter contained large and beautiful dwellings which were favored residences for "the agents and ambassadors of foreign princes". 

Later on, however, popular etymology explained the word mellah as a "salted, cursed ground" or a place where the Jews "salted the heads of decapitated rebels”, highlighting the outcast connotations attached to this word.

Once inside the shops the treasures are everywhere

Map of the Mellah - the red spot is the antique area

How to get there: Take a taxi to the royal palace, or park in the carpark opposite the steps up to the palace doors. Around the carpark is a junk market that's worth browsing. There's a lot of rubbish but occasionally you spot something worthwhile.

Past the entrance to the Jewish cemetery, you'll come across massive gates on the right and inside is a yard surrounded by small shops. There's a lot of junk, and some pretty awful modern furniture. But some of the shops are wonderful Aladdin's caves full of interesting objects. You can find Moroccan artefacts such as flower water shakers, painted shelves and brass lanterns, even large doors. There are lots of European pieces of furniture, mostly from the 1930s that must have been left behind by the French, even the odd piano or roll-top bureau. You might find a marble-topped cafe table or a wrought-iron Singer sewing-machine table complete with treadle. There are plenty of chandeliers and lamps, wonderful photographs, old radio sets, glassware, jewellery, silverware and cutlery. But things don't hang around long - you have to move fast. So if you see something you want, don't put off buying it until "next time".

A point to note: If you make large purchases, the shop-owners will gladly arrange for a 'honda' (a small van) to take your precious cargo back to the medina. If you're in the process of restoration, they're also very good about looking after your goods until your house is ready for occupation.


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Islamists Protest Against Moroccan-Jewish Movie

In the same week as Moroccans in Fez celebrated the opening of the fully restored Slat Al Fassiyine synagogue (see our story here) some 200 demonstrators gathered outside a theatre in Tangier to protest the screening of a film about Jewish immigration to Israel

Archive photo of the Roxy in Tangier

The Roxy today

The demonstrators in front of the Roxy Cinema in Tangier were mostly Islamists, according to the French daily Liberation, and were protesting the film “Tinghir-Jerusalem: Echoes of the Mellah” by the French-Moroccan producer Kamal Hachkar.

The film tells the story of the Jews of a small Berber village in Morocco and their departure for Israel during the 1950s and 1960s.

The protesters shouted slogans against “normalization” with Israel and Zionism.

Morocco’s minister of communications, Mustapha Khalfi, who also is the spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party, declined to comment on the protest, but Tangier Mayor Fouad El Omari said at a ceremony before the screening that “censorship is a real danger for art, especially when it is based on a narrow-minded ideology".

Hundreds attended a grand celebration marking the completion of the restoration of 17th century Jewish synagogue Slat Alfassiyine in Fes yesterday. The event marked the first step in a 2011 promise made by King Mohammed VI to restore all of the kingdom’s synagogues.

Slat Al Fassiyine is located in the famous El Mellah, the Mecca of Jewish culture in the Medina of Fes and will serve as a cultural centre focusing on interfaith dialogue..

The timing of the Tangier demonstration could not have been worse, but thankfully the protest was by an insignificant number of people.

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Fez Celebrates Synagogue Restoration

The two-year long restoration project of the 17th century Slat Alfassiyine synagogue in Fez is now complete and yesterday the Prime Minister was in Fez to attend the opening.

The public in the Ville Nouvelle may have wondered at the traffic delays and the increased security, but few had any idea that the large motorcade that swept through the city was on its way to the Mellah, the Jewish Quarter. In the motorcade were not only the Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, but also Serge Berdugo, a Jewish former minister in the Moroccan government and the present Speaker of the German Parliament, Norbert Lambert.

Morocco Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane (right), Hamid Chabat Mayor of Fez and Secretary General of  Istiqlal Party  (left) (photo AFP)

The bringing together of an Islamist Prime Minister and a German Parliamentarian was just one sign of how importantly the synagogue reopening is seen. Morocco's King Mohammed was unable to attend, but in a message read by Prime Minister Benkirane he hailed the country's "spiritual wealth and diversity" of Morocco. "The secular traditions of Moroccan civilization drew their essence from the fact that Moroccans are deeply ingrained with the values of coexistence, tolerance and harmony between the different components of the nation," the king said. He went on to call for the renovation of all Jewish places of worship.

