Musée du Judaisme Marocain

Created and managed by the Foundation for Moroccan-Jewish Cultural Heritage, the Museum of Moroccan Judaism was opened in 1997. It is considered the first museum in the city of Casablanca, and the only Jewish museum in the Arab region.

The Murdock Bengio Children's Home is the former name of the building that now houses the museum, an orphanage for the protection of Jewish children.

Specific contribution and Interaction

The written production of Moroccan rabbis is very abundant. Although it is essentially Hebrew literature, it is nonetheless a reflection, from a given angle, of a Moroccan reality, of a society that is predominantly Arab-Islamic. This is particularly evident in legal writings(3). The collections of jurisprudence are a telling source of information on past centuries in the fields of economic life, social life, customs, etc. They also reveal how much the environment can influence local Mosaic law. After the arrival of the refugees from Spain, a long dispute arose between immigrant and local rabbis, especially in Fez. The Sephardic code was eventually recognised as a reference, but in combination with Moroccan customs, such as bigamy, which was legal until 1948. Moroccan literary production in Hebrew embraces other fields: theological and cabalistic thought, chronicles, poetry. It is part of the heritage of Judaism, but it remains inseparable from the surrounding culture, in more than one way. H. Zafrani has shown how much poetry is indebted to Arab models for structure, rhyme, rhythm, etc. It is generally intended to be sung to an Andalusian musical theme. In the vast field of popular culture, the Moroccan background is much more apparent; but the specificity remains marked. The two poles of social life are felt: economic and professional life, the multiple contributions with Muslim society open the community to regional and national influences, while family life, culture and community institutions give a specific Jewish stamp to cultural expressions and manifestations. In the countryside, where cohabitation is more direct and the community's weight less enveloping, the specificity may be less marked. The overall result is a typically Moroccan Judaism with its own personality even within the Sephardic rite, with its minhag (religious tradition), its liturgical music, its particular feasts and celebrations, its cult of saints, its moussems (hillulot), its legends and, beyond orthodoxy, superstitions and magical practices. All of this is reflected in popular creations, individual or collective, in fields ranging from language to literature, music, applied arts... and cuisine.

Built in 1948 by Mrs. Celia Bengio in memory of her late husband Murdock Bengio. The building, which covers an area of 600m2, was refurbished by the architect Aimé Kakon in 1995-1996. The Museum of Moroccan Judaism, a private ethnographic museum, consists of two distinct spaces:

• A space reserved for the temporary exhibition
• A second space, comprising 3 rooms, for the permanent exhibition.
• The course of the permanent exhibition gives a privileged place to the valorization of the authenticity of the Moroccan Judaïca, as well as to the diversity of the Moroccan synagogues and their interior.

The initial collection of the Museum of Moroccan Judaism consists essentially of cult objects, objects of worship of Moroccan tradition, called: Moroccan Judaica. Since the opening of the museum, missions have been carried out to collect objects abandoned in synagogues throughout the country. This approach, undertaken by the late Simon Levy, assisted by Zhor Rehihil, has enabled the recovery and the constitution of the first part of the collection:

• Singers' platforms
• Circumcision chairs
• Traditional lamps with their supports
• Torah scrolls
• Torah covers
• Tombstones (from southern cemeteries)
• Prayer books

This initial collection has also been enriched over the years by donations from individuals who have given the museum

• Torah ornaments
• Hanukkah lamps
• Megilotes
• Bar mitzvah bags

Since its creation, the Museum of Moroccan Judaism, thanks to its former director, has developed a policy of acquisition which has fed the museum with exceptional objects such as

• A meguillah of Hitler
• A keswa kbira (Corcos family)
• Hanukkah lamps
• A rare Azemmour embroidery
• Judeo-Moroccan manuscripts (such as the Call of Azzouz Cohen)