First, we read in "The Israel Connection: One People, Many Faces" (pp 90-92) that the first wave of Jewish immigrants to Morocco arrived in the days of King Solomon. He sent ships carrying merchandise to far-off lands including the shores of Morocco. Many of those Jews who live in the Atlas Mountains (and there are still a few living there today) believe that they are descendants of the Israelite tribes of Zevulun, Naftali and Asher, who were seamen in ancient Israel. They also have legends which include stories about visits from Moses, Joshua and ten wise men, who came to convince the Berbers to become Jews.
The second wave likely came to Morocco after the Romans burned the Second Temple in Jerusalem, in 70 C.E. Many historians believe that many of those Jews who fought against the Romans in Israel fled to Egypt, and over the next half century or so made their way along the North African coast of the Mediterranean further west, eventually reaching Morocco. In fact, all agree that they established independent Jewish states in different parts of North Africa, the strongest of which was in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. There, they encountered a very mysterious people called the Berbers, who led simple lives as shepherds and farmers and who were idol-worshippers. (To this day, Berbers are famous for their hand-woven rugs.) Over the coming centuries, the Berbers and Jews intermarried, and most Berbers converted to Judaism.
The third wave took place over several centuries, following the birth of Islam and the Arab Muslim conquest of most of the Mediterranean world in the 7th-11th centuries C.E. During this time, 9 out of 10 Jews lived under Muslim rule, and though they had to pay a special tax to their Muslim overlords, most enjoyed relatively peaceful and prosperous times in these years. It was during this time that Jews began to move into Morocco from other North African Jewish communities as traders and merchants, settling for the most part in the cities of Fez and Marrakesh.
Finally, in 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain forced the Jews of Spain to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country, many Jews opted to leave and the obvious place for many of those living in Andalusia (the very southern part of Spain) was Morocco, directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. They settled mainly in the large cities and spoke their own language, Ladino, unlike the other Moroccan Jews who spoke Arabic. These Sephardeem (Jews of Spain) did not always get along with the veteran residents of the large cities because they had a different social and cultural background.
In order to help the students understand why the Sephardeem separated themselves from the rest of the Moroccan Jewish community (and, for that matter, from other Jewish communities of India as well), I shared a video clip from the Heritage: Civilization and the Jews dvd-rom program (minutes 5:26-9:55), describing the life of the Jews of Spain for some 300 years under Muslim rule.
I completed our overview of the history of Moroccan Jewry by sharing a very short "Heritage" video clip of a modern-day Moroccan celebration of Mimouna - a unique Moroccan Jewish celebration which immediately follows Passover and which is testament to the close relations Jews had with their Moslem neighbors in Morocco. It was Muslims who brought flour and other ingredients to their Jewish neighbors the moment the sun set on the last day of Passover, and who helped prepare leavened-filled foods and then celebrated for one week following the end of Passover with their Jewish neighbors.
During the past two week day sessions, I taught the students how to make a very simple "jeta de la mezuzah" (French for "mezuzah pouch"). Those Sephardi Jews who arrived in Morocco during the final wave of immigration, carried with them a Christian tradition of wearing a cloth pouch on the belt containing the Christian prayers, "Hail Mary" and "The Lord's Prayer." They wore these while still in Spain as they tried at first to pretend they had converted while still secretly practicing Judaism. Hidden in a secret lining of the pouch were the "Sh'ma" and "V'Ahavta" prayers, which are the 22 lines contained on the parchment in the mezuzah hung on Jewish doors. Once they were free to openly practice Judaism in Morocco (even though they were second class citizens there), they removed the Christian prayers from the pouch, and hung the pouch up on their doorposts. To this day, there are homes in Morocco once inhabited by Jews which still have the pouches hanging on the doorposts, even though their current inhabitants are Muslim. And when many Jews moved to Israel when the State was established in 1948, they brought the tradition of the "jeta de la mezuzah" with them.
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| Most jeta de la mezuzahs are made from velvet or other fine cloth. We made them out of felt. |
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| Using fabric markers, the students wrote the 4-letter name of God (yud-hey-vav-hey) on the front of the jeta, which Moroccan Jews always did. Some students opted to cut out the letters from scrap pieces of felt. |
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| Once they had finished decorating the front cover of the jeta (with geometric or floral shapes which were common in Moslem lands, since Islam takes very seriously the second of the 10 commandments which bans the creation of images of God, and since man was created in God's image, no images of people are allowed in Moslem countries), the students glued the bottom and sides of the two felt pieces I had cut out for them ahead of time. The top was left open if they should want to purchase a "klaf" - a piece of parchment on which is written the "Sh'ma" and "V'Ahavta" prayers and which is inserted into the mezuzah. |
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| The students, much to my pleasant surprise, didn't want to stop decorating the jetas they were making, and I had to drag them out of the classroom when it was time for us to go to a music session, promising them they could finish their jetas on Sunday. |
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| Even then, they just wanted to glue on one more piece. |
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| Here's an almost completed example, with the four-letter name of God on the top. Pictured on the photo on the table is an original Moroccan jeta, made of velvet and embroidered with geometric and floral shapes. |
Finally, we gathered in Shira's classroom, where Eric (our weekday Music teacher) was waiting to teach us two songs connected to Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) which we celebrated on Tuesday (Happy 69th birthday Israel!). The first song was "Ha'Tikva" ("The Hope"), an English version of the Israeli national anthem, composed by Rick Recht (who sang at our Spring Fling a few years ago!):
And the second song he taught us was a Ugandan version of an Israeli song, "Am Yeesra'el Chai" ("The Nation of Israel Lives"):
Remember that this coming Sunday we will only be meeting during the first session (9:00-11:00 a.m.). We'll be joining Shira and Y'tzira students and teachers to rotate through three different stations in our "Jew-A-Palooza" final event of the year, when each track will share with the others something of what we learned during the year. In our Edot class, we'll be sharing a small piece of the culture of the Moroccan Jews by teaching the other students how to make the "jeta de la mezuzah" and also sharing a part of the Ashkenazi culture of the Jews of eastern Europe by teaching them how to make "Shvueslach" and "Reyzelach" (paper cuts used to decorate windows on the holiday of Shavuot and Shabbat, respectively). Y'tzira students will present skits to share what they learned about Jewish American heroes, and in the Shira classroom we'll learn how to compose simple melodies and use what we learn to compose a new melody for one of our prayers.
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