Also after an incredible first international trip, we
still have four more to go, and hopefully each time we remind ourselves to open
our eyes, ears, nose, and mind wider, and feel more intently. Some people may
ask why Kivunim students chose to take a gap year program where for 3/8 months
we are away from Israel.
My answer is
that our program sees the importance of not just learning and educating people on
the state of Israel and the Middle East, but also to do the same for all the
other places we visit.
We learn about
not just past and present Jewish communities in all the places we visit, but
also about each society’s multicultural chronicles.
For example, we don’t just visit Jewish
communities and synagogues in the countries we visit; we also visit churches
and mosques.
We do not just learn about
religions, rather we also learn about past and present governments like: the
ancient Greek city-states and their idea of democracy, the current Greek state
and their economic struggles, and the once communist Bulgaria which is now a
democracy still struggling to find their country’s own identity and sense of
community.
On top of that, we have
lectures on all three of these monotheistic religions, and have classes to
teach us about the past and present governments of each country. We believe
that the more dynamic and knowledgeable we are about the world from different
perspectives, the greater impact we can make on our present and future
societies.
Although it is impossible for
me to remember every single detail and fact I learn on Kivunim, by the end of
the year I think I will definitely be more knowledgeable about the world in
which we live, and know how to be a better critical thinker and contributor to
society.
Hassan II Mosque, Neve Shalom,
Jacquy Sebag, The Museum of Moroccan Jewry
Just
some background on Moroccan Jewry: currently there are 3,500 Jews in Morocco
and 2,500 of them live in Casablanca.
Later this week we will be visiting the oldest synagogue in Morocco that
was restored and is 850 years old.
This morning we went to the third
largest mosque in the world following Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It holds 15,000 people inside, and 18,000
people outside. The Mosque honors King
Hassan II for his 60th birthday, and there is a special plateau for
the king to stand on when he comes to visit the mosque.
The
Mosque we visited was made by hand and three shifts of 6,000 artisans worked
24/7 to complete it in 6 years.
King
Hussein II died in 1999, so it is good that his vision succeeded.
The mosque has features that were made from
different materials coming from many places throughout Morocco, like from Fez
and the Atlas Mountains.
A French
architect designed the mosque and was King Hassan II’s friend.
The cedar wood on the roof is from the Atlas
Mountains, and the mosque is located right next to the Atlantic Ocean.
The chandeliers are made of Venetian glass
from Italy.
Women pray above in the
mezzanine, which reminded me a lot of Orthodox Jewish prayer when women are
separated from men.
Also the absence of
images in Islam’s house of worship reminds me a lot of Judaism.
Islam is a very geometric religion and uses
many beautiful mosaics to make shapes that are often circular in shape. The men
pray on the floor with their shoes off, and so when I was walking in the mosque
shoeless, my feet felt so free and my movement unrestricted.
I totally understand and respect why Muslim
men pray on the floor shoeless.
It is
such a natural way of praying.
Walking
on the mosaic marble just made me want to dance and be a ballerina.
In winter, the floors even heated!
During Ramadan, the mosque is filled with
25,000 people inside and 80,000 people outside.
On Fridays (Islam’s holiest day of the week), 5,000 people usually fill
up the mosque.
There is a wash
underneath the prayer room that people go to before they pray—it reminds me of
a Jewish mikvah (ritual bath).
El mihrab
(Apple dictionary: a niche in the wall of a mosque, at the point nearest to
Mecca, toward which the congregation faces to pray) faces the East towards
Mecca.
The mosque’s architecture is
Andalusian influenced.
When Muslims
conquered Spain around the 10
th century, they brought much Spanish
influence with them to North Africa.
In
the 11
th-13
th centuries, the Crusades occurred and there
was conflict on the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal, Aragon, and Castille since
the Europeans were trying to recover their lost land. So because of the
Crusader period, it makes sense that Spain would have influenced North African
culture and architecture when the Muslims spread the Andalusian styles.