What is important to note is that the new constitution adopted in 2011 against the background of the Arab Spring, recognised Morocco's Jewish heritage as part of Morocco's national identity.

Norbert Lambert, was present representing Germany because the country donated 160,000 Euro to the restoration project

The ceremony was held in the Medina of Fez, a UNESCO world heritage site, and was attended by more than two hundred guests. Morocco historically had a vibrant Jewish population and 1,200 of the faith's pious ancestors are buried in cemeteries across the country, and ae now regarded as places of pilgrimage by the 50,000 or more Jewish visitors each year. Although Morocco which was home to a community of almost 250,000 in the first half of the 20th century, the total number of Jews in Morocco is now estimated to number less than 3,000.

Jewish families in Fez circa 1900

In 1900, Fez, then the imperial capital, had 10,000 Jews out of a population of 100,000 and 20 synagogues, according to Simon Levy, a specialist on Judaism in Morocco.


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Cultural Tour of the Fez Jewish Quarter

Outside Bab Semmarine in the Mellah 

The ancient Jewish quarter or Mellah of Fez is one of the oldest in Morocco. Although no Jews still live there, its rich history and different style of architecture are well worth exploring. The Mimouna Club of Fez is offering a Cultural Tour of the Mellah of Fez on Sunday January 27th, which they describe as "a tour of learning, discovery and understanding". 

"We invite Moroccans and non-Moroccans to take this trip to the past of Moroccan Judaism in the city of Fez which was once known as the city of Jews," says Youness Abeddour, the president of the Mimouna Club. He explains that the Club first started on April 2007 at Al Akhawayne University in Ifrane, and the Fez chapter was launched last June. 2012. "It's a non-profit organisation that seeks to educate the Moroccan people about the Moroccan Jewish Culture and to encourage harmony between Jews and Muslims in Morocco," he says.

Main street of the Fez Mellah, showing unusual exterior balconies

The Cultural Tour of the Mellah on January 27th includes a visit to the Jewish cemetery where grand rabbis are buried. "We will meet with the caretaker of the cemetery and the curator of the small museum in the edge of the cemetery, Mr. Edmond Gabbay," says Youness. "Then we will head to the 17th century synagogue, Aben Danan synagogue. It is now World Heritage listed. The caretaker of the synagogue, Omar, is a Moroccan Muslim. From there, we will continue our walk to synagogue El Fassiyeen, a recently restored synagogue by the Moroccan Jewish museum of Casablanca."

Participants in the last tour in the Fez Mellah

Last time they ran this tour, "We visited the tombs of the Grand Rabbis, and of the famous Sol Hatzadikah. After telling her story, they did not hesitate to light candles and show respect to her spirit. Learning about the tradition of putting a stone on the tombs to mark one’s visit, they put some olives on the tomb of Benjamine Serero, the Jew who was murdered in the Mellah, and on the tomb of the well-known Jewish lady, Solika, who chose to live in the Mellah until she died few months ago.”

Youness Abeddour will be leading the tour and emphasises that questions are welcome.

What: Cultural Tour of the Mellah of Fez
When: January 27th at 10 AM.
Meet: Main gate of the Mellah
Cost: 30 dhs.

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Moroccan mosaics at Jerusalem heritage centre

Ha'aretz reports that the David Amar World Centre for North African Jewish Heritage in Jerusalem will be opened on Sunday in the presence of Israeli president, Shimon Peres. The renovation of the building has taken some years, and Moroccan artisans such as zelliji (mosaic artist) Abdulla Dara, have been recruited to work on the project.



When you ask Abdullah Dara his profession, he replies "soccer player." But for the last few months, the 24-year-old from Rabat, Morocco has been working in Jerusalem - in the family business. Dara is an expert in the art of zellij, the Moroccan mosaics that decorate walls and floors. His work involves preparing ceramic surfaces painted in various colors and breaking them with a delicate hammer into thousands of tiny, identical pieces. Then he and other workers arrange the miniature pieces into a giant puzzle to create a beautiful coloured surface. Dara did not hesitate to come to Israel. "We work all over the world," he says. "My brother has already worked in Spain, Dubai and France."

