متحف اليهودية المغربية מוזיאון יהדות מרוקו | |
 Museum of Moroccan Judaism,Casablanca,Morocco | |
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| Established | 1997 (1997) |
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| Founder | Simon Levy |
| Curator | Zhor Rehihil |
| Website | www |
TheMuseum of Moroccan Judaism (Arabic:متحف اليهودية المغربية,Hebrew:מוזיאון יהדות מרוקו) is a museum of Jewish life inMorocco inCasablanca, Morocco.[1]
Established in 1997, it is the only museum devoted toJudaism in theArab world.[2] The museum, whose building originated in 1948 as a Jewish orphanage that housed up to 160 Jewish youth, was opened by KingMohammed VI of Morocco on 20 December 2016.[1]
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, which made Morocco the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, but fewer than 2,500 remain today.[3]
The museum was initiated by Jewish MoroccansSerge Berdugo, JacquesToledano, Boris Toledano andSimon Levy (1934 – 2011). Levy, a former professor at the University of Rabat, was also the administrator of the Foundation of Jewish Cultural Heritage. Prior to his role in preserving Moroccan Jewish culture, he was known as an activist for national independence and human rights from the time of theFrench protectorate in Morocco and the reign of King Hassan II.[4]
After its restoration, the building was rededicated as museum by KingMohammed VI of Morocco on December 20, 2016.[1] In addition to the king and Moroccan government officials, the opening was attended by the museum's president, JacquesToledano andSamuel L. Kaplan, US ambassador to Morocco.[5]
The building, situated in theOasis neighborhood of Casablanca, covers 700 square metres and consists of a large multipurpose room and three exhibition rooms. Exhibits include paintings, photographs, and sculptures of Jewish life in Morocco. The exhibition rooms contain ritual objects, historic documents, costumes and jewellery from religious and family life, in addition to reconstructions of Moroccan synagogues.[3]
Further, visitors can find artifacts of Moroccan Jewish life, including thebimah (c. 1944) from the Beni-Issakhar Synagogue in Casablanca,Torah scrolls,mezuzahs and aHanukkahmenorah.[6] The museum also touts a collection ofJewish Berber history, including costumes, jewellerykhmisa pendants. Visitors can also observe a reconstructed jewelry-making workshop, which was created using the workbench and tools of Jewishsilversmith Saul Cohen.[7]
A historic Moroccan document about the persecution of Jews in North Africa byNazi Germany and theVichy regime, commemorating the defeat of theAxis powers in Africa, is the so-calledMegilat Hitler. This document was written byAsher Ḥassin, a Moroccan Jew and Hebrew teacher, who lived through the horrors of the Vichy regime and wrote this scroll in the style of the biblicalBook of Esther.[8]
In January 2019, French-Moroccan opera singerDavid Serero donated a large part of his MoroccanJudaica art collection, the largest donation of Judaica artifacts donated to a Moroccan museum.[9][10]
One of the most notable items is thepreamble of Morocco's updated 2011constitution, which cites Hebraic influences as a pillar of national unity. Museum director, Zhor Rehihil, was quoted declaring that, “the new constitution emphasizes both ethnic and religious pluralism in Morocco.”[7]
33°33′21″N7°38′33″W / 33.5557°N 7.6424°W /33.5557; -7.6424
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