Then
after visiting the mosque, we visited the Neve Shalom School where there are
150 students in the primary and secondary schools combined.
The students there were so sweet, and since
it was a private school the institution seemed a tad bit more modernized than
what I envision the traditional Moroccan public school as being.
Twenty-percent of the students at the school
are even non-Jews.
My friend Noah and I
asked a boy for a basketball, and the boy was so cute and proactive; he went to
ask the headmaster where the basketball was stored, and then he retrieved one
for us from the storage room.
We played
basketball for the kids for a few minutes, and then Kivunim students split off
into different classrooms to observe the daily routine of this school.
I was in a classroom with Noah, Avniel, Sam, Sean,
Devorah, Ariel, and some others.
There
was such a special vibe in the room and the students were so attentive to their
teachers and to their studies.
We were
in a Hebrew classroom that was being taught in French, and Noah, Sean, and
Devorah know French and Hebrew, so that must have been a wonderful
experience.
I know that I would get so
much out of a Hebrew class being taught in Spanish—I hope I review some Spanish
before our last international trip to Spain.
The kids were learning Hebrew pronouns, which I learned first semester
this year in BabyBrew (first level Hebrew!).
Following
this visit, we walked over to the synagogue on the side of the school past the
courtyard, and we met with a rabbi named Jacquy Sebag, one of Peter’s close
friends. Jacquy once got attacked by a
man with an axe because of anti-Semitism.
When he got treated in Europe, he was asked if he would want to return
home to live in Morocco. He ultimately
decided to return, because he was not fearful of being Jewish in Morocco—the
event could have happened anywhere.
Peter regarded Jacquy as being an eternal living example of someone who
has made history and helps to preserve Moroccan Jewry. This is the inspirational quote that Jacquy
left Kivunim with, and he thanked us for our interest in Morocco’s unique
story: “I am looking for my brothers; I
am looking after my brothers.” We sang
Ana B’koach and he sang a beautiful prayer variation to us as well.
Then we
went to the Jewish museum garden for lunch, and then we toured the museum with
Raphy. Raphy did fieldwork for the
museum and went to villages to find remnants of Jewish heritage to add to the
museum. He found photographs and stories
and brought them back to Casablanca.
Raphy also told us a comical story from when he was doing
fieldwork: Once when visiting a
synagogue, he asked the Muslim people where the geniza (a burial place for
sacred Jewish texts because you are not supposed to burn them or throw them
out) was, and they told him that it was under the synagogue. Raphy wanted to retrieve old texts to put in
the museum, and the Muslims were fearful that that he would get bitten by a
scorpion because they were superstitious, but thankfully Raphy came out
unharmed.
Raphy told us that Simon Levy was
the main founder of the museum, and he was a radical leftist as an adult. In his youth, he was a communist and helped
to overthrow French control in order to bring the King back to power. He had an anti-zionist identity and was known
to be an iconoclast. The Musuem of
Moroccan Judaism was paid for by the government. The Toshivim Jews originally settled with
Berbers, while the Rashivim Jews were Spanish and settled in the north. The Rashivim Jews had a higher education and
knew about the Holocaust when it was going on because they had European
connections, unlike the Berber Jews who were more remote from mass
communication. Raphy’s vision was not to
help build the museum for the Jews, but rather he did it for the Muslims so
they would remember Morocco’s Jewish heritage.
Back when the idea of building the museum was nascent, Raphy made an
appointment with the Minister of Culture to discuss the possibilities of the
museum. The appointment happened to be
the same day as an Intifada in Israel.
Although there did not seem like there was much hope during his meeting
with the minister, Raphy persevered and claimed that the museum would not be
for a political pursuit of Israeli pride, but rather would be a heritage museum
about Jews living in Morocco with Berbers for the past 2,500 years. The Moroccan Jewish heritage was a different
story than what was going on in Israel.
