Jewish mysticism in the south of Morocco
This piece is written in the slipstream of the works which cover the history of the Jewish communities in the south of Morocco showing ten centuries of community life shared with the rest of the population of the region. It will shed light on the interchange between Jews and Muslims with respect to the practice of mysticism and above all the cult of the saints.
Installés dans le Sud marocain depuis le VIe ou le Ve siècle avant l'ère chrétienne, les Juifs vivent à la fois hors de la société majoritairement musulmane mais aussi en totale interdépendance avec elle. L'histoire et la tradition s'accordent à leur donner une large place parmi la population subsaharienne et saharienne. Que ce soit au Touat, au Tafilalt, dans les vallées du Draa, de Ouad Noun et de Tata ainsi que dans le Sous, ils semblent avoir constitué des centres importants de commerce et de culture. L'apparition des Juifs dans ces régions reste un problème pour les chercheurs. Elle pourrait coïncider avec le développement de la colonisation phénicienne entre le VIe et le IVe siècle avant l'ère chrétienne. Les rares documents attestant de l'existence de communautés juives en Afrique du Nord à l'époque préislamique ne permettent pas d'affirmer avec assurance l'importance démographique et culturelle du judaïsme dans ces régions ni sa composition. Il est probable cependant que la communauté juive originelle ait pu convertir une partie de la population berbère avant la conquête musulmane. C'est du moins ce qu'affirme Ibn Khaldoun[1]. Il reste cependant difficile de déterminer aujourd'hui si les communautés juives marocaines sont constituées majoritairement de berbères convertis ou judaïsme ou de Juifs installés dans le sud-marocain et ayant adopté la langue berbère. Certaines communautés ont également été arabisées sans que disparaisse l'usage liturgique de l'hébreu et de l'araméen.
Once settled in the south of Morocco, the Jews seemed to have played an important part in economic activity. The flourishing of their communities appeared almost in parallel to that of the Trans-saharan camel trade. This is likely the result of one of the important reforms of Islam, which expressly forbids usury (riba). Non Muslims, in this case the Jews, became official pawnbrokers in an Islamic state which guaranteed the protection of Jewish communities through the dhimma[2] along with the right to practice their religion. However, in the majority of these regions, especially in Sous and on the edge of the Sahara, government control was very lax, if not entirely absent. In Morocco in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the decline of the caravan trade had consequences for the exercise of power. The difficulties of the populations which practised this trade or controlled the routes enriched the zaouias[3] , and the increasing control of maritime commerce by foreigners served to weaken the centralised power of Sub-Saharan and Saharan Morocco. In consequence, the protection of the Jewish community fell to the tribal chiefs (imgharens) and to the leaders of the zaouias more than to the Sultan. The relationship between the chiefs and the Jews was perpetuated from generation to generation and the protection of the Jews was considered sacrosanct.
The manuscripts at our disposal attest to the relations between Muslims and Jews at Illigh, Ifran, Ouad Noun and elsewhere in the south of Morocco during this period of change. The Jewish communities formed an integral part of the sociocultural and linguistic landscape, but they defended their different identity and they remained intransigent in their faith and beliefs. However, there was a notable lack of barriers between the two communities and one can sometimes speak even of a merging of their way of life. While the inter-communal climate deteriorated during the course of this period, it never amounted to an inter-confessional or inter-ethnic clash.
The religious traditions of the south Moroccan Jews were marked by Berber influences. Integrated into the cultural fabric of the Morocco of oases and mountains, the Jews shared the customs of their Muslim neighbours. Their distance from the most prestigious centres of Judaism both in Europe and Asia led them to assimilate concepts and symbols of the local population as well as all sorts of pagan rites drawn from agrarian animism, filled with superstitious practices. Furthermore, they shared food and clothing customs with their neighbours as well as the rhythms and modes of daily life.
They also venerated great religious figures (tsadiqqim lit. 'the righteous' or 'saints'), in particular mystics which they sometimes had in common with the Muslims. The religious practices of the Jews of the Atlas and the Sahara allied elements common to Jewish communities throughout the world with those specific to Morocco, including pilgrimages to sanctuaries dedicated to saints. The Siddiq (Hebrew tsaddiq) interacted with the Muslim figure of the marabout and, like him, was dedicated to poverty and the fervent practice of prayer.
The mid 15th century saw a proliferation of marabouts from the Berber tribes, endowed with the baraka[4] , a particular spiritual force which gave them occult and supernatural powers as charismatic, mystical and visionary spiritual leaders and which conferred sanctity on them. Certain families in the Jewish community produced many 'saints', especially kabbalist families [see Part 1, Chapter 3]. Thus one of the major kabbalists of southern Morocco and defender of the sacred Hebrew language was Jacob ben Isaac Bouiferguan, with a Berber patronymic, plural of 'Afrag', meaning 'wall'. This rabbi from Taroudant, who lived at the end of the 17th century was the craftsman of his state. Obliged to leave Taroudant in 1598 because of an epidemic, he settled in the village of Aqqa. Also found at the head of the afflicted community of Taroudant was another great man of the kabbalah, R. Moshé ben Mimoun Elbaz, known for his eminently important mystical commentary on the liturgy entitled: Hekhal hakodesh, “the Palace of sanctity”, printed in Amsterdam in 1653.
Jewish society in the south of Morocco in the 16th to the 19th centuries also gave us one of the strongest rabbinical personalities, who dominated the collective memory of south Morocco and whose fame and renown sometimes went beyond the Jewish context. A great trader, exporter of local produce and importer of European merchandise, Talmudist and poet, Khlifa Ben Malka lived for the most part in Agadir between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. His tomb in the old cemetery of upper Agadir was a place of Judeo-Muslim pilgrimage, like its Muslim counterpart, the tomb of the local saint Lalla Safia, herself honoured by the Jews of the country. The two tombs were transferred after the earthquake at Agadir at the end of February 1960; that of Khlifa Ben Malka is now in the new Jewish cemetery of 'Tildi' in Agadir, while that of Lalla Safia is in the walls of Marabout Sidi Boulqnadel, near the town's port.
The cult of the saints and their related rites (pilgrimage, invocation, vows, offerings, vigils), and the continuing practice of these customs bears witness to a particular cultural patrimony. The gathering of pilgrims around the saint has also impacted on society. According to Moroccan Jewish tradition, eighty-four saints born in Israel, including named persons from the Bible and the Talmud, are buried in Morocco. Thirty-six of them are venerated both by Jews and Muslims, while others only by Muslims. In Saharan Morocco dozens of mausoleums are visited annually by Jews to celebrate their saints Sidi Chanaouil at Tamdoult near Aqqa, Sidi Daniel at Tagmout in Tata and Sidi Ourkennas at Issafen. The Salwat el Anfass, a rare source of information on the history of the Moroccan Jews, confirms that these three rabbis arrived in Morocco after the destruction of the first temple of Jerusalem in 586 AD.
The kabbalists organise spiritual concerts during which they chant mystical verses, and spiritual congregations have also been established around the saints. There solitary meditation is also practised, in darkness and with the repetition of the name of God typical of Sufism. In relation to spirituality and religion, the philosopher Rachel Elior, specialist in the origins of Jewish mysticism, shows how isolation caused by the natural barrier formed by the Moroccan mountains led the kabbalist rabbis of the South to develop a specific type of mysticism distinct from the kabbalah of the North and in particular from that of Europe.
Pilgrimage (hilloula) to the sanctuaries is an especially emotional experience for Jewish pilgrims. This custom has evolved in a particularly ritualised way. Candles dedicated to the saints are lit continuously according to the belief that 'the more one burns, the more the gates of heaven are opened.' Prayer is the corollary. One prays for oneself and for loved ones. It is the moment for some to evoke the 'true' story of a miracle. Saturday night is the apotheosis. Rabbis and the faithful celebrate and allow themselves to enter a collective trance accompanied by the refrain “ha hoajay, ha houja diwna” - “he arrives, he has arrived, our master”. Shivers are assured.
