The Museum of Moroccan Judaism (, ) is a museum of Jewish life in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
in
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, Morocco.
Established in 1997, it is the only museum devoted to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
in the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. The museum, whose building originated in 1948 as a Jewish orphanage that housed up to 160 Jewish youth, was opened by King
Mohammed VI of Morocco on December 20, 2016.
History
Moroccan Jews
Moroccan Jews ( ar, اليهود المغاربة, al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba he, יהודים מרוקאים, Yehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews b ...
constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, which made Morocco the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, but fewer than 2,500 remain today.
The museum was initiated by Jewish Moroccans
Serge Berdugo Serge Berdugo (born 26 November 1938) is a Morocco, Moroccan lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Tourism for both Prime Ministers Mohammed Karim Lamrani and Abdellatif Filali between 1993 and 1995. Berdugo is a leader within the Moroccan ...
, Jacques
Toledano
Toledano ( he, טולדנו, lad, טולידאנו) is a family name derived from the city of Toledo, Spain. Bearers of the name can be found mainly in Spanish-speaking countries, the United States, France, Canada, Israel, and Australia. The ...
, Boris Toledano and
Simon Levy
Simon Levy (born May 12, 1949) is a theater director and playwright who has been the producing director and dramaturg with The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles since 1993.
Biography
Levy was born in Surrey, England and grew up in San Franci ...
(1934 – 2011). Levy, a former professor at the University of Rabat, was also the administrator of the Foundation of Jewish Cultural Heritage. Prior to his role in preserving Moroccan Jewish culture, he was known as an activist for national independence and human rights from the time of the
French protectorate in Morocco and the reign of King Hassan II.
After its restoration, the building was rededicated as museum by King
Mohammed VI of Morocco on December 20, 2016.
In addition to the king and Moroccan government officials, the opening was attended by the museum's president, Jacques
Toledano
Toledano ( he, טולדנו, lad, טולידאנו) is a family name derived from the city of Toledo, Spain. Bearers of the name can be found mainly in Spanish-speaking countries, the United States, France, Canada, Israel, and Australia. The ...
, and
Samuel L. Kaplan
Samuel Louis Kaplan (born 1936) is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Morocco. He was appointed ambassador in 2009 by President Barack Obama, replacing the previous ambassador Thomas T. Riley. He is one of only a few ...
, US ambassador to Morocco.
Exhibits
The building, situated in the
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
neighborhood of Casablanca, covers 700 square meters and consists of a large multipurpose room and three exhibition rooms. The multipurpose room presents paintings, photographs, and sculptures of Jewish life in Morocco. The exhibition rooms contain ritual objects, historic documents, costumes and jewelry from religious and family life, in addition to reconstructions of Moroccan synagogues.
Further, visitors can find artifacts of Moroccan Jewish life, including the
bimah (c. 1944) from the Beni-Issakhar Synagogue in Casablanca,
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
scrolls,
mezuzahs, and a
Hanukkah
or English translation: 'Establishing' or 'Dedication' (of the Temple in Jerusalem)
, nickname =
, observedby = Jews
, begins = 25 Kislev
, ends = 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet
, celebrations = Lighting candles each night. ...
menorah. The museum also touts a collection of
Jewish Berber history, including costumes, jewelry, and hand-shaped
''khmisa'' pendants. Visitors can also observe a reconstructed jewelry-making workshop, which was created using the workbench and tools of Jewish
silversmith Saul Cohen.
A historic Moroccan document about the persecution of Jews in North Africa by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the
Vichy regime
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
, commemorating the defeat of the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
in Africa, is the so-called ''Megilat Hitler''. This document was written by
Asher Ḥassin, a Moroccan Jew and Hebrew teacher, who lived through the horrors of the Vichy regime and wrote this scroll in the style of the biblical
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Judaism, Jewish ''Tanak ...
.
In January 2019, French-Moroccan opera singer
David Serero donated a large part of his Moroccan
Judaica art collection, the largest donation of Judaica artifacts ever donated to a Moroccan museum.
One of the most notable items is the
preamble
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...
of Morocco’s updated 2011
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, which cites Hebraic influences as a pillar of national unity. Museum director,
Zhor Rehihil, was quoted declaring that, “the new constitution emphasizes both ethnic and religious pluralism in Morocco.”
Pictures of the museum collection
File:One of the halls at the Moroccan Jewish Museum of Casablanca, Morocco.jpg, One of the halls of the Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca
File:One of the halls at the Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca, Morocco.jpg, One of the halls of the Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca
File:One of the halls at the Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca.jpg, One of the halls of the Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca
File:The Book of Deuteronomy, Debarim. Hebrew with translation in Judo-Arabic, transcribed in Hebrew letters. From Livorno, 1894 CE. Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca.jpg, The Book of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
, Debarim. Hebrew with translation in Judeo-Arabic
Judeo-Arabic dialects (, ; ; ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encomp ...
, transcribed in Hebrew letters, 1894 CE
File:A wall sign advising attendants of a Jewish synagogue on what to do during prayer. Moroccan Jewish Museum, Morocco.jpg, A wall sign advising attendants of a Jewish synagogue on what to do during prayer.
File:Jewelry, once belonged to a Jewish family. Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca.jpg, '' Khmisa'' amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s, once belonging to a Jewish family
File:Pair of anklets, silver molded, city style. Once belonged to a Jewish woman. Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca.jpg, Pair of silver anklet
An anklet, also called ''ankle chain'', ''ankle bracelet'' or ''ankle string'', is an ornament worn around the ankle. Barefoot anklets and toe rings historically have been worn for at least over 8,000 years by girls and women in Indus Valley, in ...
s, once belonging to a Jewish woman
File:Megillah, Megillat-Hitler, Moroccan Jewish Museum, Casablanca.jpg, Megillah
Megillah ( he, מגילה, scroll) may refer to:
Bible
*The Book of Esther (''Megillat Esther''), read on the Jewish holiday of Purim
*The Five Megillot
*Megillat Antiochus
Rabbinic literature
*Tractate Megillah in the Talmud.
*Megillat Taanit, ...
, so-called ''Megillat-Hitler''
See also
*
History of the Jews in Morocco
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, which gave Morocco the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, but by 2017 only 2 ...
*
Maghrebi Jews
:''See Mashriqi Jews for more information about Jews in the rest of North Africa and Western Asia.''
Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim'') or North African Jews ( ''Yehudei Tzfon Africa'') are ethnic Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghre ...
*
List of Moroccan Jews
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moroccan Jewish Museum
Jewish Moroccan history
Jewish museums in Morocco
Jews and Judaism in Casablanca
History of the Jews in Africa
Religious buildings and structures in Casablanca
Islamic and Jewish interfaith dialogue
Islam and Judaism
Museums established in 1997
1997 establishments in Morocco