After Raphy took us around the museum, Peter talked to us in a small
synagogue attached to the museum, and then the non-Jewish female museum
director told us that Morocco is a unique country because Jewish heritage is
truly significant in the country’s history.
The director believes in change and does not necessarily believe
tolerance is the way to go, because tolerance is fruitless unless change comes
with it.
Rabat-capital of Morocco
Monday, January 6, 2014
Rabat is
an imperial city with a wall encompassing it.
There are four Moroccan imperial cities— Fes, Meknes, Marrakesh, and
Rabat (in which the Alawid dynasty still rule and have been ruling for about
400 years). There once were 16,000 Jews in Rabat, and today there are 140
left. The city has three sections: 1)
The Medina (old city) & 2) The Mellah (Jewish Quarter) which are within the
city walls, and 3) La Villa Novel (New Town).
The King’s palace and parliament (550 seats) are in Rabat, and so is the
prime minister. Morocco is a monarchy,
but citizens still wanted to be represented through the parliament.
While
approaching Rabat, we drove along the coast and saw the beautiful Atlantic
Ocean that is great for surfing. We even
saw gigantic waves, probably that were at least 20 feet high, and they were
incredible. We found out five days later
that those huge tidal waves made a small tsunami there!
The coast
is also good for fishing here in Rabat; it is very rocky at the shore.
After driving along the coast, we entered the
Rabat and entered a scenic lookout and gardens at an ancient rampart &
fortress area called a Kasbah.
We sat in
a balcony area overlooking the water, and the ledge was right over the ocean
and it was a grand height.
One of
Kivunim’s students started playing Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go on” while
another student dangerously stood on the stone ledge and put his arms out like
Leonardo DiCaprio did on the ship.
The
garden had pretty orange trees, but the oranges could only be used for
marmalade because they were bitter.
There were also bell flowers that were indigenous to the Berbers and
their land called Udayas.
Once we
arrived at our hotel, I wrote in my journal and then we had dinner with three
Mimouna Club members. The Mimouna Club
is at Moroccan universities and promoted the preservation and education of
Jewish heritage spearheaded by dedicated young Muslims seeking to learn more
about their grandparents’ past close relations with the Moroccan Jews.
After
dinner we split up into two groups, and half of Kivunim went with two men,
while the other half went with a woman from Casablanca, who had also gone to
school with Jacquy’s son. Her name is
Laziza Dalil, and she went to study in France.
While studying business administration there and indulging like college
students tend to do, she got a wakeup call when someone told her that “France
would be cleaner is the Germans were still there.” She was so surprised that a country she
learned to be so democratized and educated would still have people saying such
horrible and sickly remarks towards the Jews.
It made Laziza realize to stick to her patriotic roots and stay in
Morocco, instead of moving to France after having been studying there. Three months later upon her return to
Morocco, she learned about the Mimouna Club (Mimouna was a Moroccan Jewish
celebration held a day after Passover. The Muslims probably chose this name as
their club because they thought that the “liberation of the Jews” accurately
aligned with their mission to inform their peers and the world the rich Jewish
life that Morocco once had for over 2,000 years, and hopefully one that can be
preserved for a long time so long as effort is put into maintaining the
remnants of Judaism here (Raphy’s work restoring synagogues and building up the
Casablanca Jewish museum is a huge part of this...in fact, King Mohammed VI put
into law for schools to take their students to visit it). Going back to Laziza, finding the Mimouna
changed the direction of her life, and today she works for the government. Being a woman in Morocco definitely lends
fewer opportunities, but diligent and smart women like Laziza can get to where
they want to if they persevere and encourage the country to become more
progressive.
Tuesday, January 7,
2014
This
morning we were invited to conduct a private Jewish memorial service at the
Tombs of King Mohammed V and his son, King Hassan II. Mohammed V through his courageous
confrontation with the Vichy French was responsible for saving the lives of the
250,000-300,000 Jews of Morocco.
