Moroccan-Jewish heritage re-visited (original) (raw)

2014, Irene Maffi and Rami Daher, eds., The Politics and Practices of Cultural Heritage in the Middle East: Positioning the Material Past in Contemporary Societies

Beginning in the late 1970s, after almost three decades of uneasy silence, Morocco has experienced a growing interest in Jewish places and ‘things Jewish’. This has been shown, for example, in an upsurge of media coverage, in an increase in scientific and literary publications, and in the restoration of old synagogues and cemeteries. In 1995 the Fondation du Patrimoine culturel judéo-marocain, a private organisation, was founded for ‘preserving, restoring and raising awareness of’ the Moroccan-Jewish patrimony. The objectives of the Foundation are presented on its homepage and introduced with the following statement: "In two millennia the Moroccan Jewish community accumulated a cultural patrimony that is highly significant for its authenticity and its role as one facet of the pluralistic Moroccan civilisation." The quotation refers to the long Jewish presence in Morocco, and emphasises the importance of the Jewish heritage for the ‘pluralistic Moroccan civilisation’. But how is this statement to be contextualised? Who are the actors, inside and outside Morocco, who define what is considered to be ‘highly significant’ and ‘authentic’? What is their motivation in emphasising the Jewish component of the Moroccan heritage, and how are they related to one another? Heritage does not simply exist – rather, it is created, shaped and negotiated. It is, as Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett put it, ‘a mode of cultural production in the present that has recourse to the past’. Agents declare certain objects, buildings, places and performances to be part of the heritage, depending on the cultural, social, political and economic needs of the self and the expectations of others. In doing so, objects or buildings are detached from their original function and re-defined as belonging to a heritage, and necessarily to be preserved. This paper focuses, therefore, on those actors who determine what Moroccan-Jewish heritage is or ought to be. Although the Foundation plays a central role in restoring and reconstructing what has been defined in this way, there are many more agents involved in the process of ‘patrimonialisation’. Considerable impact on the perception of Moroccan-Jewish heritage comes from international organisations like Unesco and the World Heritage Fund. Also, the activities of the many Moroccan Jews living abroad have to be taken into consideration, as they are influential in the process of shaping the Jewish heritage. Another significant factor here is the upswing in heritage tourism, and in cultural tourism generally, which stimulates interest in historical sites. Since dealing with heritage always has political significance, the political relevance of rediscovering the Moroccan-Jewish patrimony will be a fundamental issue in this analysis. I will take a closer look at places and practices that have been revitalised in the last decade, and thus become visible. Concrete examples of restoration projects, exhibitions of Jewish culture and history, and practices such as annual pilgrimages will show who is involved in the re-construction process and what is the motivation behind the rediscovery of Jewish places, objects and traditions.