Close Menu
    Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • English
    • Français (French)
    Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
    Middle East Transparent
    • Home
    • Categories
      1. Headlines
      2. Features
      3. Commentary
      4. Magazine
      Featured
      Headlines The Wall Street Journal

      A New Palestinian Offer for Peace With Israel

      Recent
      6 July 2025

      A New Palestinian Offer for Peace With Israel

      3 July 2025

      Why al-Sharaa’s success in Syria is good for Israel and the US

      27 June 2025

      The Poisoned Chalice: President Trump’s Opportunity with Iran

    • Contact us
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • English
    • Français (French)
    Middle East Transparent
    You are at:Home»Categories»Headlines»Moroccan schools to teach Jewish history and culture

    Moroccan schools to teach Jewish history and culture

    0
    By AFP on 14 December 2020 Headlines
    Morocco’s King Mohammed VI is seen at Essaouira’s ‘House of Memory’ in January 2020 in a photo provided by the Moroccan Royal Palace – Moroccan Royal Palace

     

    Jewish history and culture in Morocco will soon be part of the school curriculum — a “first” in the region and in the North African country, where Islam is the state religion.

     

    The decision “has the impact of a tsunami,” said Serge Berdugo, secretary-general of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco.

    It “is a first in the Arab world,” he told AFP from Casablanca.

    For years, although the kingdom had no official relationship with Israel, thousands of Jews of Moroccan origin visited the land of their ancestors, to celebrate religious holidays or make pilgrimages, including from Israel.

    But Morocco this week became the fourth Arab nation since August to announce a US-brokered deal to normalise relations with Israel, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said liaison offices would be reopened in Tel Aviv and Rabat, which Morocco closed in 2000 at the start of the second Palestinian uprising, and full diplomatic relations would be established “as rapidly as possible”.

    Morocco confirmed the deal, saying King Mohammed VI had told outgoing US President Donald Trump his country had agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel “with minimal delay”.

    – ‘Inoculation against extremism’ –

    The decision to add Jewish history and culture to lessons was discreetly launched before the diplomatic deal was announced.

    Part of an ongoing revamp of Morocco’s school curriculum since 2014, the lessons will be included from next term for children in their final year of primary school, aged 11, the education ministry said.

    The move aims to “highlight Morocco’s diverse identity”, according to Fouad Chafiqi, head of academic programmes at the ministry.

    Morocco’s Jewish community has been present since antiquity and grew over the centuries, particularly with the arrival of Jews expelled from Spain by the Catholic kings after 1492.

    At the end of the 1940s, Jewish Moroccans numbered about 250,000 — some 10 percent of the population.

    Many left after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and the community now numbers around 3,000, still the largest in North Africa.

    Jewish presence in Moroccan culture now appears in the primary-level social education curriculum, in a section dedicated to Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, known as Mohammed III.

    The 18th-century Alawite ruler chose the port of Mogador and its fortress, built by Portuguese colonists, to establish the coastal city of Essaouira.

    Under his leadership, the diplomatic and commercial centre became the only city in the Islamic world counting a majority Jewish population, and at one point had 37 synagogues.

    “While there was a Jewish presence in Morocco before the 18th century, the only reliable historical records date back to that time,” Chafiqi said.

    – Tolerance, diversity –

    Two US-based Jewish associations — the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) — said they “worked closely with the Kingdom of Morocco and the Moroccan Jewish community” on the “groundbreaking” academic reform.

    “Ensuring Moroccan students learn about the totality of their proud history of tolerance, including Morocco’s philo-Semitism, is an inoculation against extremism,” leaders of the two organisations said in a statement published on Twitter last month.

    Also in November, Education Minister Said Amzazi and the heads of two Moroccan associations signed a partnership agreement “for the promotion of values of tolerance, diversity and coexistence in schools and universities”.

    The accord was symbolically inked at Essaouira’s “House of Memory”, which celebrates the historic coexistence of the city’s Jewish and Muslim communities.