The building was constructed in the mid-19th century by Rabbi David Ben Shimon, founder of the community of North African Jews in Jerusalem who distinguished themselves from the general Sephardic Jewish community. It was used to house new immigrants from the community.

After four years of renovation and hundreds of thousands of stones, which Dara and his friends assembled into dozens of square meters of mosaic, the old building looks like a sultan's palace. It has definitely turned into the most colorful building in Jerusalem.

Authentic Moroccan style

The association of Jewish communities of North Africa, which has reconstructed the building, decided to build it in authentic Moroccan style - complete with an Andalusian-style garden, water fountains, carved and painted doors, ornamentation on the walls, and colored floor tiles.

Since there is not a single contractor in Israel who knows how to do this kind of work, the organisation recruited the help of contractors and artisans from Morocco. However, the Interior Ministry tried to prevent their entry. "They didn't understand that they aren't foreign workers, they're artists. Every time they went home for a two-week holiday, it took me half a year to bring them back," says Haim Cohen, chairman of the association. When the workers finally did arrive, they didn't keep to the schedule. The Israeli employers were so afraid that the mosaics would not be ready on time for the festive ceremony that they prepared an emergency plan: wooden boards with a photograph of the mosaic, meant to serve as a cheap substitute for the real thing.

The site is expected to become one of the city's leading tourist attractions. "The purpose of the center is to preserve the [North African Jewish] heritage through dress, music, vessels, piyyutim [liturgical poems] and prayers...and bring them to the general public," says Cohen. This will be done through exhibitions, a library and a computer center for studying the history of North African Jewish communities.

Photo by: Daniel Bar-On

Andalusian melange of Arab and Jewish music

Sunday's afternoon concert at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music featured the Orchestra of Fes directed by Mohamed Briouel and the Hevrat David Hamelech Chorale from Strasbourg in France.

Both Jews and Arabs share Andalusian music which originated in Spain and developed in Morocco, particularly in cities such as Fez and Tetouan. This form of music was brought to the Maghreb when these two groups of people were expelled from Spain by Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492.

The Chorale represents the Jewish diaspora from North Africa, particularly from Morocco. In this concert, the Fez Orchestra members sang the words to the songs in Arabic, while the Chorale sang their words in Hebrew - to the same music. It was an interesting melange of the two cultures under the Batha Museum's beautiful Barbary oak tree.

Mohamed Briouel (left)

WOODEN SPOON AWARD

An early contender for The View from Fez Wooden Spoon Award for the most annoying person at the Festival has to be the man in the pink shirt who spends every concert recording on what looked like an iPhone.

For some reason known only to himself, he insists on getting in the way of the audience and the musicians, even climbing onto the stage this afternoon to get close to them. In past years there have been a few moans about over-vigilant security guards hassling the press, but this year security doesn't seem to have spotted this irritating person.

Sunday's events at the Fes Festival

It's a full day of Festival events today, Sunday, starting at 09h00 with the Fes Forum at the Batha Museum. The topic is:

What Future for the Middle East? What can we make of the future of the Middle East in light of the changes that have happened in the Arab World?

In keeping with this topic, the afternoon concert at 16h00 in the Museum garden will feature the Hevrat David Hamelech Chorale from Strasbourg in France. Music is an integral part of Jewish life, featuring at every public and family event. The Jews of North Africa are the inheritors, along with the Arabs, of an immense musical heritage known as Andalous music. The Chorale will present the Pyoutim (poems) that are fundamental to their history.

Julia Boutrous performs this evening at 20h30 at Bab al Makina. She has been a star in Lebanon since the age of 14, and is a Maronite Christian with an Armenia mother born in Palestine.

Free concerts tonight include the popular Nass el Ghiwane at 22h00 atBab Boujloud, and the Darkaouiya Sufi Brotherhood from Essaouira at 23h00 at Dar Tazi.

Jewish and Palestinian music at Fez Festival

When the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music was first launched in 1994, it aimed to have music from the three Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. While the Festival has since expanded to include music from virtually every other belief system, this year's event will have two afternoons devoted to Jewish and Palestinian music.

16h00 SUNDAY 5 JUNE at the Batha Museum

The Hevrat David Hamelech Chorale from Strasbourg in France will perform Jewish liturgical songs of the Bakachot vigils, and Piyoutim poetry.

