AZEMMOUR, city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. In the 15th century Azemmour was a free city with 20,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,500 were Jews, mainly occupied as fishermen and craftsmen, and including wealthy merchants. Exiles from Portugal in 1496 found refuge there. It was subsequently raided by the Spanish, but the Jews were afforded protection by the Portuguese, who occupied Azemmour in 1513 without bloodshed. A grant of privileges was conferred on the Jews on June 14, 1514, which also fixed their annual tax payment. Joseph Adibe was appointed rabbi of Azemmour and invested with wide powers (c. 1512). The community flourished and prominent members included the families of Adibe, *Roti, Valensi, Buros, Rodrigues, and Cordilha. Numerous *Marranos were welcomed in Azemmour and enabled to go to the interior where they could return to the Jewish faith. The community supported financially and diplomatically the pretensions of David Ha-*Reuveni when he arrived in Portugal in 1525. Azemmour was captured by the Moors in 1541; during the siege John III ordered the evacuation of all Jewish non-combatants to Arzila, and compensated them for the losses they had incurred. A community was reestablished in 1780. Most of the more wealthy members immigrated to Mazagan c. 1820, after the sultan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Hishām permitted Jews to trade there. Only the Jewish craftsmen remained in Azemmour, which continued to have a Jewish population until the emigration from Morocco after 1948. In 1968 there were no Jewish inhabitants in the town.
I arrived here in February 2023, fifty plus years after the last jews, who had lived here for millennia, had left.
While visiting the dilapidated cemetery, I was shown the last of the tombs, from 1964..
I went in search of the Mellah inside the old city where Jews lived.
Looking at the sign. Impasse de la Synagogue showing the entrance to the alleyway where a synagogue must have stood, I felt so much emotions. Who walked here on friday nights and saturday mornings? 500 years ago ? what melodies ? were they the same that I learned in Australia? perhaps the words may have been the same but not the tune .. as Moroccan jews sing their prayers to beautiful tunes ..
Most of the homes where Jews lived are in ruins now.
I am so glad that Israel and Morocco has established diplomatic relations and that we can expect more and more descendants of Moroccan Jews ( estimated to be 1.8 million worldwide but mostly in Israel) would travel to enjoy the same emotional happiness visiting these sites.
I thought of all people connected to me through love and affection, starting with the petite poete de côte sauvage, my family in Israel, Miami and Portland, Oregon. I feel like a baloon (a bad metaphor at this time of chinese spy baloons) being tethered by. affections in various parts of the world Iran principally, Cochin in India , Mexico and of course that dear island that is not too far from here ..and my friends every where and elsewhere ..
Thank you for your thoughts ..
I also feel connected to the history of the jewish people . I feel the burden of keeping the history of Jewish people from remote parts of the world ..Rangoon in Burma, Cochin in India , Penang in Malaysia .. Djerba .. and now in Casablanca, Marrakech, Azemour ..
After writing I decided, I would visit more places of Jewish Interest in Morocco ..
Ishmael at Riad 58 blue in Marrakech! Get my room ready
