Great New Photo Essay on Jewish Morocco

Great new photo essay on Jewish Morocco on Burnmagazine.com. Aaron and I spoke before his trip to Morocco. Check it out - Exodus: Jewish Morocco.

JDC in LA - 10/12: Archival Photos of Jewish Morocco

Young girl at JDC supported kindergarten wearing a bib made from a flour sack. In 1955, a JDC publication reported that through its dispensaries in Morocco, "Almost 23,000 children receive at least one warm meal during the day, and for very many of them, if not for most of them, it represents the only meal they receive during the day." JDC Archives, Fez, 1960

A performance at the JDC-supported Gan Yeladim nursery school. A 1949 JDC report says, "The focus of our work is on the youngsters-- the Jewish boys and girls of the slums and the mellahs, many of whom have hitherto been forced to beg on the streets for bread. Our key weapon on this front is the school. In JDC-supported schools the youngsters are kept off the streets and are taught to read and write, to play games and to study geography and arithmetic. JDC Archives, Tangier, 1954

Jewish boys at JDC operated Aliyah camp learning Hebrew. In addition to the nutritional and medical services provided to Moroccans seeking to immigrate to the newly-established State of Israel, JDC worked to ensure a smooth transition into Israeli life and culture. JDC Archives, Casablanca, c.1954

JDC Dimensions Presents:

THEN & NOW: JEWISH MOROCCO

An exclusive photography exhibit featuring newly-released JDC archival prints alongside modern Moroccan images from local, young, Jewish artists.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 7:00 pm

8275 Beverly Blvd. The former Zune LA space (corner of N. Sweetzer Ave.)

Featuring:

Free admission (must RSVP to ShaunaR@jdcny.org)

DJ - Wine - Moroccan Hors D'oeuvres

Event Chairs: Tiffany Aryeh and Niko Toubia

Host Committee: Mimi Jakobovits, Jessica Kimiabakhsh, Lauren Klein, Vanessa Shokrian

Limited space available.

Email ShaunaR@jdcny.org or call 212-885-0811 to be added to the guest list.

Upcoming Exhibition: Jewish Life in Morocco - Oct. 14 at ASF in NY

Looking Back: The Jews of Morocco

This exhibition is part of the ASF's '2000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey'

This exhibition will provide an overview demonstrating the presence and flourishing of Jews in the ancient and modern Kingdom of Morocco. The exhibition will be presented through the implementation of artistically designed textual displays, documents, pull quotes, non-photo images (e.g. lithographs and engravings), historic photos, captions, replications of historic documents, and other visuals which demonstrate the life of the Jews living throughout this North African country. This exhibition, developed and curated by Shelomo Alfassa, has been funded in part by the New York Council for the Humanities.

On the Opening Night of the exhibition, Dr. Norman A. Stillman, the 'Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History' at the University of Oklahoma will present the keynote address. This will also open the ASF's year-long program, 2000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey.'

The keynote speaker is Professor Norman Stillman, the Schusterman/Josey Chair in Judaic History at University of Oklahoma. Prof. Stillman has directed the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma since the program began. He has written many books and articles, ranging from studies of the Jews of Sefrou, a small city in Morocco, to broader studies on North African history and languages. Such work has led to his involvement with INALCO (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales) in Paris. Over the last quarter century, he has focused his scholarship on Jewish-Arab encounters in Arab lands, and he is currently finishing a book on Jews in North Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has given lectures and conference papers all over the world and is the editor-in-chief of the recently published, five volume reference work, comprised of over 2,500 entries titled Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. He received the Distinguished Humanist Award for the year 2000 from Ohio State University. Professor Stillman received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Reservations requested: 212.294.8350 x.0 or info@americansephardifederation.org $10 at the door/ $5 for ASF members.

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Who: American Sephardi Federation (About the ASF)

What: Exhibition: Looking Back: The Jews of Morocco

When: Opening October 14, 2010 - Spring 2011

Where: At the American Sephardi Federation, a partner of the Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th St. NYC

Why: This exhibition is part of the ASF's '2000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey'

Media: To request photos for publication or interviews, please call Shelomo Alfassa at 917-606-8262.

Benchimol Hospital Update

Ynet reprinted the following and I think it gives a good overview. I wonder why there isn't the same concern for much older structures in Morocco that have either been converted to other uses or are falling into disrepair.

Jewish hospital in Tangiers torn down

Moroccan Jewish communities around the world outraged after ancient structure, which has been abandoned for 10 years, demolished before Passover, blame president of Tangiers Jewish community for current troubles, ask him to either take steps to prevent further actions or step down
Elad Benari

Moroccan Jewish communities around the world are upset after the Jewish hospital in Tangiers was torn down.

According to reports, the Benchimol Hospital in Tangiers which has been standing for more than 110 years was torn down Friday night before Passover at 2 am. “There is a law in Morocco that you cannot enter any private property between 10 pm and 6 am,” explained a concerned member of the Moroccan Jewish community in Toronto. “There was no warning about it.”

The community is now concerned that further action against Jewish institutions may be taken by the authorities in Morocco and wishes to make the public aware of the situation. Although the Tangiers Jewish community now only consists of about 40 Jews (at its peak there were 22,000 Jews in the community), there are still important Jewish landmarks in the area, such as a Jewish nursing home and two cemeteries.

“The new cemetery which is in the outskirts of Tangiers is on the highway going to Rabat. At one point it was really let gone. You could hardly go inside the cemetery because there were snakes; there were bushes in between the tombs,” said the concerned individual. “It was not maintained at all. Last year we sent e-mails and finally they got their act together and they cleaned it completely, and I do have to admit that they did a very good job. But it took years of pounding and pounding until they did it.”

