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The Jewish quarters in Morocco were known as mullahs. Jews in Morocco have been viewed ”dhimmis” under Muslim law, which means that they have been considered as an inferior religious group, that had been uncommon from the Muslim majority, and have been prevented from collaborating in positive activities.
However, dhimmis such as Jews had been tolerated, following the Pact of Umar in the seventh century, not like the policy of intolerance that the Christians practiced with the Jews at that time in Europe. Sultans put Jews in the mullahs, as what most see as a strive to ostracize the Jews, and hold them from being uncovered to insurgents The Jewish quarters in Moroccan cities were referred to as Mullahs. The Sultans additionally desired the Jews to be protected for political reasons. An assault on minorities used to be considered an attack on the Sultan’s power.
The Sultan put the Jews in the Mellah for their safety, as well as to protect the Sultan’s rulings from being examined by insurgents. The phrase mullah is comparable to the Hebrew phrase for salt, mulch (מלח). The term mullah refers to the salty, marshy location the place the Jews of Northern Morocco were originally transferred and gathered The mullah was no longer a ghetto and used to be no longer structured in a way similar to Jewish quarters in Europe By the 1900s, most Moroccan cities had a mullah.
Your Accommodation / Airport, Train-Bus Station or wherever you want
30 Minutes Before Departure
Arrive at Med V airport in Casablanca the place you will meet your driver. The driver will supply a short review of your tour. Dinner & nighttime at the hotel.
After breakfast at the hotel, you will have an orientation tour of Casablanca the monetary capital. The tour will commence with the Habbous Quarter, the United Nations Square, the exterior of the royal palace, and the inside go of Hassan II Mosque. Visit the Jewish quarter (Mellah) with its temples and synagogues such as Bet-El, Em Habanim, and Neve Shalom.
You will have a guided visit through the Jewish heritage Museum for a glimpse into the wealthy and colorful world of Moroccan Jewry. Depart to Rabat to go to the Chellah and Kasbah of Oudayas positioned subsequent to the Medina within the ramparts of the old city.
The Mellah, with its slim lanes and colorful courtyards, is now the domestic of few Jewish families. Continue to Sale as the birthplace of Rabbi Hayyim Ben Moses Attar, the famous 18th Century student and Kabbalist acknowledged during the Jewish world for his bible commentary on the “or Hahayyim.” Overnight with dinner in Rabat.
After breakfast, you will begin a fresh day towards the imperial town of Meknes the place the Jewish presence is evidenced by means of Hebraic epitaph courting from the Christian generation as properly as Greek inscriptions that nevertheless show up in neighborhood synagogues the place the tomb of Rabbi David Ben Imdan, “the purchaser of Meknes” is located. The crowded ancient Mellah, known via ancient Jewish streets names is now not to be missed.
There is also the new Mellah (Jewish ghetto) which harbors eleven synagogues, eight of which are nonetheless in use. The tour will consist of a go to Bab El Mansour, Hedim Square, and the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismael. Continue to Fes by way of Volubilis, a very preserved Roman city. Check-in at the hotel and in a single day with dinner.
Today will be a full-day guided tour to Fes. Fez has been viewed as one of the great recognized cities in medieval Jewish history, it was domestic to one of the most influential Talmudic pupils of all times, Rabbi Isaac Alfasi, as properly as Maimonides in the years of 1160 to 1165. Visit the Mellah with its synagogue. Fez is a spiritual and cultural core with many facets.
The tour will take you lower back in time while journeying to Al Quaraouiyine University, the oldest university in the world (before even Oxford or the Sorbonne). We will additionally visit the medieval Medina with its Bou Anania Medersa, the Nejjarine fountain, and the Moulay Idriss Mausoleum. Afterward, continue to explore the slim alleys house lots of retailers and craftsmen selling a variety of merchandise such as dates, fish, spices, copper urns, and musical instruments. Overnight with breakfast at your hotel.
Today you will have a day time out not far from Fes so the force won’t be too lengthy and that would supply you more time to experience our destination which is Sefrou, the capital of cherries. This city was recognized as Little Jerusalem due to its high percentage of Jews and its well-developed non-secular life.
En route to Sefrou make a short stop in Bhalil to go to the cemetery the place Rabbi Lahou Harroch and Rabbi Raphael Moshe Elbaz are buried. This village is exclusive for its specific cave homes located in the ancient phase of the town, and for its blend of colored homes, linked collectively by way of a network of bridges. Some of the cave homes in Bhalil are routinely open to travelers to visit, however, are swiftly disappearing as the village modernizes.
Arrival to Sefrou which was as soon the main core for Morocco’s Jews and its walled white pedestrian medina is still characterized by using their homes with wooden balconies. Overnight with breakfast at the hotel in Fez.
Our departure South East in the direction of Erfoud through Ifrane city and the cedar Forest. two Ifrane was once the capital of a Jewish kingdom a lengthy time ago. Not to be missed are the village’s solely synagogues and the cemetery, which has been the center of pilgrimage for Moroccan Jews for centuries. Stop in Midelt and continue to Erfoud.
