Jews of Morocco
Even before the completion of the Spanish Reconquista, Jews from the Iberian peninsula had settled in Morocco. These were reinforced by later refugees from Portugal.
There were social and cultural differences between the Megorashim (the Iberian Sephardim) and the indigenous Jews (Toshavim). The indigenous Jews comprised both Arabic- and Berber-speakers. For those interested in applying for a Portuguese passport due to Sephardic ancestry, you need to prove that your ancestors were Megorashim.
A simplistic geography is that Megorashim lived in coastal cities, especially in the north; the Berber-speaking Jews lived in the mountains and the south; and the indigenous Arabic-speaking Jews were more scattered. There were exceptions to these rules. For example the desert city of Debdou towards the Algerian border has a tradition that their ancestors fled Seville.
The Megorashim (Iberian Sephardim) in northern cities like Tangier and Tetoun spoke a Spanish dialect called haketia (sometimes called Ladino, but distinct from the Ladino of the Ottoman Empire). The Megorashim in southern cities such as Mogador/Essaouira spoke Judeo-Arabic.
In 1608 Samuel Pallache, a Jew, arrived in the Netherlands from Morocco as agent for the sultan. In 1610 he signed the first pact of alliance between Morocco and a Christian country.
There were both Spanish and Portuguese enclaves on the coast. The Portuguese enclave of Tangier passed to England for a time in the late 17th Century. English rule of Tangier was only viable through mediation of Jews of Tetuán, which is only 40km away.
Sephardic Jewish Genealogy in Morocco
Moroccan Civil Records
There are records for the Kingdom of Morocco, and the French and Spanish protectorates.
Civil records of the French Protectorate in Morocco, from 1912 to 1956, are held by the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères de France.
Moroccan Jewish Records
Many of the documents relating to the genealogy of the Jews of Morocco have been lost.
Within Morocco, many surviving Jewish records have been gathered by the Chief Rabbinate and Beth Din (religious court) in Casablanca. Most remaining Moroccan Jews live in Casablanca. These documents are reported to be poorly organised and unindexed. Also the Beth Din does not always respond to requests for help. Assuming they reply to a request for help, significant fees may be charged. It is reported that physically sending someone to see them is the best strategy.
The library of the Centre de la Culture Judeo-Marocaine in Belgium is a valuable resource.
Alliance Israelite Universelle operated Jewish schools in Morocco.
The National Library of Israel collection includes a number of ketubot (marriage contracts).
Jews born in Morocco deported from France in WWII. Presumably this list is derived from the Yad Vashem website.
I don’t know if the Bibliothèque Nationale will have anything useful in their collection. In France there is an Association généalogie Algérie Maroc Tunisie, but their interest appears to be 19th and 20th Century. Dafina is French-language website of Moroccan-Jewish interest.
As we move into the 18th Century, some Sephardim had citizenship or came under the protection of a European power, notably France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Vital records, including copies of birth, marriage and death certificates, may survive in the national archives of those countries.
Many Moroccan Jews migrated to Israel and France, so the Jewish genealogical societies of those countries may be useful contacts:
Israel Genealogy Research Association
The Généalogie des juifs marocains group on Facebook is also a valuable resource.
Jewish Genealogy of Northern Morocco – Tangier and Tetouan
Philip Abensur has written two books on the Sephardic Jewish community of northern Morocco: “Tanger entre Orient et Occident” and “Tétouan cité marocaine aux racines andalouses”.
Circumcision records from Tetuan have been published: La comunidad judía de Tetuán (1881-1940) : registro de circuncisiones de R. Yishaq Bar Vidal Ha-Serfaty.
There were two Jewish cemeteries in Tangier / Tanger. The Old Cemetery dates at least to the 18th Century and remained in general use until 1935, although there were some burials as late as the 1950s. There are some written records. The records of the new cemetery of the Tangiers Jewish community are online.
Click for a view of the Tetouan Jewish cemetery. A 76 page burial register, the Registro de Metim 1897-1971, written in the haketia language is currently being indexed.