When we
entered the holy site, there were guards on beautiful horses at the entrance
gate.
When we walked in we saw many
pillars, and other stone remains of an old Muslim religious area.
An earthquake that occurred in the 1700s
destroyed half of the minaret and put the mosque, where Muhammed V’s new
memorial stands today, in terrible condition.
There is also an old wall of the first mosque still standing today, and
the pillars outside were once in the mosque as we soon learned. Before going
into the religious site we had some time to take pictures, and I danced in the
open space between the columns.
I do not
think it was inappropriate to do so at a religious site because I believe King
Mohammed V would be happy that there is a presence of happy Jews and two
Muslims (Amal and Mikey) giving honor to his dignified actions of his saving
the Moroccan Jews.
Also he would be
happy to know that Kivunim is a coexistence program and is modeled and inspired
much by the beauty of Moroccan brotherhood and interwoven yet still independent
religious heritages.
By me dancing, I
honestly think it represented Jewish vitality and appreciation to the king for
keeping our ancestors alive.
I also
spoke in Arabic to the painters who were painting vents black diligently. I said “Marhaba” to say hello to them and
asked them “Kif Halik inty”…”How are you?”
Then I had my Kivunim friend Noah come over to talk to them and
translate to them in French how appreciative I was for their meticulous
work. They were pleased to receive that
remark, and they told me I was a “good person.”
That was very sweet of them to say.
Then David told me how he loves my efforts I make to interact with the
everyday people in the countries we visit.
600 artisans built up the site in 8
years. Everything in the memorial was
made by hand. There is someone who prays
in the grave room 24/7, men go in shifts and read verses from the Koran….I am
assuming the book here is always kept open.
The man praying sits in his religious garb on the ground with his shoes
off. I love how connected Muslims are to
the earth with their bodies. When we
walked inside the building to begin the memorial service, we moved in a
two-line procession up the stone steps to the front door, and took our shoes
off upon our entry. The space was laden
with beautiful mosaic geometric-styled stained glad. On top of the grave in the room there was a
domed roof. Kivunim put flowers next to
the graves.
What made Mohammed such a special
man? King Muhammed V reigned for about 35 years and during the Vichy
regime. He was able to successfully
bring Morocco to independence, which was a huge accomplishment after all the
imperialist history in the country. He
was also very good to the Jews, he said that if the French dared to put the
blue stars on the Jews that they would have to put them on all of the Moroccan
Muslims as well. This is such an
inspiring story that really shows the strong brotherhood between the Moroccans
and Jews, one that still exists today between Muslims and the remaining Jews;
though most left after the Holocaust and in the 1960s when there were mass
immigration waves to Israel. It was very
difficult for Jews to part from a land that had people (Berbers the whole time
and Muslims starting in the Common Era) who treated them so well for thousands
of years.
The
maintainer of the memorial site spoke to us in French, and a Jewish official
was translating to English.
Peter sang a
beautiful memorial payer, and a Jewish man chanted a beautiful Moroccan tune I
am guessing back to us.
They thanked us
for Kivunim’s interest to come to the memorial site, and also thanked us for
our coexistence work.
Then we
left and would be going to Fes.
During a
bathroom stop Michal sat in the driver’s seat and I pretended I was the
kid.
Then she turned some Moroccan beats
up, and the front of the bus started dancing—it was a glorious sight and
moment!
The bus driver started breaking
it down and showing us his Moroccan moves as well!
It is so nice how over the course of our
international trips the bus driver becomes part of our Kivunim family, and it
is really respectable the amount of driving they do for us.
I am so thankful for them.
The bus
ride had magnificent views of vegetation, animals (like goats, donkeys, and
horses), and the greenest grass ever. I
also spotted many hut houses and there were colorful clothes hanging on a line
outside to dry. We were approaching and
driving through the Mid Atlas Mountains, and were about 1200 meters high in
elevation.