From there, a 4×4 with a driver at the purchaser’s disposal for a camel trek, sundown, and Bivouac at Merzouga dunes. Optional in a single day with dinner at the Berber tent in the Camp or return to Erfoud for lodging at the hotel.
Your day starts early with picturesque dawn earlier than enjoying a different breakfast, head return to Merzouga to re-join your vehicle to continue the tour to Todra Gorges recognized for its dazzling bare escarpments. Continue to Tinghir and visit its Mellah gateway and the historical colorful Jewish quarter. We proceed with the trip to Ouarzazate by Kellat M’gouna and the go-to of Tiliit (5 miles from Kellat M’gouna), recognized as the historic metropolis of Jews of the Dades.
The fortress of Tiliit have been the core of the Jewish area dominated by the Spanish – Jewish family of Perez from the quiet of the fifteenth century till the reign of Moulay Ismail in 1672. Continue to the Hollywood of Africa Ouarzazate, check in at the hotel, and overnight with dinner.
After breakfast at the hotel, you will have some time to explore “the Hollywood of Africa” Ouarzazate, whose geography and stunning landscapes have attracted many world category film producers. Here you may additionally pick out to visit the studios the place some of the well-known movies have been filmed such as The Mummy and Gladiator.
You will have time to discover the Jewish Quarter “Mellah” We will pass by with the aid of Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah as a UNESCO heritage website online, the most astounding fortress village in the south of Morocco and the iconic landscape immortalized in such movies as, Lawrence of Arabia, The Man Who Would Be King, Jesus of Nazareth, The Jewel of the Nile, The Living Daylights, The Sheltering Sky, The Mummy, Gladiator, and Alexander.
After that, we will commence going through the high Atlas Mountains with many panoramic views and desirable Berber villages to attain Marrakech. Overnight with dinner at the hotel.
After breakfast, you will meet your tour information for a sightseeing tour of Marrakech the place the Jewish neighborhood multiplied in 1603. The Saadian dynasty made Marrakech their capital and prolonged the Jewish quarter Mellah into a home of a thriving neighborhood of native Spanish Jews, famed for its rabbinical schools and scholars.
Visit the Rabbi Hanania Hacohen Cemetery which is additionally the burial place of Rabbi Mordekhai Ben Attar and Rabbi Pinhas Hacohen Azough recognized as the “patron of Marrakech.” The town tour will include the former and cutting-edge synagogues.
In the afternoon, strolling through the narrow streets of the ancient medina of Marrakech discovering artisans nevertheless working in the old-age ordinary way. End up at Djemaa El Fna Square, regarded to be the most well-known and famous place in Marrakech. Overnight with breakfast at the hotel.
Depart for Seaside Essaouira, a seaside fishing city regarded for its Portuguese and Jewish History along with hand-painted charming blue, white, and yellow-painted houses, fresh seafood, and an artist community.
Essaouira’s charming artist colony boasts stunning whitewashed and blue-shuttered houses, colonnades, thuya wooden workshops, art galleries, and mouthwatering seafood. Once known as Mogador via European sailors and traders, Essaouria is regarded for its annual GnaouaMusicFestival that attracts 300,000+ human beings in June. It additionally has an expansive beach for browsing known as Plage de Safi.
Many of Essaouira’s painted houses nevertheless have the Star of David above the doorways of Jewish homes. Each yr non-secular Jews from around the world come to Essaouira for an annual pilgrimage to go to the grave of Rabbi Haim Pinto who passed on in 1845. The Hiloula celebrating Rabbi Haim Pinto is held each September.
Today the home of Rabbi Haim Pinto and the synagogue have been preserved as ancient and non-secular sites. The building is a lively synagogue, used when pilgrims or Jewish tour organizations visit the city.
Aera in the past there had been Jewish inhabitants in Essaouira however these days there is simply one family left referred to as the Jacky Kadoch family and descendants of other Jewish families. Jacky Kadoch is the president of Essaouira’s Jewish community.
Overnight in Essaouira
Today you will drive again to Casablanca having executed a trip that has led you via immeasurable antiquity. Upon arrival to Safi, you go to the Portuguese Sea Castle, the Pottery’s hill, the Jewish synagogue, and the Tombs of Ullad Zmirou.
Then, to El Jadida, the 18th-century Portuguese citadel later served as the Jewish quarter. It is viable to climb the bastions, where a big name of David can be viewed on an abandoned synagogue, which was once converted from a Portuguese courtroom house.
Next to the Portuguese town is a giant Jewish cemetery. The tombstones of Jewish translators and employees of overseas consuls demonstrate the Jewish role in the nineteenth-century alternate with Europe. The saint Yahia Assouline is buried in this cemetery. You will conclude your day with dinner and spend the night at the Hotel in Casablanca.
Depending on your flight time, Our driver will take you to Mohammed V International airport