    Among those present was Andre Azoulay, a member of the local Jewish community who is also an adviser to King Mohammed VI.

    The king, Morocco’s “Commander of the Faithful”, has pushed for a tolerant Islam that ensures freedom of worship for Jews and foreign Christians.

    In September 2018, at a UN roundtable, he emphasised the role of education in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.

    Morocco “has never erased its Jewish memory,” said Zhor Rehihil, curator of Casablanca’s Moroccan Jewish Museum — the only one of its kind in the region.

    History teacher Mohammed Hatimi said introducing Jewish identity into Morocco’s education programme would help nurture “future citizens conscious of their diverse heritage”.

    The move will also be part of a revision of the secondary school curriculum set for next year, according to Chafiqi from the education ministry.

    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email WhatsApp Copy Link
    Previous Articleمبادرات فارس سعيد التي تخيف حزب الله
    Next Article عون الفاقد للشرعية، وصهره « المعاقَب »، يريدان الغاء « إتفاق الطائف »!
    Subscribe
    Notify of
    guest

    guest

    0 Comments
    Newest
    Oldest Most Voted
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    RSS Recent post in french
    • Nouvelle approche des Forces Libanaises: Alliances ou Endiguement ? 5 July 2025 Kamal Richa
    • Ce que nous attendons de vous, Monsieur le Président 3 July 2025 Michel Hajji Georgiou
    • Il faut être pour Nétanyahou lorsqu’il affaiblit la menace iranienne ; et ardemment contre lui lorsqu’il détruit Gaza 1 July 2025 Denis Charbit
    • En Syrie, la mystérieuse disparition du corps de Hafez el-Assad 11 June 2025 Apolline Convain
    • En Syrie, après les massacres d’alaouites, la difficulté de recueillir des témoignages : « Je n’ai pas confiance » 5 June 2025 Madjid Zerrouky
    RSS Recent post in arabic
    • نهج “القوات اللبنانية” الجديد في الشارع المسيحي: تحالفات أم احتواء؟ 5 July 2025 كمال ريشا
    • (تحديث) رسالة “سرية” من “الإصلاحيين” إلى إسرائيل عرضوا فيها دعمهم لتغيير النظام 5 July 2025 شفاف- خاص
    • الاستدعاءات في لبنان: عودة “الروح العضومية” 4 July 2025 عمر حرقوص
    • ماذا يجري في مرفأ بيروت؟ 4 July 2025 خاص بالشفاف
    • دراسة استطلاعية: أحمد الصراف الكاتب الأكثر قراءة وتأثيراً في الكويت 3 July 2025 الشفّاف
    26 February 2011

    Metransparent Preliminary Black List of Qaddafi’s Financial Aides Outside Libya

    6 December 2008

    Interview with Prof Hafiz Mohammad Saeed

    7 July 2009

    The messy state of the Hindu temples in Pakistan

    27 July 2009

    Sayed Mahmoud El Qemany Apeal to the World Conscience

    8 March 2022

    Russian Orthodox priests call for immediate end to war in Ukraine

    Recent Comments
    • Edward Ziadeh on Why al-Sharaa’s success in Syria is good for Israel and the US
    • Giant Squirrel on Holier Than Thou: Politics and the Pulpit in America
    • Edward Ziadeh on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    • Victoria Perea on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    • Victoria Perea on As Church awaits a Conclave, President Trump puts up picture of himself as next Pope
    Donate
    Donate
    © 2025 Middle East Transparent

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    loader

    Inscrivez-vous à la newsletter

    En vous inscrivant, vous acceptez nos conditions et notre politique de confidentialité.

    loader

    Subscribe to updates

    By signing up, you agree to our terms privacy policy agreement.

    loader

    اشترك في التحديثات

    بالتسجيل، فإنك توافق على شروطنا واتفاقية سياسة الخصوصية الخاصة بنا.

    wpDiscuz