This is a photograph taken in 1992 of the facade of the Ozar Hatorah primary school in Casablanca, Morocco. The photograph shows a concrete wall with an entrance gate. The metal doors in the gate are closed and damaged. Above the gate is the sign “Ecole Primaire Ozar Hatorah” (Ozar Hatorah Primary School). On the inside of the window in the wall are metal bars. A car is parked on the street outside the wall. The photograph is part of the Center for Jewish Art collection.
The Oẓar Hatorah school network was founded in 1945 with the aim of establishing Jewish schools in the Middle East and North Africa. The founders were concerned about the secularisation of Jewish life in the area and hoped to rectify the problem by creating schools which taught both religious and secular subjects. The first Ozar Hatorah schools were opened in Morocco and, by 1957, were educating 30,000 students. By 1970, Ozar Hatorah was operating twenty-three schools in Morocco.
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Jewish Community of Morocco – Jews have a long history of living in Morocco. Although there are oral traditions of Jews living in Morocco during the time of the First Temple, the first archaeological evidence dates to the second century CE. After the Muslim conquest of Morocco in 788 CE, the situation for the Jewish community depended on the tribe that was ruling the land and thus fluctuated between persecution and tolerance. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many Jews fled to Morocco and the community grew. In 1860, the Jewish educational organisation Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) was founded. The Alliance, as it was known, was very active in Morocco and opened schools across the country in which the students were taught the French language and culture along with Jewish subjects. In 1912, Morocco became a protectorate of France and this French education proved to be a valuable asset. During World War II, Morocco was controlled by the pro-Nazi Vichy government. When the Vichy government instituted decrees that discriminated against Jews, Morocco’s Sultan Mohammed V defied the command and refused to put them into practice. By 1948, approximately 260,000 Jews lived in Morocco. With the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, riots broke out in Morocco and Jews began to flee to Israel and other countries. When Morocco gained its independence from France in 1956, King (formerly the Sultan) Mohammed V returned to the country and life for Jews in Morocco improved temporarily. However, a few months later, Jews were forbidden to immigrate to Israel and the Jewish Agency offices, which had been helping Jews to immigrate, were closed down. Between 1956 and 1961, 25,000 Moroccan Jews left Morocco for Israel illegally. Figures from 2014 say that 2,500 Jews are still living in Morocco. It is estimated that nearly one million Jews of Moroccan descent live in Israel.
Jewish Community of Casablanca – The Jewish community of Casablanca, Morocco, was founded in the fourteenth century when the city was named Anfa. Upon the Portuguese conquest of the city in 1468, the Jewish community was dispersed, returning only later to the city. In 1750 the Rabbi Eliyahu Synagogue was built, although the community remained small until the middle of the nineteenth century when Jews arrived in Casablanca from other regions in North Africa. At this time the Jews were mostly located in the Mellah district. With the advent of European culture in Morocco, Jews prospered, often serving as representatives of European countries. By the beginning of the twentieth century 6,000 Jews lived in Casablanca, comprising a third of the population, and Casablanca became an important centre for Moroccan Jewry. Many of the Jews held high positions in the economy and society of the city and founded many welfare organisations to care for the needs of the community. The community had two synagogues, eight Talmud Torah schools and four private schools. Throughout the twentieth century, there were periods of anti-Jewish riots, and during World War II, the anti-Jewish policies of the French Vichy government that ruled Morocco severely restricted the rights of the Jews. After the liberation of Morocco, many Jews arrived in Casablanca, and by 1948 the community numbered more 70,000 – over half of the Jews of Morocco. Although the government of Morocco tried to protect the Jewish community, the enmity of their Arab neighbours, especially after the creation of the State of Israel and the Six-Day War, caused large numbers of Jews to leave Morocco. In 1997 there were 6,000 Jews living in Morocco, 5,000 of them in Casablanca. Today there are around 1,000 Jews in Casablanca and some synagogues, kosher restaurants, retirement homes, and schools, such as the Ozar Hatorah school, are still operating.
The Center for Jewish Art – The Center for Jewish Art documents Jewish art from all over the world. The art is divided into five categories: illuminated Hebrew manuscripts, sacred and ritual objects, ancient Jewish art, modern Jewish art, and Jewish ritual architecture. While documenting Jewish life in communities around the world, the Center has paid special attention to the remnants left in the wake of World War II and the Communist regimes in Europe. Many synagogues and other communal buildings are in a grave state of disrepair, and the Center is trying to document them through photography before they are lost forever. The Center for Jewish Art also collects archives, manuscripts, and ritual items that are dispersed around the world. The Center then digitises the material and uploads it to the National Library’s website in order to make it accessible to scholars and members of the general public who are interested in learning about their ancestry.