The Jews of Tetuan, Morocco: Genealogy and Iconography by Philip Abensur
Ana María López Álvarez, La comunidad judía de Tetuán 1881–1940
Jewish Genealogy of Mogador / Essaouira
In the 19th Century there was significant traffic between Mogador/Essaouira and England. Sidney Corcos is writing a book about this. French and Spanish ‘protectorates’ were carved out of Morocco in the early 20th Century.
Central Archives of the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem hold the records of the former Mogador Beth Din, and other documents.
Jewish Genealogy in Casablanca
The cemetery has a website.
Casablanca hosts the Arab world’s only museum of Judaism.
Jewish Genealogy in Agadir
The cemetery has a website.
Jewish Genealogy in Marrakech
The Jewish cemetery of Marrakech has been indexed.
Jewish Genealogy in Fez / Fes
The circumcision book (1839 – 1912) of Rabbis Moses and Samuel Aben Danan is in the collection of the National Library of Israel.
The Jewish cemetery in Fez has been indexed.
Jewish Genealogy in Salé
Some of the Jewish graves in Salé have been indexed on the JewishGen website.
Jewish Genealogy in Debdou
The best resource is a book by Eliyahou Marciano and others: Une nouvelle Séville en Afrique du Nord : histoire et généalogie des juifs de Debdou (Maroc).
Tanger
Guia telefónica de la Zona de Protectorado Español en Marruecos, febrero 1947
Anuario telefónico, Zona de Tánger, 1950-1951 = Annuaire telephonique, Zone de Tanger. Of course, not everyone had a telephone.
There is one and only one incongruous figure in the mob of gailyclad Orientals that surrounds me as I step on to the landing stage & dark little man in red fez and suit of thin shiny English broadcloth who takes possession of me the moment I utter the words Central Hotel This is Simon Barujel a Tangier Jew who acts as guide to the Central and speaks fair French and indifferent Spanish and English We strike up hill into the streets of Tangier and rounding
Source: Temple Bar, Volume 61, 1881
Tetoaun
Links for Moroccan Jewish Genealogists
Moroccan Community of Morocco Facebook page
Information on the Archive du Maroc
Nahon Family Hotel of Tetuan
Below I have transcribed some reportage on the Nahon family hotel in Tetuan. Reports on Jewish communities and individuals can often be found on Google Books. Frequently they contain prejudice or judgement, but they can also offer a flavour of a place at a specific time in its history. Abensur reports that Ortega’s Guía del Norte de Africa y Sur de España published in 1917 contains many Jewish references.
THE Fonda Inglesa at Tetuan is a quaint old Moorish house kept by Señor Nahon a linguistical Jew who speaks English French Spanish and Arabic with the greatest fluency My bedroom on the third story was reached by a flight of quaintly tiled stairs rising
The dinner a good one in itself is made peculiarly piquant by the unconventional service of the Jewish handmaiden who waits on me a damsel of some fifteen summers with flowing black ringlets and a squint in one eye Like most Jewesses of her class she is loosely constructed and not too prudishly neat or clean Her loose pink calico jacket is not so loose as the sea green skirt beneath which at regular intervals falls down for a few inches to show a zone of blue petticoat Her manners are free and unconfined as her dress She leans akimbo on the balustrade of the well outside the alcove and with the oblique eye watches the progress of my dinner round the corner of the Moorish archway When she sees I have finished one course she shrieks down a notification of the fact to Juanita the cook and saunters in negligently to clear the table stopping half way perhaps in the action of lifting a plate to hitch up the falling sea green robe When the dish happens to be well cleared which happens more than once the ten hours ride through the mountains having given me a wolfish appetite she asks me Did you like that in a tone of lazy astonishment as if she considered it foolish to expend energy even on eating There is a depth of irony too in her manner when she remarks at the close of the dinner Perhaps you would like something else a simple suggestion in which however she manages to convey clearly that she regards me in the act of dining as a deeply amusing study and has no objection to give me the means of still further amusing her Having thus withered the Christian guest with that fine scorn which Lamb discovers in the face of even the meanest Hebrew she finally retires humming a Spanish ditty in devil may care style.