The second Jewish cemetery in Tangiers is commonly known as the old cemetery, and was in operation already in the 1910s. There are many righteous individuals buried there, but it has not been maintained for the last 60-70 years. As a member of the local Moroccan Jewish community explained, the cemetery faces the port of Tangiers and the Moroccan authorities have their eyes on it. The community fears that if nothing is done, the authorities will take over that property and remove all the corpses.

Members of the Moroccan Jewish community, both in Canada and around the world, have begun to send e-mails to the president of the Tangiers Jewish community, whom they say is responsible for the current troubles, asking him to either take steps to prevent further actions or step down. “The Jewish community in Tangiers is run by Mr. Azancot. He’s the president,” explained one member of the Moroccan Jewish community in Toronto. “He was elected many years ago when the Jewish community was numerous. He’s hardly ever in Tangiers and doesn’t run things properly.”

'Main concern is Jewish cemetery'

According to the sources in the community, Azancot was given a year’s notice by the Moroccan authorities to fix up the hospital, which has been abandoned for about 10 years. The hospital has given care to Jews, Christians, and Muslims over the years. The members of the community explained that the problem arose when the president of the Jewish community went to the authorities with a plan to tear down the hospital and build an apartment building on that property. This opened up “a Pandora’s Box” as they put it, since the Moroccan authorities said that obviously, if the Jews want to build something on that property, that means they do not care about the building and it can be torn down.

They added that Azancot had no authority to decide to tear down the building since the Jewish community does not own the land. The land is owned by the Benchimol family and the deed has been deposited in the French Consulate. This means that only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France has a say on the fate of that building.

Besides bringing attention to Jewish communities worldwide, letters have been sent to Azancot by many Moroccan Jewish around the world. So far, said the sources, the e-mails have gone unanswered. Representatives of the Jewish communities in Madrid, Montreal, and Toronto have already been in contact with Azancot. Now, contact is also being made with the Canadian ambassador of Morocco.

A letter written by one of the communities here in Canada to the Moroccan ambassador in Canada said that “Morocco represents the paragon of coexistence in the Arab world. At a time when we are targeting a Jewish-Muslim reconciliation, measures such as those taken in anger in Tangiers leave us puzzled.” The letter urges the ambassador to convey the Jews’ dismay to the Moroccan authorities.

“The hospital is done and there’s nothing we can do to reconstruct the building. Our main concern is the Jewish cemetery. They can go anytime and take over. There’s a lot of tzadikim in that cemetery and that is our major concern,” said the community members. “The representative of the Jewish community has been warned already: Either do something or step down. Mr. Bardugo, who is the secretary of the entire Jewish community in Morocco, has advised him the same but unfortunately the Jewish community in Tangier does not answer to the general communities of Morocco. It’s a separate entity and has always been that way so nobody can do anything against that.”

Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life

The Ynet article uses a photo totally unrelated to the article (of the Benarrosh Synagogue) which is of course part of a bigger problem of a lack of photo documentation of sites throughout Morocco.

Diarna has provided some good photo documentation of the site and a personal touch. Read about it here.

D. R. Cowles Photographs of Jewish Morocco in NYC

D.R. Cowles has photographed extensively in Morocco and his photographs will be on display at the 92nd Street Y starting on Friday, Sept. 4. For some of his photographs of Jewish Morocco click here and here. His Morocco photos were taken in 1993 and 1995. I have visited most of the Jewish sites that he photographed - some have been restored (like the synagogue in Arazan) and some have almost completely deteriorated (like the Mansano Synagogue in Fes). This exhibit is a must see. Information is below: D. R. COWLES—PHOTOGRAPHS, 1993-2008 Using a hundred-year-old photographic process, D. R. Cowles has spent the last fifteen years turning it to contemporary purposes: documenting vanishing architecture and artisanal traditions, reinterpreting art antiquities and exploring the untapped potential of his nearly-obsolete medium to advance a modern aesthetic. In his choice of subject matter as in his means of rendering it, the past is given new life: human history, art history and the history of photography converge in images equally informed by the present. This exhibition traces an artistic journey, representing several phases of Cowles’ work with key pieces. Fri, Sep 4—Wed, Oct 21, 2009 Viewing hours are 12–4pm on the following days unless otherwise stated: 9/4 9/8 9/9 (12:15 start) 9/18 9/21 9/25 9/29 10/7 (12:15 start) 10/8 10/13 10/15 10/20 About D. R. COWLES Born in Boston, David Cowles studied at New York University's Graduate Institute for Film and Television and later at Concordia University where he majored in European and Jewish history. In 1993, fusing historical with photographic interests, he made the first of numerous trips to North Africa to document remaining Jewish sites in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. In the course of this project, Cowles also photographed Islamic and traditional Moroccan architecture, Roman ruins, and art antiquities. Since 2002, he has moved from artistic documentary to making photographs as pure art, refining his late 19th century printing process and applying it to semi-abstract still life studies and multiple-print composite images. Cowles has lived in Montreal since 1976. His work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Tel Aviv Museum and the Jewish Museum of Casablanca.

All prints are courtesy of the artist. D. R. Cowles is represented by Yosefa Drescher Fine Art,www.ydfa.com.

For more information regarding this exhibit, please call 212.415.5740. General Viewing and Contact Information for the Weill Art Gallery The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery is open to patrons of Kaufmann Concert Hall during regularly scheduled events. For viewing at other times please call 212.415.5563 to schedule an appointment. Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, 92nd Street Y 1395 Lexington Avenue , New York City 92YTribeca Gallery Click here to visit the 92YTribeca Gallery at the 92YTribeca site.

Silent Prayer

Interior, Grand Synagogue in Oujda

Prayer and Hebrew books, Grand Synagogue in Oujda

(c) Chris Silver