Fes
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
When we got to the city of Fes (the
medina part of it) we went through the blue-mosaic entrance arch and into as
Peter would say, “a magical ancient city suspended in animation.” Fes’s medina presents a subculture of
Morocco, dating back to the 12th century. A medina is the old Arab quarter of a North
African town.
As we
walked through the ancient corridors, and past all the vendors trying to sell
us their material goods, I automatically thought of the Israeli shuk and of
Jerusalem’s Old City. But as I started
exploring the medina deeper, and going through the nooks and crannies with the
other students, I realized that this was quite a unique place. You saw people with traditional Moroccan garb
walking around everywhere, and when there was still a large population of Jews
in Fes you would find them dressed the same way, and the Muslims and Jews would
be brothers together, sharing the same Moroccan culture. Many of the students today showed interest in
purchasing Moroccan gowns, and Celia (my roommate and I) were determined to buy
traditional dresses for the cheapest price we could get it for. David Mendelsohn, my Ancient Greece professor,
was also with us on the trip, and he spoke in Arabic (although not the Moroccan
dialect you can still kind of get by; written Arabic is different than spoken
Arabic, and each country have unique spoken dialects) and in French (French is
a second language here) to try to bargain with the vendors. I only had 200 durham, which is about $25, so
I could not spend more than that anyways.
The vendor would not lower his price any more than 300, and his vendor
partner would raise the price again every time he lowered it, so we ended up
moving on and hoping for another opportunity to purchase Moroccan dress.
We all
wanted to purchase the garbs for different reasons, maybe some of us to fit
more in to our Moroccan culture while being here, maybe others wanting to carry
a sample of Moroccan material culture with them, and maybe some of us just did
not know their intentions for buying it.
Nonetheless, by putting on the garb, we would be representing a feature
of the Moroccan culture, so whenever we are in public with it, it is important
to realize that! Peter, the Jewish
founder of Kivunim, mentioned that he once received the garb as a gift and wore
it on a plane, which motivated people to respect him and bow down to him as
they perceived him as a super dignified religious Moroccan Muslim. He laughed after and apologized for the
confusion, and that he was proud to wear the garb because he got it as a
present from an actual Moroccan Muslim. Also
it is significant to realize that clothes are just materials and can
technically be considered to be façade; though I am not going to disagree with
the assertion that material culture helps create the identity of a human,
because I truly do believe that. But in a simplified reality, it does not
matter if a Muslim or a Jew or anybody for that matter is wearing a Moroccan
garb, because we all humans.
We
glanced into Maimonides’ residence when he stayed in Fes, so that was a cool
experience considering he had such a profound influence on Jewish
heritage. Maimonides was alive from
1135-1204, and was a “Jewish philosopher and rabbinic scholar, born in Spain”
who wrote “His Guide for the Perplexed (1190)
in attempts to reconcile Talmudic scripture with the philosophy of Aristotle”
(Apple dictionary). What I think is so
interesting about this fact is that Maimonides was influenced by Aristotelian
thought, which we learned about in our ancient Greece unit. Aristotle was alive from 384-322 BC, and was
a Greek philosopher who was also Alexander the Great’s tutor!! So it is so amazing
how everything we learn about and see this year is inextricably interwoven.
After
doing this, we walked to a madrasa, which was a dormitory for Muslim students
with a school and mosque attached.
Girl
lived on the top floor and had covered windows facing the courtyard so that
people would not be tempted to look in while they were praying/studying.
There was again beautiful mosaic covering the
walls, and also some tiles written in the beautiful Arabic calligraphic
script.
They would use these shapes and
words in place of images, so Muslims found a way to make their space
magnificent without adopting the Christian’s use of painting angels, prophets, and
patriarchs.
Then we
went into souk shops in the Medina and learned about their unique trades—many
places tried to sell us goods.
