(JEWISH GROUP) Jews in Morocco: A small community, often overlooked
The only known Jewish museum in the Arab world is tucked away in a residential neighborhood of the Moroccan economic metropolis of Casablanca, guarded by a lone soldier.
Among other items, the museum contains black-and-white photos of Jewish life in Morocco from the 1920s and 1930s. The pictures show craftsmen at work, celebrations and family life. Display cases contain Torah scrolls and clothing, a few old manuscripts ― all relics from a time when Morocco still had a large Jewish community.
Around 300,000 Jews lived in the Arab country, which had a population of 7 million at the time, when the state of Israel was founded in 1948. After that, most emigrated, motivated in part by anti-Jewish pogroms in the cities of Oujda and Jerada in the same year, in which more than 40 Jews died. About 1 million Israelis with Moroccan roots live in the Jewish state today. Around 3,000 to 5,000 Jews remained in Morocco, most of them living in Casablanca.
Although Jews represent a tiny minority in terms of numbers, synagogues and kosher restaurants are still part of the cityscape of Casablanca today.
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