Morocco
today
Most Moroccan Jews have migrated to Israel
over the last several decades, but some remain to
carry on the traditions of their ancestors.
Traditionally, Moroccan Jews have not only looked
to the Talmud for their practices; they have also
gleaned some customs from their African neighbors.
North Africa has been main center of Kaballah
(Jewish mystical study); in several places in
Morocco, scholars chanted the Zochar
(the book of Jewish mysticism) twenty-four hours
a day. This Jewish mysticism blended well with
the general mystical inclinations of their North
African neighbors. Native Berbers and Muslim
invaders alike believed in sorcery, runes and the
evil eye.
Moroccan Jews absorbed some local customs
into their own rituals. For example, Moroccan
Jews have long-followed the rite of tahdid,
which takes place on the eighth day after a male
child is born. After the circumcision of a male
child the father takes an old sword and, as all
pronounce exorcisms against the djnun,
the evil spirits, the father makes wide slashes
with the sword along the walls of the room to
destroy or chase them away. When this is done the
father places the sword beneath the mattress of
the mother to protect her from harm as the women
throw incense all over the house to ward away
evil spirits. Like their Berber neighbors (and
unlike most other Jewish communities) Moroccan
Jews venerated their "saints" –
their learned sages – enough to develop
specific ritual practices around their worship.
Jews would make offerings to the saints in
form of candles or oil lamps lit in front of the
tombs of saints and invoke their names in times
of stress. They made private pilgrimages to tombs
of venerated saints when they faced an important
family event or on specific holidays to
counteract evil forces. The most dedicated
pilgrims would undergo ritual purification before
going to the tomb. At the tomb itself the
pilgrims would take off their shoes, extend their
hands toward the tomb in adoration, bring their
fingertips to their eyes and then to their lips.
They would kiss the tomb and place a cube of
sugar on the stone, pour water on it, then kneel
down and eat the diluted sugar off the stone as a
sign of communion with the saint. They would
recite Psalms before the tomb and say a prayer
for the saint’s soul. The Hiluda
was a collective pilgrimage that would take place
on the anniversary of the death of the saint. The
evening of the Hiluda the
crowd would come near the holy site to dance and
chant by the light of the oil lamps and, like a
religious revival, they would claim to see the
saint and dance around in the light of the fire.
The saint’s soul would visit at midnight and
stay at the gathering throughout the night.
Jay will visit the Morocco in August of
2000 and return with images, personal stories and
even more information about this North African
Jewish community.
morocco
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