The first
place was a metal engraving place where the artist actually made part of the
palace’s portico. We went to a wool/fabric/cotton place where everything is
handmade and with a loom, and we saw the material being woven in front of
us.
I haggled and bought a garb that was
worth 600 durham for 200! It is black and floor-length with blue trim and other
accent-colors.
The souks kept telling me
that I look like a Tangier Moroccan.
Tangiers live in Tangier, Morocco, which is a seaport on the northern
coast, “on the Strait of Gibraltar where it stands guard at the western
entrance to the Mediterranean Sea” (Apple dictionary).
We also went to a tanners shop, where we saw
all kinds of animal skin, leather, and sheep woven bags, shoes, and other
goods! We could see an incredible view of the tanners’ simple machine factory
outside, where the method they use to dye the animal skin is primitive and has
been used here for thousands of years.
We saw all the barrels with the dye in it, and animal skin hanging over
the barrels waiting to be dyed.
You saw
people working out there, many cats hanging out, and women walking up and down
stairways probably to fetch materials.
The color-filled vats that these Moroccans use for the dyes can also be
compared to the dry vats (where only stains remain) on Masada today that are
more than 2,000 years old, and which once stored an abundant water supply!
See—the Kivunim connections continue.
 |
| Photo Creds to Suzy Lee Weiss |
Side Note: Remember when I mentioned that Peter told us that
the whole year of Kivunim traveling and studying is an upward spiral that has
knowledge building upon past wisdom?!? Well, I see now that it is true!
We also
went to a carpet industry shop, and everything here is handcrafted from wool as
well. The work was incredible, and the
men workers were so passionate to present their beautiful work to the Kivunim
students. Unfortunately none of us had
enough money to afford the beauties, but the men were still so kind to be
hospitable and to show us into their 12th century official rendering
of what a medina house looked like with authentic Berber rugs! They also served us tea! After this, we quickly went into a jewelry
shop and then went back to the bus for a short drive to the Fes hotel.
We
freshened up, and then went to dinner at the Fes Jewish club. Today there are only about 150 adult Jews
left in Fes. The appetizers reminded me
of a spicy version of the food we made on the farm, and then we had couscous
with cooked vegetables, followed by chicken.
Then for dessert we had tasty clementines (which are one of Morocco’s
largest exports during this time), and sat in a lounge area for a reflection
session on our trip so far.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Fes-Mellah (Jewish Quarter)
·
28,000 Jews once lived in the Mellah
·
Golden Gates of the palace right outside the
Mellah were made by the souk metal shop we visited yesterday
·
There were Spansih style balconies in the Mellah
·
There was no water or electricity until the
French came and brought a water system to the Jews
·
The first synagogue we visited is called Ibn
Danan, and a family gave a large donation to build it
o
There is a pipe on the floor and a hole on the
ceiling in order to receive natural rain water that would be pure for the
mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) located in the basement under the prayer space
o
There are no eternal lights in most Moroccan
synagogues, but there are memorial lamps.
o
The Ashkenazic and Moroccan way is to put sefer
Torah in robes, not in robes like in the traditional Sephardic culture.
o
Bimah is not in the middle of the synagogue but
is in the back. The ancient covering of
the bimah was still preserved. Benches
in back of the bimah are a Sephardic feature.
o
The Ashkenazic way to do a prayer service is for
Cohen’s and Levy’s to have the aliyah in the Torah service followed by the
shlishi (the third Torah reading). In
Morocco though the custom is for anybody who would like to go up first, to go
up.
o
Kids face in front of the ark separate from
their parents so that they can learn and chant the prayers by heart without
talking to their parents.
·
Mellah means salt. Morocco revenue in ancient times was mostly
from sugar and salt. Since King trusted
Jews to sell it and run the salt trade, they coined the term Mellah for the
Jewish Quarter.
The second synagogue we visited was previously a boxing match room. So it was fascinating to see how the building was restored and turned into a synagogue.