‘Our masters tell us that King Ezechias was not the Messiah because he didn’t sing …’

The Jews of North Africa, and particularly of Morocco, are inheritors along with the Arabs of an immense musical heritage, usually known as Andalous music. The Jews have held on to their nostalgia for this Spanish golden age, and such nostalgia is still to be found in their daily religious music.

Events such as Brith-Milas, Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, public or family parties all feature Pyoutim (poems) sung by one or more Paytanim who are singers, poets and composers all rolled into one.

In an atmosphere of joy, détente and accomplishment, the Jews of the mellah went to the synagogue to listen until dawn to the pure Andalous style of the poems of Rabbi Jehouda Halèvy, Ibn Gabirol, Rabbi David Hassin and many other poets, both well-known and obscure.

The Hevrat David Hamelech Chorale of Strasbourg continues this repertoire that is fundamental to the history of the music of the Maghreb.

16h00 MONDAY 6 JUNE at the Batha Museum

Nawah Songs from the Jewish Sephardic and Palestinian traditions
Françoise Atlan, vocals
Moneim Adwan, vocals and oud
Bijan Chemirani, zarb and daf

At the crossroads of the three monotheistic traditions of medieval Spain and of a musical tradition evoking exile, a lost homeland and sublime love, Françoise Atlan and Moneim Adwan (pictured above) cement an encounter between the music of the Maghreb and the Middle East.

Entering into resonance here are compositions, skilful improvisations, traditional and popular songs, alternating between liturgical texts and poetic verse, tarab and duende, the two emotions associated with Andalusia. The nostalgia of Sephardic song and the Jewish-Spanish romances of Françoise Atlan join with the heartbreak of a Gaza childhood – that of singer and oud-player Moneim Adwan.

Adwan performed at the Fes Festival in 2004. His songs are inspired by the traditional musical heritage of the Al-Châm region (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine) and by the classical Arab repertory. His compositions are an attempt to keep the tradition alive in a country which wavers between modernism and ancestral traditions.

With a background in two cultures and blessed with great vocal expression, original technique and style, Françoise Atlan has Judeo-Berber roots that have naturally led her to her passion for the Mediterranean vocal heritage, particularly the Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arab traditions, during her career as a lyrical singer.

Alongside her career in music and artistic projects which takes her all over the world, Atlan is also Artistic Director of the Festival de la Musique Andalousie Atlantique in Essaouira and has often performed at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music.

Maimonides in Fez

Next time you pop in to Cafe Clock, pause a moment at the beginning of the street, Derb Margana. On the right-hand side as you walk off the Tala'a Kebira towards the Cafe, is a small marble plaque denoting the house as that of Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher, who lived in Fez in the 12th century.


December marked the anniversary of the death of Maimonides, or Moshe Ben Maimon, in 1204 in Egypt. The Chabad website reports that Maimonides was born in 1135 during what some scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, after the first centuries of the Moorish rule. At an early age, he developed an interest in the exact sciences and philosophy.

Revered for his saintly personality as well as for his writings, he led an unquiet life, and wrote many of his works while traveling or in temporary accommodation. The Almohads conquered Córdoba in 1148, and threatened the Jewish community with the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile.

Maimonides's family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. For the next ten years they moved about in southern Spain, avoiding the conquering Almohades, but eventually settled in Fez, where he studied at the Karaouine University. During this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah in the years 1166–1168.

Maimonides' house in Derb Margana, Fez

Following this sojourn in Morocco, he and his family briefly lived in the Holy Land, before settling in Fostat, Egypt around 1168. While in Cairo he studied in Yeshiva attached to a small synagogue that still bears his name.

Maimonides was trained as a physician in Córdoba and in Fes. He gained widespread recognition and became a court physician to the Grand Vezier Alfadil, then to Sultan Saladin, after whose death he remained a physician to the royal family.

In his writings he described many conditions including asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, and pneumonia, and emphasized moderation and a healthy life style. His work was influential for generations of physicians.

In a famous letter, he describes his daily routine: After visiting the Sultan’s palace, he would arrive home exhausted and hungry, where "I would find the antechambers filled with gentiles and Jews ... I would go to heal them, and write prescriptions for their illnesses ... until the evening ... and I would be extremely weak."