Source: Temple Bar, Volume 61, 1881
Marruecosel pais y los habitantesBy Adolph von Conring · 1881. Nahon is also the Italian Consul. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Marruecos/Dl5bAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Nahon+Tetuan&pg=PA31&printsec=frontcover
Annuaire. Volume 8. By Club alpin français · 1882. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Annuaire/oUE3AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Nahon+Tetuan&pg=PA335&printsec=frontcover
The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature. John Holmes Agnew, Walter Hilliard Bidwell, Henry T. Steele · 1883. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Eclectic_Magazine/lZNAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
In the Jewish quarter the house of Mr. Isaac Nahon, who speaks English, will be open to him and he will find very comfortable beds and treatment. Tetuan is a much larger and more imposing place than Tangier but it possesses many of its features, only the entire absence of Europeans renders it more interesting as an Oriental study. The streets are very narrow and dirty, but the houses being all flat-roofed and painted white as are also the walls, look clean and bright in the sun. There are several fine mosques here, and Mr. Nahon is able to obtain permission for a traveller to visit some of the houses of the rich Moors, which opportunity should not be neglected. The Jews in this town are kept in great subjection their quarter being locked up at night and guarded by Moorish soldiers.
A Popular History of Gibraltar, Its Institutions, and Its Neighbourhood on Both Sides of the Straits, and a Guide Book to Their Principal Places and Objects of Interest …By Gilbard (Lieut.-Colonel, George James) · 1888
Tetuan. Excellent lodgings obtainable in the house of Mr Isaac Solomon Nahon, British Consular Agent, who resides in the Millah, or Jews’ quarter.
The approach to Tetuan is remarkably impressive. Its general aspect is as white as Cadiz, even the walls which encircle the city being painted white as snow . To the left this white wall runs far up to the hill, enclosing what looks like a citadel, and this gives a unique aspect to the place. To the right is a finely shaped high mountain, of the Atlas range, which is said to be the abode of numerous monkeys ; the cousins, probably, of the few speci mens which are still to be seen at Gibraltar, as a reminder of the time when the Mediterranean did not yet completely separate Europe from Africa. Not long ago, it is said, monkeys were so plentiful at Tetuan that they cost only sixpence a piece. As meat is dear and monkeys are good to eat, I ex pected one on toast for breakfast, but was doomed to disappointment. At the gate we were stopped and the soldier’s gun taken away from him, to be kept until we left again . Then we rode through some ” streets , ” like those of Tangier, only ” more 80 , ” until we drew up in front of a most dismal and forbidding building. This, the guide explained to my horror, was the “ hotel. ” A man came out and greeted me in Spanish , and I inquired, after scanning the building, if he had a room with a window . He had none, and I told the guide I would not stay there under any circumstances, and asked if there was no other inn. “ Yes,” he said, “ Nahon’s, in the Jewish quarter.” Now I had told the rascal in the morning that I wanted to go to Nahon’s, but his anti-Semitic proclivities, or a desire to make a bargain for bringing me there, had led him to take me to the Spanish inn. So we turned about and soon reached the Jewish quarter, after passing through a special gate which is locked up at night, no Jew being allowed to enter the Moorish quarters after sunset unless he does as we did sub sequently, and convinces the keeper with a small piece of silver that he has important business to attend to . The Jewish quarter is not a bit cleaner than any other part of Tetuan ; the only apparent difference being that in the Jewish streets vegetable garbage seems to predominate, while in the Moorish the nose is more offended by animal refuse. Some of the streets were regular cellar -vaults, being spanned by broad stone arches ; an exaggeration of the Span ish method of extending canvas over the streets to keep out the sun ; and I have no doubt that in mid summer these vaulted streets are the only tolerable ones in Tetuan . The streets were crowded with children , and some of the larger boys endeavored to show off their educational attainments by greeting me with a loud “ Bon Soir, Mosoo ! ” As we entered the side street in which Nahon’s hotel is situated, two of them even grasped my horse by the bridle to pre vent it from slipping on the smooth stone pavement. The host, Mr. Isaac S. Nahon, British consular agent for Tetuan, received us in person, and took us into his house, with its usual Moorish patio or central court. Mr. Nahon wears European clothes and a Derby hat, as becomes his position, speaks English fluently, and provides tourists with various comforts which are all the more appreciated after riding through the forbidding streets. He gave me the choice of several rooms, one on top of the house with three windows, whence I could