On the Road—10 hours
Now we
are traveling through the Mid Atlas region, and we see a lot of forest fires
in the hills. I also see donkeys and shepherds in the pasture—oh how what I
love farm life opened my eyes to.
We
eventually arrived in Errashadiya, and I started to feel pretty sick—I had a
bad headache, felt achy, and my throat was swollen.
But I stayed composed and still had a
wonderful experience learning about a unique synagogue that was restored in this
village.
The synagogue sadly had a roof
collapse in 2006, and three years ago Kivunim students helped to paint it.
Raphy put much time and dedication into
preserving the synagogue.
It is
remarkable that Raphy receives no animosity towards his Moroccan synagogue
recovery projects and gets much support from the government.
“In
Morocco synagogues are treated with deep respect and become museums where local
children can learn about the neighbors their grandparents speak of, but that
they will never know.”
~Kivunim Itinerary
1960 was
the last time that the synagogue was used, and things were left behind. When community left, they did take the sefer
torah and other significant objects with them nonetheless. The synagogues in Morocco leave a voice that speaks
to Muslims and Jews. There is no need
for guards to protect the synagogues from graffiti and anti-Semitic actions
because the whole Moroccan community respects its historical Jewish
heritage. In this particular synagogue,
women used to sit outside—the Moroccan Jews were Orthodox. Sephardic synagogues (Jews from Spain) had
bimahs in the middle of the shul, but Morocco’s Toshivim (Jewish settled
people) in Errashadiya also used this feature.
Next week we will be visiting an adobe synagogue that is at least
700-800 years old.
The Jews
here used to recite a special prayer for the King; Jay pointed it out in the
siddur. In Halakah (Jewish law and
jurisprudence, based on the Talmud-Apple dictionary), it says to add a prayer
for an influential leader, like a King.
So this siddur can be identified as Moroccan because the Jews would pray
for the King’s welfare.
After
visiting the synagogue in Errashadiya, we went on to Erfoud, where we would be
switching into jeeps for the final leg of the trip to the Saharra Desert (which
is the largest desert in the world aside from Antarctica, which is supposedly
also a desert because deserts are determined based on how much water the land
gets).
Erfoud
was once home to a large Jewish community.
What were Jews doing so far away from the coast, other Jews, and urban
centers? We were traveling along the
ancient trade route, and seeing as though the Jews were amongst the greatest
traders – they came to Morocco at the time of the Second Temple in the 2nd
century B.C. They settled in small
villages, predating Israel 600-800 years.
Erfoud was the birthplace of Rabbi
Eliyahu Shitrit of Saloniki, Greece…oh, how this year is inextricably
interwoven. After stopping in Erfoud, we
took a 45 minute jeep ride to our final destination. The ride was nice and
bumpy on the rocky sand on the outskirts of the Saharra.
Merzouga—on the edge of the Saharra
We ate a
delicious dinner at around 8:30, and I went to sleep at 9:30 because I still
felt sick. Although the resort hotel was
magnificent and the bed was comfortable, I was so achy that I did not have the
best night’s worth of sleep.
Merzouga
Thursday, January 9, 2014
I woke up at 5 AM in pain, but I really did
not want to miss the camel ride and sunrise in the Sahara Desert on
Kivunim. The Erg Chebbi dunes are famous
for their great height and size; they can rise up to almost 500 feet (50
stories!) high in some place, are 13.5 miles long and 5 miles wide. They are rolling dunes that you would see in
movies, and we had the opportunity to see the magic found outside among the
vastness of the morning desert.
I went
to the reception room with my roommate Nina and we waited for more people to
show up. I still did not know if I would
have the energy or composure to go out and ride a camel, but my wonderful
Arabic teacher Amal helped me feel better and got me some freshly squeezed
orange juice. My RA Gabi got me some
Tylenol and a throat soothing candy because my symptoms were a sore throat, a
migraine, and soreness. My roommate from
Israel, Lilly, was sitting next to me with a cat in her lap (she is in love with
cats and I think she is a brilliant cat whisperer), and she and Nina were
taking wonderful care of me. Lilly’s
rationale was that I would get better quicker if I did not go, but my other
friend Bri (she danced in high school like me) encouraged me to push through it
because I would only get this unique experience with my Kivunim family once!
