Moroccan Jews
Moroccan Jews (Arabic: اليهود المغاربة, romanized: al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba Hebrew: יהודים מרוקאים, romanized: Yehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were later met by a second wave of migrants from the Iberian peninsula in the period which immediately preceded and followed the issuing of the 1492 Alhambra Decree, when Jews were expelled from Spain, and soon afterward, from Portugal. This second wave of immigrants changed Moroccan Jewry, which largely embraced the Andalusian Sephardic liturgy, to switch to a mostly Sephardic identity.
The immigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel has occurred throughout the centuries of Jewish history. Moroccan Jews built the first self-made neighborhood outside the walls of Jerusalem (Mahane Israel) in 1867,[15] as well as the first modern neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias.[16]
At its peak in the 1950s, Morocco's Jewish population was about 250,000-350,000,[17] but due to the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel and other nations, including Operation Yachin from 1961 to 1964, this number has been reduced to approximately 5,000. The vast majority of Moroccan Jews now live in Israel, where they constitute the second-largest Jewish community, approximately half a million.[3] Other communities are found in France, Canada, Spain, the United States and South America, mainly in Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.
The affection and respect between Jews and the Kingdom of Morocco is still palpable. Every year rabbis and community leaders across the world are invited for the Throne Celebration held every 30 July in Rabat. During the celebration in 2014, Rabbi Haim A. Moryoussef of Canada dedicated his book "Le Bon Oeil - Ben Porath Yossef" to the King Mohammed VI and offered him a handwritten blessing on parchment wishing him a healthy, long and successful life.[18]
Jewish quarters in Morocco[edit]
The Jewish quarters in Morocco were called mellahs. Jews in Morocco were considered dhimmis under Muslim law, meaning that they were a protected religious minority distinct from the Muslim majority, and were prevented from participating in certain activities.[37] However, dhimmis such as Jews were tolerated, following the Pact of Umar in the 7th century, unlike the policy of intolerance that Christians practiced toward Jews in the Europe of that time. The sultans restricted Jews to the mellahs, in what most see as an attempt to ostracize them and keep them from being exposed to insurgents;[38] The sultans also, however, wanted Jews to be protected for political reasons, as an attack on minorities was seen as an attack on the Sultan's power. The Sultans thus restricted Jews to the mellahs for their safety, as well as to protect the Sultans' rulings from being tested by insurgents.[37] The word mellah is similar to the Hebrew word for salt, melach (מלח); it refers to the salty, marshy area to which the Jews of Northern Morocco were originally transferred and where they gathered.[39] The mellah was not a ghetto and was not structured in a way similar to Jewish quarters in Europe.[39] By the 1900s, most Moroccan cities had a mellah.[39]