I Have Seen The Mahometan Children Amuse Themselves By
Beating Little Jews, Who Durst Not Defend Themselves.
When a Jew passes
a mosque, he is obliged to take off his slippers, or shoes; he must do
the same when he passes the house of the Kaed, the Kady, or any
Mussulman of distinction.
At Fez, and in some other towns, they are
obliged to walk barefooted." Ali Bey mentions other vexations and
oppressions, and adds, "When I saw the Jews were so ill-treated and
vexed in every way, I asked them why they did not go to another country.
They answered that they could not do so, because they were slaves of the
Sultan." Again he says, "As the Jews have a particular skill in
thieving, they indemnify themselves for the ill-treatment they receive
from the Moors, by cheating them daily."
Jewesses are exempt from taking off their slippers, or sandals, when
passing the mosques. The late Emperor, Muley Suleiman, [1] professed to
be a rigidly exact Mussulman, and considered it very indecent, and a
great scandal that Jewesses, some of them, like most women of this
country, of enormous dimensions, should be allowed to disturb the decent
frame of mind of pious Mussulmen, whilst entering the threshold of the
house of prayer, by the sad exhibitions of these good ladies stooping
down and shewing their tremendous calves, when in the act of taking off
their shoes before passing the mosques. For such reasons, Jewesses are
now privileged and exempted from the painful necessity of walking
barefoot in the streets.
The policy of the Court in relation to the Jews continually fluctuates.
Sometimes, the Emperor thinks they ought to be treated like the rest of
his subjects; at other times, he seems anxious to renew in all its
vigour the system described by Ali Bey. Hearing that the Jews of
Tangier, on returning from Gibraltar, would often adopt the European
dress, and so, by disguising themselves, be treated like Christians and
Europeans, he ordered all these would-be Europeans forthwith to be
undressed, and to resume their black turban.
Alas, how were all these Passover, Tabernacle and wedding festivals,
these happy and joyous days of the Jewish society of Mogador, changed on
the bombardment of that city! What became of the rich and powerful
merchants, the imperial vassals of commerce with their gorgeous wives
bending under the weight of diamonds, pearls, and precious gems, during
that sad and unexpected period? The newspapers of the day recorded the
melancholy story. Many of the Jews were massacred, or buried underneath
the ruins of the city; their wives subjected to plunder; the rest were
left wandering naked and starving on the desolate sandy coast of the
Atlantic, or hidden in the mountains, obtaining a momentary respite from
the rapacious fury of the savage Berbers and Arabs.
It is well known that, while the French bombarded Tangier and Mogador
from without, the Berber and Arab tribes, aided by the _canaille_ of the
Moors, plundered the city from within. Several of the Moorish rabble
declared publicly, and with the greatest cowardice and villainous
effrontery, "When the French come to destroy Mogador, we shall go and
pillage the Jews' houses, strip the women of their ornaments, and then
escape to the mountains from the pursuit of the Christians." These
threats they faithfully executed; but, by a just vengeance, they were
pillaged in turn, for the Berbers not only plundered the Jews
themselves, but the Moors who had escaped from the city laden with their
booty.
It is to be hoped that a better day is dawning for North African Jews.
The Governments of France and England can do much for them in Morocco.
The Jews of the Atlas formed the subject of some of Mr. Davidson's
literary labours; I have made further inquiries and shall give the
reader some account of them, adding that portion of Mr. Davidson's
information which was borne out by further investigation. The Atlas Jews
are physically, if not morally, superior to their brethren who reside
among the Moors. They are dispersed over the Atlas ranges, and have all
the characteristics of mountaineers. They enjoy, like their neighbours,
the Berbers and Shelouhs, a species of quasi-independence of the
Imperial authority, but they usually attach themselves to certain Berber
chieftains who protect them, and whose standards they follow.
These are the only Jews in Mahometan countries of whom I have heard as
bearing arms. They have, however, their own Sheiks, to whose
jurisdiction all domestic matters are referred. They wear the same
attire as the mountaineers, and are not distinguishable from them, they
do not address the Moors by the term of respect and title "Sidi," but in
the same way as the Moors and Arabs when they accost each other. They
speak the Shelouh language.
Mr. Davidson mentions some curious circumstances about these Jews, and
of their having a city beyond the Atlas, where three or four thousand
are living in perfect freedom, and cultivating the soil, which they have
possessed since the time of Solomon. The probability is that Mr.
Davidson's informant refers to the Jews of the Oasis of Sahara, where
there certainly are some families of Jews living in comparative freedom
and independence.
As to the peculiarities of the religion of the Atlas Jews, they are said
not to have the Pentateuch and the law in the same order as Jews
generally. They are unacquainted with Ezra, or Christ; they did not go
to Babylon at the captivity, but were dispersed over Africa at that
period. They are a species of Caraaites, or Jewish Protestants. Shadai
is the name which they apply to the Supreme Being, when speaking of him.
Their written law begins by stating that the world was many thousand
years old when the present race of men was formed, which, curiously
enough, agrees with the researches of modern geology. The present race
of men are the joint offspring of different and distinct human species.
The deluge is not mentioned by them.
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