Chaim Seidler-Feller recently celebrated his 40th year working with students and faculty as the executive director of the Hillel for Jewish life at UCLA, for which the International Hillel Center granted him a professional recognition award for blending the love of Jewish tradition with the modern intellectual approach of the university. An ordained rabbi with a master’s degree in Rabbinic literature, Chaim has been a beloved lecturer in many settings. And, fun fact: Chaim was a Rabbinic consultant to Barbara Streisand during the making of the film Yentl.
Rabbi Chaim also serves as accompanying scholar on manyJewish Heritage Travel trips to Morocco. When we asked him why Jewish travel matters, he said, “I am very enthusiastic about travel. It is very important to me personally, as a commitment to sustaining interest in Jewish life. These are not simply sightseeing trips, with Jewish Heritage Travel. They are an educational Judaic experience, beyond only seeing the sites. There’s something substantive about it; it’s not a superficial experience.”
Enjoy the snippets below from a recent talk with Rabbi Chaim on the topic of Jewish history in Morocco.
THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF JUDAISM IN MOROCCO
“Moroccan Jews are an ancient community, dating back at least to the Roman period. We know that in the 1st century after the destruction of the Temple, Jews reached the edges of the Mediterranean and they came to Morocco. They were heavily involved in trade in North Africa, through the Roman settlement. The Roman city of Volubilis, on the Atlantic Coast north of Rabat, now in ruins, had a Jewish Community.”
“The Jewish population actually preceded the Arab emigration to Morocco, so we could say that Jews are among its oldest settlers. They lived together with the Berber population, the older residents of North Africa, and in the early period, they were fully integrated. They lived in villages, and they continued to live in villages into the modern period. There were very tight friendships in these villages between the Jews and and local residents, and during much of the history, there were good relations between Jews and the local population.”
1492 CHANGES EVERYTHING
“Many Jews came from Spain across the Straits to Morocco and the native Jewish culture was transformed by the presence of Sephardic Jews. The culture of the new arrivals influenced everything, including music, food, and religious tradition. They were known as the Megara, those who had been expelled from Spain; the locals were called the Toshavin.”
THE HOLOCAUST
“The king of Morocco was extremely embracing of the Jewish community during the Holocaust. King Mohammed IV refused to cooperate with the Vichy government, saying “There are no Jews in Morocco. There are only Moroccan subjects.” Now, why did he say this? Did he have his own personal, instrumental reasons? Or was this an ideal, some combination of his humanitarianism and his sense of religious commitment as a Muslim to preserve the Jewish community? Clearly insulted by the way the Vichy overlords attempted to dictate policy to him, he resisted them to the greatest extent and he refused to meet with Nazi officials.”
“There is a Holocaust curriculum that has been introduced in the schools in Morocco. I have a number of friends who are involved in educational programs and visit often, and there’s really an openness … young Moroccans are meeting young Jews; there’s a big travel population from Israel that visit Morocco annually … there are many Moroccan Jews who return to their hometowns, and who visit the graves of some of the rabbis.”
THE JEWISH EXODUS
“At its height, there were between 250,000 and 300,000 Jews living in Morocco. Then there was a major aliyah in the early 50s. Today in Israel, there are almost a million Jews of Moroccan descent. There is also a big community in Montreal and a community in Los Angeles, and other places.”
“As Morocco was a mostly positive place for Jews, that is, Jews were not persecuted any more than the local Arab peasants of the kingdom and there was a type of cultural symbiosis among the everyday people. To this very day, Moroccans speak longingly about the Jewish community. So one question in the back of our minds is: Why did they leave? And why did they leave in those numbers? Meaning there’s almost no one left. At this time, there are only about 2,500 Jews that remain in Morocco.”
PROTECTION BY THE SULTANS
“Mohamed IV transmitted the tradition of embrace of Jews to his son, Hassan II, and now his grandson, Mohammed VI is the ruler. You should know that the principal advisor to Mohammed and to his father, is Andre Azulai, a leader of the Jewish community.”
“What is the relationship between the palace and the Jews — and between the population and the Jews? Historically, the Jews were protected and they were protected by the palace. For many centuries, they lived in the Mellah, the synagogues were in Mellahs, and the Mellah was always adjacent to the palace, usually in the center of the old town. So they were in a very prominent place, and they were in that place because the Sultan, the ruler, was protecting them.”
MOROCCO’S COMMITMENT TO ITS JEWISH HERITAGE
“Synagogues all over the country have been renovated, as well as Jewish cemeteries. Casablanca is home to the only Jewish museum in the Arab world. Every year, Moroccan rabbis from all over the world, as well as community leaders, are invited to the palace for the annual throne celebration. No other Arab country has gone to the lengths that Morocco has to revive its Jewish heritage.”