enjoy a fine mountainous prospect on two sides, and a bird’s eye view of half the terraced city. This, of course, I chose, admitting the delicious night- air at all the three windows, and soon fell soundly asleep, think ing of the narrow escape from the windowless Span ish inn, and regardless of the fact that I was doubly locked in , first in the Jewish quarter, and, secondly, within the walls of Tetuan. Tetuan is considered one of the headquarters of the Hebrew race ; and, according to Hooker and Ball, it “ boasts of being the cradle of more wealthy Jewish families than any other town in the world .” Their chief occupation is gold embroidery on velvet and silk, and some, probably, brought a part of their wealth along from Spain, when they were ex. pelled from that country. That was four centuries ago, but they still use the Spanish language in their families ; and it makes a most agreeable impression on a tourist in this howling African wilderness to see a pretty Jewish maiden coming into the hotel patio, and saying her “ Buenas noches, Señor, ” with a sweet smile. Mr. Nahon told me that many of his race are leaving Tetuan and emigrating to America, chiefly to Boston ; and I could not but admit that that suburb of Cambridge must be, on the whole, a pleasanter place for them to live in than Tetuan. Though they are locked up at night, they have otherwise about the same privileges as at Tangier, whereas at Fez Jews are not allowed to wear shoes, but must go barefooted ; nor can they ride on horses, which are considered too noble animals for them. They are personally exempt from military service, but have to furnish an equivalent in cash. It seems difficult to understand why any of them should remain in such a place, but the government places special impediments in the way of those who wish to emigrate. Were these removed , Tetuan, which is already half -depopulated ( having houses for forty thousand inhabitants and only half as many to fill them ), would, perhaps, soon be deserted entirely, so far as the seven thousand five hundred Jews in it are concerned . There is not a single policeman not even a sereno – in this or any other Morocco town, to protect life and property ; nor can the sit uation of Tetuan be healthy, to judge by the pallor of the inhabitants. In case of sickness, there are no doctors ; although, thanks to Sir Moses Monte fiore, a few apothecary shops (and schools) have been introduced .
In personal appearance the Jews of Tetuan are greatly superior to the Moors, the children especial ly being very pretty ; and among the women not a few are conspicuous for physical beauty. Hooker and Ball think that the facial beauty of these Jew esses is lacking in expression. This, no doubt, is often true ; but how could it be otherwise in such a dreary, stupid, out-of – the -world town ? Tetuan seems to have been built where it is, by the water loving Moors, on account of the numerous springs and rivulets in the neighborhood ; and it is pos sible that with superior sanitary arrangements it might be made into a habitable and even an at tractive place, for its site, as I have said, is remark ably fine. But as things are managed at present, a prudent foreigner would no more dream of tasting the city’s water than he would in Fez, where he runs the risk of drinking the water in which five hundred beauties of the Sultan’s harem have taken their morn ing bath . Mr. Nahon told me that he has had so much trouble with water that he now has it specially brought down from the mountain for his family and guests ; and this is only another illustration of the way in which he discharges his duties as a host. He showed me his hotel register, exactly fifty years old, with the comments of hundreds of tourists on the trip , on Tetuan, and on the host ; and it speaks volumes in favor of Mr. Nahon and his father, who preceded him , that there is only one that was so unfavorable in its comments that he deemed it expedient to ink it over. He also has a small library, consisting chiefly of books of travel in which Tetuan and his hotel are mentioned.
After breakfast the guide came to the hotel and we went out to see the city. The soldier also joined us outside of the Jewish quarter, without uniform , gun, or badge of any sort to distinguish him from civilians ; I believe the Moroccan army has no regular uniform . Before we had been out five minutes I realized that foreigners are much rarer in Tetuan than at Tangier, and that if a popular vote had been taken the majority would have decided that I was the greatest curiosity in the city.
Spain and Morocco, Studies in Local Color. By Henry Theophilus Finck · 1891
lodging at the house of the British Consular Agent , Mr . Nahon , who has entertained so many travellers , as did his father before him , that his “ Visitors ‘ Book ” is a marvel of curious autographs , some more than 100 years old . North Africa – Issues 31-52 – Page 79. 1891
Handbook to the Mediterranean: Its Cities, Coasts, and Islands : for the Use of General Travellers and Yachtsmen. By Sir Robert Lambert Playfair, 1892
The Handbook of Travel to Spain, from the same publisher and year, adds: “Visitors’ book, dating from 1838, very interesting.”
