Moroccan Jews celebrate the New Year

2009-09-22

Morocco's tiny Jewish community marked the arrival of the New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, beginning Friday (September 18th).

[Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Though the number of Moroccan Jews has dwindled, the community still gathers in Fez to celebrate the New Year.

As Moroccan Muslims prepared to celebrate the end of Ramadan, Jews across the country celebrated another momentous holiday, the start of the New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. The New Year marks the beginning of year 5770 in the Jewish calendar, and Fassi Jews marked the occasion on Friday and Saturday (September 18th and 19th) with marked solemnity and discreetness.

The ancient city of Fez is known as the home of the first mellah (Jewish neighbourhood) in the Arab world. During World War II, when King Mohammed V refused to implement the anti-Semitic practices of the Vichy French government, approximately 300,000 Jews lived in Morocco. After decades of emigration, only about 3,000 remain; the last Jewish person left the mellah in Fez this year.

Jews in Fez now live in a newer neighbourhood and attend Synagogue Ben Saadoun, built in 1920. Invisible to the community, the synagogue is unmarked, with no sign or doorbell for visitors. But the innocuous exterior hides a breathtaking house of worship with intricate Moroccan carvings and hundreds of Jewish holy books.

The Jewish New Year started at sundown on Friday. Just before it began, about 10 men gathered, enough for the minyan (quorum) required for communal prayer. A solitary woman and a child sat behind a curtain in the women's section, where they generally watch and follow along in the services, but do not participate.

"Normally there are about twice as many of us, but many choose to go on holiday during Ramadan," said Robert Serero, whose family has been in Morocco for more than 500 years, since Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain.

"It's sad how much the community here is shrinking, with everyone leaving," he said. "But this is my home, and I will never leave. They say we have problems here, but there are problems everywhere, and why trade one for another?"

The men settled into a service, which alternated between personal prayer in Hebrew from the siddur (traditional prayer book) and group prayer led by Rabbi Albert Seddag. "We're offering blessings attesting to God's sovereignty, and giving thanks for the creation of the world," Sebbag said. Services early on Saturday morning followed the same format.

As the prayers began, the men realised that they had non-Jewish Moroccans visiting. In hushed voices, some called for the visitors to leave, while some said that they should be allowed to stay. Near the end of the hour-long services, the discussion became heated and voices were raised.

Outside the synagogue, one visitor, a student named Mohammed, said he was shaken by the experience. Mohammed said he often visits different religious communities in a personal search for truth. He said he is sometimes harassed by fellow Muslims, who call him a traitor, and for that reason did not want his last name published.

Earlier in 2009, King Mohammed VI marked a major moment in Muslim-Jewish relations when he became the first leader of a Muslim nation to stand against those who deny the existence of the Holocaust, such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a speech read in Paris in March, the king called the genocide "one of the most tragic chapters of modern history".

This decade has been marked by increased tension between Muslims and Jews in Morocco, most notably in the wake of the 2003 Casablanca bombings that targeted Jewish sites. But Mustapha Al Khalfi, a member of the council for the Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party, said that the strong Moroccan history of inter-religious understanding still prevails.

"We should be careful about any intolerance or attacks that undermine this relationship, and fight anything that might lead to the reproduction of the Holocaust."