Module 065 · Religious & Cultural Geography
The Jewish Atlas
of Morocco
Toshavim and Megorashim: two communities, one country, 2,500 years
Two Jewish communities shared Morocco for centuries but were not the same people. The Toshavim — "residents" — were there first. Amazigh-speaking, Arabic-speaking, present since antiquity. Some lived in the Atlas Mountains and the Saharan fringe. The Megorashim — "exiles" — arrived from Spain after 1391 and 1492, bringing Sephardic liturgy, Haketia language, and European commerce. They worshipped in separate synagogues. Were buried in separate cemeteries. Maintained separate marriage contracts for 300 years. Only in the 18th century did the two communities blend — and even then, not everywhere. At their peak in the 1940s, 300,000 Jews lived in Morocco. Today, fewer than 2,500 remain.
2,500+
years of presence
300K
peak population (1945)
~2,500
remain today
14
communities mapped
Jewish Communities of Morocco
Click any community. Filter by origin.
Population · 1900–2025
300,000 → 2,500. The steepest decline happens between 1948 and 1971.
Timeline · 2,500 Years
Reading Notes
The distinction that matters
Most accounts of Moroccan Jews treat them as one community. They were not. The Toshavim were indigenous — present for millennia, speaking Amazigh and Arabic, practicing their own liturgy. The Megorashim arrived from Spain bearing a different language (Haketia), different rituals (Sephardic), different commercial skills (European trade networks), and a different social status (often wealthy, always educated). They worshipped separately for 300 years. Their surnames still tell the story: Toledano (from Toledo), Corcos (from Cáceres), Assouline (Amazigh: "from rock").
The mellah
Not a European ghetto. The mellah was placed near the royal palace — proximity to power, not exile from it. Jews had their own markets, courts, synagogues, and governance. But it was still a walled quarter with gates that closed at night. The first was created in Fes in 1438. By the 19th century, most Moroccan cities had one. The word itself comes from the Arabic for salt — the saline, marshy land where the Fes quarter was built.
The Berber Jews
In the Atlas Mountains, the Anti-Atlas, and the Saharan fringe, Jewish communities lived in rural villages, spoke Amazigh, and maintained traditions that predated both the Sephardic and the urban Arabic-speaking communities. The cemetery at Ifrane (Anti-Atlas) may contain tombstones from the 2nd century CE. These were not city merchants — they were farmers, herders, and village artisans. Their traditions were the most archaic and the least documented.
The disappearance
In 1945, there were 300,000 Jews in Morocco. By 1971, there were 35,000. Today, approximately 2,500. The reasons are multiple and contested: Zionist conviction, Operation Yachin (semi-covert Israeli emigration program), rising Arab-Israeli tensions, economic restructuring, the pull of France and Canada. The departure was not a single event but a generation-long hemorrhage. What remains are cemeteries, synagogues (some restored, some crumbling), and tens of thousands of diaspora visitors who return each year for hiloula — the anniversary celebrations at the tombs of rabbi-saints.
Sources: Zafrani, Haïm. Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life in Morocco. Sephardic House, 2005. Deshen, Shlomo A. The Mellah Society: Jewish Community Life in Sherifian Morocco. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Boum, Aomar. Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco. Stanford University Press, 2013. Gerber, Jane S. The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience. Free Press, 1992. Wikipedia: "Moroccan Jews," "History of the Jews in Morocco," "Mellah," "Maghrebi Jews." World Jewish Congress: "Legacy of Jews in the MENA — Morocco." Chabad.org: "19 Facts About Moroccan Jews." Coordinates via Google Earth and OpenStreetMap.
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