To travel to Morocco is to re-enter Jewish history: to touch, to smell, to see, to visualize, to feel, to hear thousands of years of a Jewry so distinguished, so fascinating, so significant as to place oneself almost in a “spell “ of wonderment. Jewish life in Morocco was and remains truly Moroccan at the same time that it is also (and sometimes in contrast) European. Or maybe one should say it is always Moroccan even when it is so European, so French or Spanish. For Morocco itself is also a study in contrasts, with its mix of French and Spanish influences (even the British and Italians had a piece of the pie here) together with a strong Berber past and present in many parts of the country alongside the dominant Moroccan Arab population.
Morocco is exotic to the American eye, and maybe even at times to the native. Its Imperial cities, with their mysterious old Medina, have transported us into the 10th-15th centuries. Teaming markets alive with spices, shoes, clothing, breads, herbal medicines, sit within minutes a large Marjane (the Moroccan Wal-Mart ) outside the old city walls where we buy our picnic foods for daily lunch. Men in robes and women covered in facial scarves and wrapped in seemingly protective cloths allow the costume to join the mystery and build for us a world we see - but do not really understand. In Taroudant we spent the night in a medieval Pasha’s palace amidst lush gardens of Palm and Banana trees…in Zagora we danced with the Berber tribesman who brought camels for our short journey amidst the sands of the Sahara desert in the darkness lit only by the sky filled with stars…
What is the quality of Jewish life in a Moslem land that has caused almost all of the 300,000 plus Jews of the period up to 1956 to leave for Israel, France, Montreal and other points around the globe…while retaining 6 day schools, 10 kosher butchers, dozens of functioning Synagogues, and 4 kosher restaurants (including one within a Jewish beach club) in Casablanca alone (all for 3-4000 Jews at the most!). Is there a future here or only a past?
Here in a Moslem land Jewish life remains active even in the tiniest of numbers. And you feel it everywhere. After Shabbat ends In Marrakech we go to the local “circus”, the Fantasia for dinner and havdalah in a huge Berber tent accompanied by exciting Arabian horsemanship complete with loaded firing rifles AND a strictly kosher dinner in a section of the tent reserved for kosher guests. There is Judaica everywhere; some authentic and others recreated-fakes complete with Hebrew errors in anticipation of Jewish tourists (some of whom do come from Israel searching for their roots). Where are we?
Outside of Taroudant there is a small Berber village where little has changed for 100’s of years. The roads are dirt and unpaved. The alleys lead through curved paths to the unknown. There, in the midst of nothing obvious our teacher and guide, Raphael David Elmalekh has discovered and recovered a little Synagogue, complete with woman’s section and Mikveh (ritual bath). Raphy tells the story that several years ago, while traveling throughout the country seeking whatever remained of abandoned Jewish life, he was directed to this village of Arazane. When asking if there were once Jews here he was sent to a village elder, Harim by name. Upon hearing Raphy’s request for the location of the Synagogue, this simple Berber man takes out a key and says: “What took you so long. I have been waiting for you to come for 45 years!” Entrusted with the sanctity of this small Jewish house of prayer, he has protected and preserved what he could for decades. He greets us in Hebrew...Barukh Habah (Blessed is the one who comes to visit) and chants the sh'ma. After 45 years one must ask why he remembers...how powerful was the connection...how deep? “Are the Jews coming back?” the locals asked Raphy. “We will return these homes to them if they return. Why did they leave?”
Is this story for real you may ask? Not only is it real, but it is repeated throughout the country. Local officials protecting ancient Jewish cemeteries, respecting Jewish graves, assisting in the reconstruction of 500-year-old synagogues like the one mentioned above. There is the impressive and beautiful Jewish Museum in Casablanca, the only one in the entire Middle East. Is it an aberration or an anticipation?
If we closed our eyes in the Synagogue, the chanting of the Hazzan might have been the calling of the traditional Muezzin from the Minaret above the Mosques throughout the country. The music sounded the same. The pronunciation of the Hebrew made it sound like Arabic. When we eat in kosher restaurants it is a chicken or fish or lamb tagine or couscous that fills our plates. In the Jewish clubs in Casablanca we are served traditional Moroccan tea in a Moroccan salon with ceilings decorated in classical Moroccan style. The Jews appear to have completely integrated everything Moroccan into their lives over the 1000’s of years of their living here (40% trace their roots back to the time of the 2nd Temple and most of the rest from the Expulsion from Spain in 1492). Yet they are amongst the most cohesive and traditional of Jewish communities around the world. How is it possible to integrate (or to assimilate to really use the proper, albeit Jewishly frightening word) and still retain their identity century after century? And tradition has it that Moroccan Jews have never developed anything like the Ashkenazi religious divisions (at least until they arrived in modern Israel!).
We have seen the beauty of this land. The soaring heights of the Atlas Mountains that surrounded us in Quarzazate, capped with snow through most of the year. The Atlantic Ocean breaking against the Casablanca coastline. The empty desert sands of the Sahara that would take 52 days to cross to get to Timbukto. The extraordinary great Mosque of Hassan II, the third largest in all of Islam, after only Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The old cities, the modern new neighborhoods, the insides, the outsides. The people of all colors, costumes, languages, music, crafts…a fullness that is engaging and enveloping.
Some of us are also beginning to think back to Lithuania and Russia, where we traveled in 2004, or Italy in 2005. Is there a single Jewish people? Do we have a common heritage? Does this Diaspora retain meaning? Why is it that we know (relatively speaking of course) so much about Eastern European Jewry and so little, if anything, of North Africa? Is the contrast only a factor of temperature?
We may have left Morocco on…but Morocco is highly unlikely to ever leave us.
(essay by Peter Geffen)
