Memories of Absence Memories of Absence HOW MUSLIMS REMEMBER JEWS IN MOROCCO Aomar Boum STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Boum, Aomar, author. Memories of absence : how Muslims remember Jews in Morocco / Aomar Boum. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8047-8699-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Jews--Morocco--Public opinion. 2. Muslims--Morocco--Attitudes. 3. Collective memory--Morocco. 4. Public opinion--Morocco. 5. Morocco--Ethnic relations--History. I. Title. DS135.M8B69 2013 964.00492'4--dc23 2013025713 ISBN 978-0-8047-8851-9 (electronic) Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 9/15 Palatino This book is dedicated to Faraji, son of Lahcen; Mahira, daughter of Mohammed; Norma Mendoza-Denton; and Majdouline Boum-Mendoza, for their lifelong, unlimited support and their unconditional love Contents Abbreviations xi Acknowledgments xv Prologue: “Ariel Sharon” in the Sahara ix Introduction 1 1 Writing the Periphery: Colonial Narratives of Moroccan Jewish Hinterlands 11 2 Outside the Mellah: Market, Law, and Muslim-Jewish Encounters 29 3 Inside the Mellah: Education and the Creation of a Saharan Jewish Center 57 4 “Little Jerusalems” Without Jews: Muslim Memories of Jewish Anxieties and Emigration 87 5 Shadow Citizens: Jews in Independent Morocco 109 6 Between Hearsay, Jokes, and the Internet: Youth Debate Jewish Morocco 131 Conclusion 157 Epilogue: Performing Interfaith Dialogue 161 Methodological Appendix: Generations, Cohorts, Schemas, and Longitudinal Memories 169 Notes 173 References 191 Index 211 Photographs follow page 76 Abbreviations AIU Alliance Israélite Universelle CAM Comité d’Action Marocaine CCIM Conseil des Communautés Israélites du Maroc COM Chaykh Omar Museum ENH École Normale Hebraïque ENIO École Normale Israélite Oriental FJMCH Foundation of Jewish Moroccan Cultural Heritage FZF French Zionist Federation JDC American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee JMC Jewish Museum of Casablanca MN Mouvement National OSE Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants PCM Parti Communiste Morocain PDA Parti Démocratique Amazigh PDI Parti Démocratique de l’Indépendance PNRR Parti National pour la Réalisation des Réformes PRN Parti des Réformes Nationales PUM Parti de l’Unité Marocaine SGP Société de Géographie de Paris UGSCM Union Générale des Syndicats Confédérés du Maroc UMT Union Marocaine du Travail UNEM Union Nationale des Étudiants Marocains UNFP Union Nationale des Forces Populaires USFP Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires