Beni Mellal – November 5

I had extra time the night before and decide to skip the terrible night’s sleep in Demnate and head for Beni Mellal (BM). BM sits at the crossroad of every major city in Morocco and there would be onward transportation from there to Er Rachidia. There was also a cemetery in BM that I wanted to check out. That morning I headed to cemetery. There was a guardian and his dog. I’ve always been scared of dogs. Guardian had me wait outside while he procured food for himself and his guardian. The whole 5 minutes he was gone that dog barked. I entered the cemetery with the guardian. He started to tell me how well maintained it was when the dog ran over and bit me! I couldn’t believe it. This was my worst nightmare. I am a baby. The bite barely broke the skin but I was paranoid. Dogs here are not well taken care of and there is a problem with rabies in this country. This was my mother’s worst nightmare. We continued the tour of the cemetery and Mustapha was concerned about my leg. I should go to the clinic he thought. There was a visible geniza and folks from Israel had visited yesterday. I couldn’t concentrate. I thanked him and left.

I headed straight for the “Jerusalem Pharmacy.” They told me to head to the clinic. The clinicians were surprised to see me.

What happened? A dog ate your leg?

I did not have the Arabic skills to explain the situation but they understood.

Where did it bit you?
In the Jewish cemetery…

The whole thing was ridiculous but they were so good to me. Didn’t charge me anything. Were happy to find out I was Jewish or so it seemed. I noticed on their forms that they have to fill out whether someone is Jewish or Muslim. I thought that was very interesting. They gave me my shot and treated me. I was relieved and am totally fine.