{"id":65742,"date":"2018-09-27T23:57:13","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T05:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=65742"},"modified":"2018-09-27T23:57:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T05:57:13","slug":"the-jews-of-morocco-during-world-war-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/09\/the-jews-of-morocco-during-world-war-two.html","title":{"rendered":"The Jews of Morocco during World War Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Marrakesh,<\/a>
In Marrakech, Morocco \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re just back from a movie theater screening of a performance of Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear<\/em> from National Theatre Live. \u00a0The play was filmed on the stage of the\u00a0Duke of York\u2019s Theatre, in the\u00a0West End on St Martin\u2019s Lane, in the\u00a0City of Westminster,\u00a0London. \u00a0Sir Ian McKellen was superb in the title role. \u00a0The other performance that really struck me was Kirsty Bushell\u2019s increasingly mad and sociopathic Regan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there was a syncing problem, with the sound following a split second behind the actions on the screen. \u00a0It was slightly irritating, at least at the first. \u00a0Moreover, the sound was sometimes just a tad muddy. \u00a0And, at one point, one of the mikes had real problems.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But attending the play tonight was considerably cheaper than flying to London would have been.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My wife has lately been reading a great deal by and about Elie Wiesel<\/a> for a presentation that she\u2019s shortly to give. \u00a0Tonight, she called the following passage to my attention from Wiesel\u2019s\u00a0All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs<\/em> (Knopf\/Doubleday, 2010), and I thought that others might find it of interest. \u00a0It refers to a visit that Wiesel made to Morocco quite a few years back, after the Second World War:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A dayan (rabbinical judge) showed me some unknown mystical writings attributed to the sages of Fez. A rabbi told me little-known anecdotes about Maimonides\u2019s years in Morocco. Here, as in Spain, the Jewish past was pervasive. The Jews in Morocco seemed attached to their soil and to their sovereign. I was surprised at their praise for the sultan, Mohammed V, but I should have known better. The sultan had protected his Jewish subjects during the war, standing up to Vichy and the Germans alike. Not a single Moroccan Jew was deported. Rich Jews maintained friendly relations with rich Muslims. And yet. Many Moroccan Jews planned to make aliyah, to \u201cascend\u201d to the Holy Land, because the future was uncertain. Signs of dislocation were appearing in this energetic, exuberant community. My companion, the emissary of the Jewish Agency, predicted that few of its 250,000 souls would remain. But if things were so good in this beautiful land, why would the Jews want to confront the unknown? Ifergan\u2019s answer: \u201cFor a Jew Israel is never the unknown.\u201d I recalled the Jews of my city. How was it that the Moroccan Jews were more perspicacious and audacious than those of Sighet in 1940\u201344? And thanks to the World Jewish Congress, and the Jewish Agency, nearly the entire Moroccan Jewish community emigrated to Israel between 1952 and 1956.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this context, some might remember (or might be interested in) a colum that Bill Hamblin and I published in the Deseret News<\/em> back on 13 April 2018:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Jews, Muslims have lived in relative harmony\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re thinking about Morocco during World War Two:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I met someone a while ago who had actually never seen the great movie classic Casablanca<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>Hard to believe. \u00a0I think that he must be\u00a0violating some kind of law. \u00a0If you<\/em> haven\u2019t seen Casablanca<\/em>, you need to repent immediately and take steps to remedy the deficiency.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 We\u2019re just back from a movie theater screening of a performance of Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear from National Theatre Live. \u00a0The play was filmed on the stage of the\u00a0Duke of York\u2019s Theatre, in the\u00a0West End on St Martin\u2019s Lane, in the\u00a0City of Westminster,\u00a0London. \u00a0Sir Ian McKellen was superb in the title role. \u00a0The other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Jews of Morocco during World War Two<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    We're just back from a movie theater screening of a performance of Shakespeare's King Lear from National Theatre Live. \u00a0The play was filmed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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