Nahon’s House is listed in “Where to Stop.” A Guide to the Best Hotels of the World, 1894
The only hotel in Tetuan in which a person of Western civilization can pass a night of tolerable comfort, is “ Nahon’s,” in the Jewish quarter . Nahon is a very agreeable, painstaking host, and an accomplished gentleman as well. He is an Oriental of the highest type, in the matter of quaint learning, superb reserve, and natural courtesy ; but he will persist in wearing European clothes and a stove-pipe hat! This may be due to the fact that he is the British consular agent at his native town.
Tetuan boasts of being one of the last distinctive strongholds of the Hebrew race, and, according to some authorities, it is “ the cradle of more wealthy Jewish families than any other town in the world”. Hither came many of the brilliant and erudite Jews forced to depart from Spain by the horrors of the Inquisition . Despite the passing of four centuries, their descendants still use the Spanish language in their domestic and social relations. In personal appearance they are vastly superior to the Moors . The women are almost invariably pretty and frequently decidedly handsome, with crimson lips , damask cheeks, and languorous eyes. The men are tall and muscular , with clear cut features, recalling the Roman face of fancy and intaglio . Though their quarter of the town is locked up at night, the Tetuan Hebrews endure no very annoying restrictions. Indeed , they are treated there just about as at Tangier. Emigration on their part is discouraged by various administrative devices, for Tetuan is already haif depopulated , and the departure of any considerable proportion of the eight thousand Jews would seriously interfere with the town’s importance and prosperity . Despite its remoteness from what we deem civilization, Tetuan has some rare advantages as a place of residence . There is not a single doctor or policeman in the town.
The Jewish quarter of Tetuan differs from the rest of the city only in being considerably cleaner. In summer, the portion of the town inhabited by the Hebrews escapes many of the diseases which afflict those who dwell in the less scrupulous regions of the city . Many of the streets are not unlike cellar vaults , spanned by broad stone arches which protect them most effectually from the torrid sun and its wasting fevers. The life of the Jews in one of these Moroccan towns is admirably pictured in one of Pierre Loti’s books. pause under the gateway ,” he says, ” that leads into the Jewish quarter, it is as if we had been taken up bodily from the middle of one country and dropped into the middle of another one. In place of silence and immovability, here is an unceasing stir and bustle ; in place of brown men, walking with slow and majestic step , dressed in mantles, we have men of pale or pink complexion , with their long, straggling curls surmounted by black caps, who go about with downcast eyes in close fitting robes of dark colors ; the women are unveiled. “
The house that Loti visited presented in its interior a dazzling contrast to its shabby outward appearance. “ Once inside,” he writes, “ we remain dazed in the presence of a singular luxury. We are received and welcomed in the midst of scenery worthy of the Thousand and One Nights,’ by a band of smiling women , literally covered with gold and precious stones. We are in an interior court, open to the sky, running quite around which are a colonnade and ornamented arcades. The floor is composed of bright colored tiles, and the walls are covered with the same, as high as a man’s stature. Over these are arabesques of infinitely varied design and astonishing lace-work carved in stone, the whole picked out in blue, green , red , and gold . The patient artists who decorated this house are the descendants of those who did the carving in the palaces of Grenada, and they have changed nothing in the course of so many centuries in the artistic traditions bequeathed them by their fathers ; the same fairy -like embroidery that we admire in the Alhambra beneath its coating of dust, reappears here in all the splendor of its new fresh coloring.”
The women are fairly dazzling in the bright sunlight; they wear velvet petticoats embroidered with gold , chemises of silk striped with gold , and open corsages almost entirely covered with gilding ; there are heavy rings set with precious stones in their ears, and on their arms and ankles ; and their small peaked caps are of brilliant colored silks worked in gold thread. Their black eyes are painted in deep circles and their hair falls in smooth bands down their cheeks.
The Illustrated American, February 4 1893.
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