Maimonides died on December 12, 1204 in Fustat, Egypt where it is believed that he was shortly buried before being reinterred in Tiberias, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Lower Galilee, Israel. However, the location of Maimonides' grave is not without controversy and in the Jewish Cairene community there is tradition that maintains that his grave has remained in Egypt.

Maimonides and his wife had one child, Avraham, who was recognized as a great scholar, and who succeeded him as Nagid and as court physician at the age of eighteen. The office of Nagid was held by the Maimonides family for four successive generations until the end of the 14th century.

He is widely respected in Spain and a statue of him was erected in Córdoba in the only synagogue in that city which escaped destruction. Although no longer functioning as a Jewish house of worship, it is open to the public.

Anne Frank exhibition opens in Fez

In a first for the Arab world, Fez is to host an exhibition on the life of Anne Frank, the teenage Holocaust victim who would have been 81 this year, had she lived.

Anne Frank: A History of Today opens at the Fez Centre for Human Rights this week.

Marietje Peters of Radio Netherlands takes up the story:

Despite her famous diary, many Moroccans have never heard of Anne Frank. Now an exhibition about the teenage Holocaust victim is being premiered in the Arab world for the very first time, set against the backdrop of anger and frustration at ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

Anne Frank: A History of Today will open in Fez this week, after two days of training for young Moroccans who will act as guides during the event. A handful have heard of the Holocaust, but for most the story of the secret annex in an Amsterdam canal house - where the Frank family were in hiding - is new. Anne Frank's diary, in which she reflects on daily life during the Nazi occupation until her family was deported to a death camp, was only recently published in Arabic.

volunteers in training (photo: Ahmed Laghrissi)

Hafsa Aloui Lamrani (19) says she had been told millions of Jews were killed by the Nazis, but before the training, questioned whether it was true or not.

'Here in Morocco we're always shocked by what we see on television, the Palestinians, Iraq, Afghanistan', she said. 'We're always shocked, so this isn't something new. But we still experience this story of Anne Frank.... That there's nobody to help you, that you're all alone in the world and that you're always attacked. One’s race is like a terrible thing.'

CRIMES
The exhibition features 36 panels on the young Anne Frank and her family, as well as photos showing Jews being deported. There is also a focus on other crimes against humanity including the genocide in Rwanda and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia. During the training, participants are shown video clips of anti-Jewish protests in Berlin, followed by a violent anti-Islam film, and are challenged on whether freedom of speech should apply to both examples.

It's a different way for these young people in Morocco to learn about a delicate topic that clearly provokes emotional reactions. As well as expressing scepticism about the aims of the organisers and concern about pro-Jewish propaganda, they ask why Anne Frank has been singled out from all the other victims of discrimination.

HISTORY
History lessons in Morocco focus little on World War II, and in the past have tended to skim over the subject of the Holocaust, according to teacher Hassan Moussaoui:

'The reason for this is primarily political, and secondly, religious', he explains. 'The Arab-Israeli conflict is a conflict Arabs feel is unfair. They're mistreated, they're marginalized. It's normal that there are negative repercussions. Of course we don't teach this history because the ministry of education is responsible for the curriculum .... It's not that they don't want to include it, but they're hiding from repercussions on the street, from parents.'

Amsterdam's Anne Frank Museum has already taken the exhibition to more than 60 countries, and works with local partners to adapt it where necessary - in this case, the Fez-based Moroccan Centre for Human Rights. Director Jamal Chadhi admits it was a difficult decision to become involved. There were calls for the project to be scrapped after the recent Israeli attacks on aid ships bound for Gaza in which people were killed.

Mr Chadhi expects criticism in the national press if, and when, it attracts more publicity. But he says the time is ripe for a dialogue on these kinds of issues in Morocco thanks to a change in the political climate in recent years:

'There's also work that needs to be done alongside this exhibition, education, work on improving knowledge of rights', says Mr Chadhi, 'to root out stereotypical images that exist in traditional culture. Because at the same time, we also have extremists who use sophisticated techniques and have more money... They are there to spread an anti-human rights culture, a discriminatory culture.'

SENSITIVE
Despite invitations from other Arab countries, this is the Anne Frank Museum's first experience of working in such a sensitive environment. 'If, out of a group of 16, three youngsters are more open to learning about the Holocaust and the complexity, then you've achieved something. And you hope that they will be kind of ambassadors,' says organiser Karen Polak.

