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.
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