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The southern Moroccan city of Taroudant once was home to two Alliance schools. This video is of a visit to the original AIU campus that opened in 1929 and is situated just outside the Jewish cemetery on the southwestern flank of the walled city. A larger campus was built decades later in a different area. Both school buildings are used today as public schools, the Alliance having ceased operating them in 1964 following the near complete dissolution of the city’s Jewish community.

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How to get there: Driving from Oujda, the end of the train line in the East, south to Ain Benimatthar, the terrain is wide, arid and starkly mountainous. The town is a world apart from the glitzy tourist paths to Marrakech or Fes; this place is in the middle of nowhere, a bubble of history in eastern Morocco.

Vichy buildings turned school: Ask the boys if they know where the former Vichy camp buildings are located. They may be excited to help; apparently the old French Vichy camp administration buildings had been turned into their school. Walk along the abandoned train tracks to the ruined train station. A five-minute walk further will bring you to a pink, new-looking building that is the Vichy camp administration location turned schoolhouse.

This building was not where the prisoners slept, but more likely for the Vichy administrators. Satloff found a first personal account written by a Polish-Jewish survivor of the camp: “The camp consisted of holes in the ground or burrowed into the side of a hill. Each man had to provide his own shelter. All they found when they arrived were holes into which one man might wriggle on his stomach. They had to make larger caves in their own spare time.”2

What remains: The physical remains of these memories come in the form of a run-down old train station, the trashed cemetery, and a strangely pink converted schoolhouse, between the wide blue sky and the shifting beige earth. All of this, along train tracks leading from distant Oran, southward.

By Alma Rachel Heckman

[1] Robert Satloff, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands. New York: Public Affairs, 2006, p. 63.
[2] Ibid., 64.

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In the remote High Atlas Mountains lies a lush hidden valley accessible only via a solitary road that winds through the mountains. The dramatic valley floor is punctuated by two pyramid-like mini-mountains, each capped by a round mud granary that surrounds the tomb of holy men: Sidi Moussa (Lord Moses) and Sidi Chitta (Lord Chitta) – both Jews, according to local legend.

Setting: The Ait Bougmez Valley is known as the “happy valley,” apparently reflecting the friendly disposition of its residents. Tucked away in a remote corner of the Atlas mountains, Ait Bougmez sits in the shadow of the M’goun Massif, the area’s tallest peak. Well irrigated with streams fed by mountain snow, the green valley features a mosaic of green fields in geometric patterns. Small clusters of red clay homes dot the valley.

Agadir: Due to its remote location, the valley was part of Morocco known as “Bled Siba,” countryside uncontrolled by the king’s forces. The lack of a dominant power meant tribes often battled one another for power. Local villages would create a communal granary, or “agadir” in Tamazigh (the Berber language), to store supplies and to provide shelter in the event of a siege. To maximize security, the agadir would ideally be placed on a hilltop or peak with a panoramic view of the surroundings.

Shrines: The shrines of Sidi Moussa and Sidi Chitta are classical examples of agadirs. Sidi Moussa sits on a conical hill above a village called Tabant. A few miles away, atop a parallel hill, stands the Sidi Chitta agadir. The buildings — divided into small rooms where local families store their grain — are squat, circular structures with four stone turrets offering strategic look-out spots. Inside, a spiral staircase leads to the upper floors and roof.

Current Status: Today, the Ait Bougmez Valley does not see inter-tribal conflict, and so the Sidi Moussa shrine has been turned into a cultural museum spotlighting the valley’s traditional folk-craft. The shrine’s guardian, who claims he is 120 years old, climbs the hill every morning to administer the small museum and offer visitors tea.

Jewish Roots: Little is known about the two saints, who are remembered as pious men with remarkable healing powers. Many locals, particularly older residents of the valley, share the legend that the men were rabbis. Local women often visit the shrine to seek alleviation of cases of infertility, a power Berber Muslims often associate with Jewish marabouts (holy men). Several small Jewish communities once thrived in the Ait Bougmez Valley (one community was the subject of a sociological study), with the most prominent being the Jewish village of Assamer outside Ait Bouli. Jews and Muslims appear to have had a complex relationship in the valley, and it is in keeping with patterns of such interactions that Muslims might venerate a Jewish saint.

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A dirt road leads to a compound of buildings enclosed by a gate, overshadowed by mountains and built on rocky terrain in the village of Ouirgane. Inside the shrine are three different tombs, leaving the precise burial spot of Rabbi Haim Ben Diwan in doubt — befitting the mysterious circumstances of his death. Two of the graves are identified with markings that appear to indicate it is of Ben Diwan. But which one? The other two are believed to be for two of his disciples. Artifacts, some dating to at least the 1700s, adorn the room, including candlesticks, menorahs, Torah scroll crowns, the Ten Commandments (in Hebrew) etched on a plate, and a flower vase.

Father: Haim Ben Diwan is the son of 18th Century Amiran ben Diwan, a fundraiser from the land of Israel and a revered rabbi with his own major pilgrimage site in northern Morocco. Arriving in 1763, he established a yeshivah (religious school) in Wazan, from where he set-off traveling around the country with his son preaching and, in the eyes of many, performing miracles. The most famous story is of how Haim took deathly ill, only to recover shortly before his father’s death; Rabbi Amiran ben Diwan’s prayers having been answered.

Son: Legend has it that Haim Ben Diwan, while traveling the south to continue his father’s mission, was followed by unknown people from the mountains who wanted to kill him. Why, or how he knew, is unclear. What is said is that he went into a cave to avoid capture, which succeeded perhaps too well. Not only did they not find him, but no one has ever found him. Three different tombs are in the shrine leaving the precise burial spot in doubt.

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Outside of Teroudant, in the small village of Bizou, is the tomb of Rabbi David Ben Barukh HaCohen, some of whose decedents are still to be found in Morocco.  The family is active in the synagogue that bears his name in Casablanca and is responsible for the upkeep of and hillula (yearly pilgrimage) to his shrine, which occurs on the 8th day of Chanukah.

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Shrine: The cemetery contains several hundred other graves, most arrayed in a series of rows. Some of the graves have stones placed on top of them, the result of a traditional Jewish custom where relatives place a few pebbles atop grave stones as a kind of memorial.

A Muslim guardian lives on the premises with his family, including a young daughter who often wanders among the tombs. He is familiar with the history of the AbuHatzeira clan and often greets visitors from around the world who come on pilgrimage to the shrine.

Community: In 1954, about one-third of the inhabitants of the new section of Erfoud were Jews. On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, all shops were closed – including those owned by non-Jews – because there was no one to trade with. Yaakov Benhamou was then the head of the local community, and Mukhluf Krispin was the young head of the local Talmud Torah Jewish day school.

The Baba Sali had a grand, new synagogue in town that was known as “The Rav’s Synagogue.” There were Jewish quarters, or mellahs, in many of the surrounding villages, including Ksar Zrigat and Ma’adid to the north; Tijimi and Joarf to the west; and Sifa and El-Glagla to the south (though in 1954 only the last three villages still had Jewish inhabitants).

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNZRMyZUOu0

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