Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/845037
42 July 6 • 2017
jn
of blessed memory
soul
I
had to pinch myself to make
sure I wasn't dreaming. There
I was, an Orthodox Israeli
Jew, at a 500-year-old synagogue
in Marrakesh, Morocco,
distributing food parcels
to Muslims for Ramadan,
representing the
International Fellowship
of Christians and Jews.
It seemed too good to
be true. But as I quickly
learned, it was just
another day in mystical
Morocco, a country that
defies norms, defines
tolerance and is home to
a dwindling population of 2,500
Jews.
Though Morocco is a Muslim
country, the bellboy at my hotel
told me with a loving smile, Jews
were actually in Morocco 600 years
before Muslims — when they were
sent out of Jerusalem following the
destruction of the First Temple.
"This is your home," the bell-
boy said. " Your people were here
before mine."
This respectful attitude was the
prevailing sentiment in my com-
munications with every Muslim
I met. Moroccans are genuine in
their respect for the Jewish people,
love for Moroccan Jews, and awe
for the holy rabbis who walked
their streets and are buried in the
Jewish cemetery. I nearly cried
when I saw how well the locals
preserve the Jewish cemetery.
" Why do you treat the Jews so
well?" I asked a Muslim teen who
works for an organization called
Mimouna, whose members are
Muslim youths passionate about
spreading Jewish history. Mimouna
made history by starting a Jewish
studies program at a Moroccan
Arab university, along with the
Arab world's only Holocaust educa-
tion program.
" Why wouldn't we treat them
well?" he responded.
Morocco is one of the few places
where Christians, Muslims and
Jews coexist in peace and mutual
respect. Why?
One night I attended a Ramadan
fast-breaking event — organized
by the inspiring local Chabad rabbi
at an Orthodox synagogue. Dozens
of Jews and Muslims gathered
to celebrate. King Mohammed
VI's representative for the entire
Marrakesh region also attended.
Why are Jews in Morocco treated
so well? It's because of the
king. During World War II,
when the Nazis asked the
king to put together a list of
Jews, he boldly answered,
" We don't have Jews, we
have Moroccans," and
refused to comply.
Today's king, Mohammed
VI, is the grandson of King
Mohammed V, who pro-
tected his country's 265,000
Jews. Like his grandfather,
Mohammed VI believes Jews
are just as Moroccan — and just
as important — as Muslims,
Christians and everyone else. If
anyone in Morocco messes with
Jews, they are messing with the
king.
Many project that in a decade,
there won't be any Jews left in
Morocco. Most of the Moroccan
grandmothers have moved to
Israel. Jewish youths have largely
moved abroad.
After my four-day journey repre-
senting Christian and Jewish sup-
porters of the Fellowship, I deeply
understand why it's so important
that our organization partnered
with Chabad and Mimouna to
distribute food parcels from the
country's ancient synagogues to
local Muslims for Ramadan. It is
clear to me why we must set up a
Jewish information center in cen-
tral Marrakesh and make sure the
Jewish cemetery will keep being
preserved by local Muslims.
I realize how critical it is that we
also continue to distribute food
parcels to poor Jews on a monthly
basis, so they aren't neglected or
looked at as beggars, but rather
serve as a shining example of the
fact that all Jews, Christians and
Muslims are responsible to look
out for one another.
In a country that lives on
ancient spiritual stories of holy
men and women who once walked
its streets, what legacy should
we leave? That the Jewish people
came in peace, left in peace and
were only known for peace.
This is what it means to live in
the vision of God. •
Monument Center Inc.
Monuments and Markers
Bronze Markers
Memorial Duplicating
Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning
"Same Location Over 80 Years"
www.MonumentCenterInc.com
During the coming week, the students of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
will study in memory of the following departed friends.
In addition, Kaddish will be said during the daily minyan.
YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH
)
School for Boys
)
Beth Jacob School for Girls
)
Early Childhood Development Center
Weiss Family Partners in Torah Program
)
Kollel Bais Yehudah
)
Bnos Bais Yehudah—Maalot Detroit
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