The trainees say they've learned a lot from Anne Frank's story. Most importantly, says Hafsa, it is just one of many tales that needs to be told:

'There are also other children who haven't written anything', she says. 'There are always Anne Franks... in the past, in the present - I hope there won't be any in the future.'

Moroccan News Briefs

Sufi Festival begins today, 17 April
The Fes Festival of Sufi Culture begins today with an introductory lecture at 15h30 at the Batha Museum the medina. Founder and Director of the Festival Faouzi Skali will ask 'What is Sufism?'.

The opening concert tonight at 21h00 at the Batha Museum will feature Sheik Habboush and Jalal Eddine Weiss (tickets Dh200 at the door).

See the full programme here, although there have been some changes.


Moroccan Jewish Day at Al Akhawayn University


The University in Ifrane will hold its second Moroccan Jewish Day on Wednesday 21 April, with the theme "Judeo-Moroccan heritage in creating Moroccan arts".

The conference will be hosted by a wide range of guests such as Mr. Andre Azoulay, adviser to His Majesty the King, Simon Levy, director of the Judeo-Moroccan Heritage Museum of Casablanca, Samuel Kaplan, US ambassador to Morocco, and the presidents and representatives of Jewish communities in different regions of Morocco (Fez, Sefrou, Oujda, Marrakech, Essaouira and Casablanca) and the Jewish communities of France, Canada and the United States.

The program also includes an exhibition of art objects, from the Foundation of the Jewish Moroccan Heritage Museum and a musical evening.

Organising the day is the student Mimouna Club, established in 2007 to encourage students to discover Jewish-Moroccans who has always been part of the history of Morocco. The Club also aims to discover the Jewish traditions in their differences and similarities with Muslim traditions in the Moroccan context, and especially to introduce Moroccan Judaism as a model of coexistence between Jews and Muslims in the Arab world.

Mimouna is the name of a Jewish-Moroccan traditional feast which celebrates freedom, community, friendship, life and hospitality among Moroccan Jews and their Muslim fellow citizens, the statement said.


Quo vadis Merinides Hotel?

Rumour has it in the medina that this eyesore of a hotel on the hill above Fez has been sold and will be razed to make way for a super-star hotel in the mould of the extra luxurious Mamounia in Marrakech.
The Merinides, which has splendid views over the medina, gets pretty poor reviews from guests on forums such as Tripadvisor, so perhaps this would be good thing. Certainly no-one will be sorry to see the block-like 70s architecture go.



Morocco to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015

Morocco is among the few countries that will achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, head of Morocco's statistics office Haut Commissariat au Plan (HCP), Ahmed Lahlimi Alami said, writes Mokhtar Thabet for Global Arab Network.

This conclusion was confirmed by many studies and analyses carried out by the United Nations, the UN Development Programme and HCP, Lahlimi underlined during a workshop on the presentation of the 2009 national report on MDGs.

Recalling that Morocco was able to reduce the 1990s growth and human development deficits, he noted that the achievements made in terms of economic, social and urban infrastructure contributed to the decentralisation of the nation's economy and a better distribution of jobs, incomes and basic social services.

The large-scale anti-poverty programme "National Initiative for Human Development" (INDH) has contributed to minimizing the rates of unemployment and poverty during the last decade through improving the living conditions of the populations, particularly in rural areas, he said.

Lahlimi noted that though Morocco's economy has shown relative resilience due to the effects of the global economic crisis, it lost 0.9% of its GDP growth rate in 2008 and 2.4% in 2009.

Moreover, Morocco's economy expanded by 7.8% year on year in the final quarter of 2009, taking the full-year rate of GDP growth to an average of 5.2%, said the UK think-tank, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Terming as "impressive" the fourth-quarter growth rate, the think-tank said value-added output from the agricultural sector swelled by 26.9%, while output from mining and energy rose by 10.2%.

Manufacturing and construction activity grew by 3.8% and 6.1% respectively, said the EIU, adding that following this strong performance, Morocco was upgraded to investment grade by ratings agency Standard & Poor's in March.

Changes in agricultural output can have a significant effect on private consumption, added the think-tank, noting that the non-agricultural sector's role will increase over the longer term as manufacturing develops and construction expands on the back of government housing and infrastructure projects.