The Jewish Casba

Morocco is a place full of old Jewish settlements. You can find a jewish quarter in Marrakech, a sinagogue there has a guard watching over it and a big cemetery as well. In Casablanca, many jewish people still live in the jewish quarter. In Tamrir, a small town, there are remains of an old Jewish casba (castle) and a cemetery on the edge of town. Now days, the casba is inhabited by the local Barber people, who once lived and worked side by side with the jews that lived here. The jews have left in 1956 when Morocco fought and won it's independence against the French; during the time of war, the people here have migrated to Israel. From what I'm told, many of the jewish people from Israel that used to live here and their families return here to visit the cemitary and their close Berber friends that live here. The owner of my hotel even picked up a bit of hebrew through cotact with the visiting jews from Israel.

Much of the jewish casba is now in ruins. There is little of the jewish writing remaining on the buildings as they were removed; From what I'm told, some parts of the sinagogue that remains still contains a bit of the writing. The jewish people had a large influence of the society here; having created and introduced many of the processes and tools used by the Barber people today; for intance, making shoes, the blower, work on silver, and the flower sifter are just a few.

The Berber people that live here are very warm and welcoming. And life in this quiet town is very relaxing. I have spent only a couple of days here, but have already made several friends and had interesting conversations about life here and the people that lived here.