Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco

by Aomar Boum

There is a Moroccan A market without Jews is like bread without salt. Once a thriving community, by the late 1980s, 240,000 Jews had emigrated from Morocco. Today, fewer than 4,000 Jews remain. Despite a centuries-long presence, the Jewish narrative in Moroccan history has largely been suppressed through national historical amnesia, Jewish absence, and a growing dismay over the Palestinian conflict. Memories of Absence investigates how four successive generations remember the lost Jewish community. Moroccan attitudes toward the Jewish population have changed over the decades, and a new debate has emerged at the center of the Moroccan Where does the Jew fit in the context of an Arab and Islamic monarchy? Can Jews simultaneously be Moroccans and Zionists? Drawing on oral testimony and stories, on rumor and humor, Aomar Boum examines the strong shift in opinion and attitude over the generations and increasingly anti-Semitic beliefs in younger people, whose only exposure to Jews has been through international media and national memory.

Genres: Morocco, History, Nonfiction, Jewish, Judaism, Northern Africa

241 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2013

About the author

Aomar Boum is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UCLA. He is the author of Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco (Stanford University Press, 2013) and the coauthor of the Historical Dictionary of Morocco, 2nd. edition (Scarecrow Press, 2006).

He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Aomar Boum’s book, Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco, he studies four generations of Moroccans to discover how Jews are perceived by Muslims through history. A native of Morocco himself, Boum presents an interesting (if somewhat complicated for undergraduates and the common reader) argument about how Muslim Jewish relations in Morocco have changed over time. Throughout each chapter, Boum focuses on an aspect of this relationship.

In Chapter 1, “Writing the Periphery: Colonial Narratives of Moroccan Jewish Hinterlands”, Boum first explains for the reader the context of Akka, the village where he conducted his research. The first important point in this chapter is the fact that Jews were vital to Akka’s economy. Boum emphasizes the point that, specifically, Jews were economically important because they brought market life to the village. In fact, he points out that they were, “economic agents” (Boum 16) within the society. Therefore, when many of the Moroccan Jews migrated to Israel, it had a negative effect on these markets. Boum also helpfully points out for the reader here that Akka was ruled by the ayt-Mribat tribe, who traded with Jews. In fact, the Jews were allowed to settle in Akka during the 1800s because of the village’s economic significance. Thus, Boum is quite successful in this chapter of pointing out that Jews were essential to and quite within the society of Akka.

Although it did not seem necessary to include from my perspective as a student, in the latter half of this chapter, Boum discusses the dilemma that anthropologist (and anti-Semitic) De Foucauld faced when he traveled in Morocco: to move around as a European or to be in “disguise”? Boum describes the disdain and suspicion that Moroccans expressed at the mention of De Foucauld’s name. This seemed somewhat out of place in the text to me, however Boum then compares this to his own ethnographic experience. He describes that even though he himself is a native Moroccan, the Muslims suspected that he was sent by America and Israel to reclaim Muslim land for Jews.

Chapter 2 of the book is called, “Outside the Mellah: Market, Law, and Muslim-Jewish Encounters”. In this chapter, Boum focuses on (as the title suggests) the relationship between Muslims and Jews – mostly within the legal and marketplace functions of Akka. Boum explains the legal processes of this relationship. Jews, the minority, were able to use, “Islamic, customary, and later Western legal systems for public matters…” (Boum 30). In essence, Boum describes that the legal system of Morocco was shifting, and the “Jewish minority” had to adapt. Sometimes the system was based on Islamic religious law, shari’a, yet other times legal problems were settled between Jews and Muslims themselves. Boum points out as well that the marketplace was like a neutral zone, which became a sort of safe zone for Jews who could trade free from political and social differences. Furthermore, Jews would pay Muslim “patrons” (35) for protection, recalling a relationship similar to the Medieval European feudal system.

Overall, Boum’s point in this chapter is that the Jews of Akka had to adapt to the amalgamated and ever shifting legal system. Boum provides the reader with multiple case studies of this “legal syncretism” as he calls it, emphasizing his point that there was no consistent legal system. This was an interesting chapter, however, the legal system could have been more fleshed out and written in simpler terms for the common reader. Coming from a background of little to no knowledge about Morocco, it was somewhat hard to follow and it had to be explained.
In Chapter 3, “Inside the Mellah: Education and the Creation of a Saharan Jewish Center”, Boum turns inward towards Jewish communities themselves. He describes that Jews lived in their own neighborhoods within a village (the mellah). He also describes that in general, because the Jews did not take part in the everyday affairs of the Muslims, they were able to function and regulate within their own society. The synagogue and the rabbi were central for Jews in Akka. The rabbi facilitated Jewish legal and social matters within the Jewish community. Boum here paints a helpful and easily read description of Jewish life in Akka.

In the second half of this chapter, Boum goes on to discuss education through the establishment of the Alliance Israelite Universelle (AIU). In regards to education, Boum states that there was an extreme focus on religious education pre-1940, but by the early 1950’s “Jews became open to modern education for their children” (67). He also says that Muslims placed emphasis on religious education, and were less welcoming to the colonial age French schools compared to the Jews. Thus, the AIU was much more accepted by the Jewish Moroccan population. Boum goes on in this chapter to describe specifics of the establishment the AIU. Boum’s overall point in bringing up the establishment of AIU is that there was increasing devolvement of traditional Jewish structure in their communities (as he described earlier in the chapter). The modern world was budging into Morocco, changing things. This part of the chapter could have also been explained in simpler terms, as there were aspects of his argument and descriptions here that I feel I missed.

Chapter 4 is called, “‘Little Jerusalems’ Without Jews: Muslim Memories of Jewish Anxieties and Emigration”. In this chapter, Boum speaks of Zionism, the movement for the development of a Jewish state (Israel) and how it affected Muslim-Jewish relations. Boum explains that in the 1930s, Moroccan Jews and Arabs saw Zionism as a threat, “to Moroccan Jewry and Judaism as well as to the historical Jewish-Muslim symbiosis interaction” (92). However, with this Zionist movement, a wave of Moroccan nationalism formed, and questions about Moroccan identity arose in regards to the Jewish population of the nation. Boum emphasizes that eventually, Jewish emigration from Morocco to Israel was bound to happen, as Morocco was sympathetic to Palestine, and the Arab League, and there was rising insecurity amongst Jews in Morocco. Furthermore, political clashes in general between Jews and Muslims led to shaky, unstable relationships that also prompted Jews to emigrate. Boum also mentions that the King in Morocco, Mohammad V, sought to pacify Jewish Muslim Moroccan relations, as the Jews were dhimmi, he was bound to protect them. Overall, this chapter presents a shift in the relationship between Moroccan Muslims and Jews, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began to take shape.

Chapter 5, “Shadow Citizens: Jews in Independent Morocco” delves into the idea of ‘ayn mika which means the plastic eye. Boum describes this idea of the plastic eye, saying that it, “stands for things that might be important but should be ignored because of the trouble the observer can experience if he notices them” (110). Boum focuses on the time period after Moroccan independence through the medium of newspapers. These newspapers were created by different political players: the royals, the rightists, and the leftists. From my understanding of this chapter, in trying to gain support from the Arabs, political parties would decrease their support of Jews, yet many also desired support from the Jews. Here, Boum did not seem to provide enough explanation for the average reader, as it was quite confusing as to who was who in which political party. As for the king, he resolved to protect the Jews, dhimmi as they were. Boum also discusses the dilemma that came with independence: should the Jews be viewed with a secular, nationalist eye or a religious one?

To wrap up his chapter, Boum discusses two different museums in Morocco concerning Jews, through which, he expertly exemplifies his previous point about ayn mika. Boum visited the Chaykh Omar Museum: National Memory and Communication (COM), which was a small museum in Akka that acknowledged Moroccan Jews and their place in Moroccan history. This museum broke the idea of ayn mika in that it celebrated the good and bad aspects of Moroccan history in regards of Jews. It did not turn a “plastic eye” to the negative aspects of history. Boum contrasts this to the Jewish Museum of Casablanca (JMC), which was created in the most discreet manner possible. While the COM acknowledges Jewish-Muslim relations in Morocco, however, the JMC does not. The JMC was created for Jewish tourists and certainly embodies the idea of ayn mika in relation to Jewish Moroccan history, ignoring much of the true story. Through this anecdote, Boum emphasizes the idea that Morocco constantly turns a blind eye to Jewish Moroccan history, despite their importance to the country’s national identity.

Chapter 6 is called, “Between Heresy, Jokes, and the Internet: Youth Debate Jewish Morocco”. Here, Boum focuses on modern Moroccan history, discussing youths. He starts by quoting a man from of the “grandparent” generation, who conveys the idea that the youth are rebelling against the ways of their parents. With new access to “Western” knowledge, state and political ideas, the youth have “threatened the authority of the generations of great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents” (133). Boum explains that youths have rebelled more and more against the government and the traditional paternal order of Morocco. The crux of this chapter lies in the fact that Jews are remembered by youths quite differently from their grandparents, who lived with them. Instead, young Moroccans “remember” Jews through rumor, stereotypes, and media – all of which distort and polarize the truth. Furthermore, Boum points out that with the emergence of the Internet, issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have cultivated an air of resistance among the young. Additionally, through the Internet, youths take extreme positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (with largely anti-Semitic feelings). Most disturbingly, Boum also explains that many Moroccan Muslims attempt to ignore, shake off, or diminish the atrocities in Jewish history (like the Holocaust).

In his conclusion, Boum emphasizes the different ways Jews are remembered by the great-grandparent/grandparent generation versus the youngest generation. While the older generations, who lived with Jews as neighbors, remember them in a richer and more positive light, the youth have much more negative and restricted views of Jews.

Overall, while certainly ideally meant for anthropologists, Boum’s book presents interesting points. Each chapter built off the other in such a way that I, as a reader, could understand how Muslim-Jewish Moroccan relations worked in history. However, I only truly started to deeply understand the book when I reread, and learned more background information about Morocco and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On first reading, I really only picked up a surface level understanding of Boum’s points. Yet, while Boum could have explained things in a simpler, less complex way in order to appeal to undergraduates and the common reader, he still presents an extremely thought provoking book.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boum interrogates how Moroccan Muslims in the south remember the Jewish community prior to its disappearance to emigration in the 196os. This oral history provides so many layers for understanding contemporary Moroccan history. I particularly enjoyed the later chapters discussing generation gaps and the political divides between the Islamists and nationalists. Highly recommend to anyone trying to better understand Morocco.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting scholarly work on Muslims in Morocco both before and after independence. The author interviewed several generations of Muslims (almost entirely the men who interacted with Jewish businessmen - were talking about traders and very small businessmen!) as women were less likely to have relationships with Jews living in their small rural towns. Interesting.

[Anas Taleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ch 5,6 uncompleted