‘Rebuilding Our Homes:’ A Project Encouraging Moroccan Youth to Preserve Jewish Heritage

Rabat – The American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association have teamed up to create “Rebuilding Our Homes” – a program that seeks to reconnect Moroccans with Judaism through several initiatives, including cooking workshops, artisanal training, and cultural immersion days.

Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the program is in line with Morocco’s vision to maintain a solid attachment with Jewish communities living in Morocco and abroad.

Morocco World News interviewed Jason Guberman, an executive director of the American Sephardi Federation and Digital Heritage Mapping (DHM), to discuss the program and its goals.

Guberman, who also serves as coordinator of DHM’s Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life, recalled the motives behind the program’s inauguration, saying that he and colleague El Mehdi Boudra have been working together in Morocco for more than a decade.

Boudra is the founder and president of Mimouna Association, a Moroccan organization that strives to preserve and promote the history of Morocco’s ancient Jewish community.

Founded in 2007, Mimouna seeks to educate the Moroccan people about the Jewish culture and encourage harmony between Jews and Muslims.

“El Mehdi Boudra and I have been working together in Morocco for more than a decade. First with my project, the Diarna Geo-Museum of North Africa and Middle Eastern Jewish Life, and, since 2014, also with the American Sephardi Federation, which is Mimouna’s official US partner,” Guberman said.

“Rebuilding Our Homes began with El Mehdi identifying the challenges and opportunities for Mellah youth, young Muslims who live in the former Jewish Quarters. Long before the Abraham Accords, Mimouna and the ASF have been on the ground, building the foundation for peace and prosperity,’’ he added.

Preserving the Moroccan-Jewish Heritage

The project’s goals are to “instill pride” in Mellah inhabitants, knowledge about their ancestry and unique shared history, to revive the legacy of the Mellahs of Fez, Essaouira, and Rabat, and to digitally preserve Mellah’s orality and memories.

Guberman highlighted that while the ROH initiative is primarily geared toward Mellah youth, locals have also participated in the events, agreed to be interviewed, and helped identify sites for digital mapping.

Perceptions of Jewish Mellahs in Morocco

The program has been facing the challenge of how to deal with young people’s misperceptions of Mellahs and former Moroccan Jewish inhabitants. However, educational and cultural workshops are changing the underlying perceptions.

The program includes activities such as digital mapping, tour guide training, Hebrew and English language instruction, artisanal mentorship, culinary workshops, and Mimouna celebrations.

The workshops aim to encourage young Muslims to actively preserve the Judeo-Moroccan heritage by empowering them to take pride in where they live, Guberman explained.

In addition to these challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the project, but has not slowed its progress.

“As a project focused on and embedded in the mellahs, we couldn’t abandon our students and communities. So, we proceeded to prudently press on, organizing 27 programs,” Guberman told MWN. “Even when conditions required us to curtail the number of participants or attendees, it was critically important to continue.”

Asked to reflect on what he wishes people knew about the Muslim-Jewish Heritage in Morocco, Guberman emphasized that “the sacred chords of memory that unite all Moroccans historically, culturally, and spiritually are deeply felt across the generations.”

He stressed that Jews in Israel, France, and the US whose grandparents were born in Morocco continue to “proudly identify as Moroccans. This affectionate phenomenon was recognized by HM King Mohammed VI, who made multiple mentions to Moroccan Jewry on Throne Day,’’ he argued.

There are reportedly 2,200 Jews living in Morocco. While, in Israel, Moroccan Jews and Jews of Moroccan ancestry make up approximately 1 million of the country’s 9.1 million population.

In a previous speech, King Mohammed VI emphasized the freedom to practice all religions in his country. “I protect Moroccan Jews as well as Christians from other countries, who are living in Morocco,” said the king in his speech.

Additionally, King Mohammed VI has also recently introduced an initiative to restore hundreds of historical Jewish sites in Morocco.

Morocco has strongly supported several initiatives to strengthen ties with the Moroccan-Jewish community. Recently, the Council of Jewish Communities expressed its appreciation for Morocco’s strong attachment to Jewish diaspora.