The Slat al-Azama Synagogue or Lazama Synagogue (, ) is one of the best-known

synagogues A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wors ...

in Marrakesh,

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 t ...

. It is located in the historic ''

Mellah A ''mellah'' ( or 'saline area'; and he, מלאח) is a Jewish quarter of a city in Morocco. Starting in the 15th century and especially since the beginning of the 19th century, Jewish communities in Morocco were constrained to live in ''mellah' ...

'' (Jewish quarter) of the old city.

History

The synagogue was associated with

Sephardic Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

who were expelled from Spain in 1492 (known as the

Megorashim Megorashim ( he, מגורשים "expelled") is a term used to refer to Jews from the Iberian Peninsula who arrived in North Africa as a result of the anti-Jewish persecutions of 1391 and the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. These migrants we ...

). The synagogue's foundation is likewise traditionally attributed to 1492, though one scholar has indicated that the exact year of establishment has not been verified. The Mellah district in which the synagogue is located was not created until 1557. In any case, the synagogue's current form dates from a more modern restoration. The building is still functioning as a synagogue today.

Architecture

The synagogue is integrated into a larger building which consisted of a private house with a central courtyard (popularly referred to as a riad). This integration of a synagogue into a private home was typical of most synagogues in the Mellah of Marrakesh as well as in the Mellah of Fez. The synagogue itself has traditional Moroccan decoration such as ''

zellij ''Zellij'' ( ar, الزليج, translit=zillīj; also spelled zillij or zellige) is a style of mosaic tilework made from individually hand-chiseled tile pieces. The pieces were typically of different colours and fitted together to form various pa ...

'' (mosaic tilework). The east side was renovated after the 1950s, with the addition of a wing for women (ezrat nashim), which is unique in

where tradition dictates that women stay in a separate room at the entrance of the synagogue. The original wooden

Torah ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...

has been replaced by a marble ark, which is located next to the eastern wall. Notes drawn in the 1950s by architect Yaacov Finkerfeld demonstrate that the space mentioned above did not exist for women and that the interior was divided into two naves by four columns. On the upper floor there is a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

References

{{Morocco-struct-stub Buildings and structures in Marrakesh Sephardi synagogues Spanish diaspora in Africa Spanish-Jewish diaspora Synagogues in Morocco