This whole situation reminded me of dancing on stage for my dance recital after
a week of being quarantined in my house with the swine flu—when you’re sick but
have to perform, your adrenaline kicks in and you dance well. The same goes for this experience I
concluded—my adrenaline would kick in.
I
ultimately decided to go and I walked to the camels in the pitch black on the
sand dunes. At first I was nervous that I
would be getting on/riding a camel without being able to see anything, but I
quickly realized the positives to do this:
1)
I did not realize that I was pretty high up
2)
The streaks of color entering the dark morning
sky created these beautiful human/camel silhouettes.
I
held on to the handle on the camel tightly and a student named Paul was in back
of me with my Kivunim director, Jay, in the front.
We went up and down sand dunes, and when we
arrived at a tall sand dune mound people went up to it to see the sunrise and
to pray if they so wished.
I could not
get up there all the way (plus it was not a good idea to exert too much
energy), so my Bedouin/Berber camel puller held my hand going up a smaller
mound (it’s difficult to walk on the sand in the Sahara, but it is easy to sit
on a camel and let it do the work), so I am glad I ended up going.
Michal, my roommate from Israel, hung out
with me and the Berber guy, and she started talking to him in French—it was
awesome!
Then we wrote our names in
Arabic in the sand.
My friend Mackenzie
and I laid in the sand and I fell asleep!
For a sick girl, it was a dream come true to nap in the breezy winter
Sahara.
Then the Berber man walked me
back home on the camel, and it was an incredible experience.
I am glad he became my friend.
He tried to sell Paul and me fossils, but I
had no money for him.
Walking back to
the hotel, another Berber man gave me a free camel stone.
Then I ate breakfast and took a nice warm
shower…
A beautiful poem written by a fellow Kivunim student of mine while meditating on the sand dunes:
Here
I sit in the vast dunes of the Sahara. The sky is a beautiful mixture
of fierce violet, endless pale blue, and a bright piercing orange more
golden than the Dome of the Rock. The grains of seemingly fake sand sift
smoothly through my dry, cracked fingers. The breeze sails calmly into
my knotted, staticky curls. Against my
cheek, the wind feels soft as velvet. The curves of the dunes skate left
and right with purpose and ease. The whirlwind inside of me makes my
knees buckle and fall to the sand. The sand then forms a cushion around
my legs making it much harder to decipher the difference between desert
lumps and me. I am one with the sand. I am part of the magnificent
beauty that exists in this world. מה רבו מעשיך ה׳ Never before has any
line in the siddur been so applicable. How great are your works God!
It's difficult to fathom how something so flawless can live on this
earth among such disease and disaster. How could something as massively
incredible as the waves of sand in the Sahara come about to begin with?
There must be some greater force out there, because on this coordinate
of the globe exists true magic. I am astounded by the importance of each
particle of sand and how it contributes to the greater wonder. I
breathe in deeply, allowing the early morning air to enter and enrich my
being. I feel my muscles relax into the surrounding sand as I slowly
exhale. This right here is serenity. מה רבו מעשיך ה׳!
Then we took jeeps again that drove us away from the edge of the Sahara Desert. I was in a jeep with Noah, Sean, and Nina, and Noah and Sean decide to stick their heads and bodies out the window so they got a super amazing experience feeling the wind current against their skin in Morocco.
 |
| The sand dunes in the desert...can you imagine when this place was filled with ocean water as opposed to desert land? |
ON THE ROAD
When
we left for our day bus ride, I was on the sick quarantined mini bus (there
were 4 others who had the same symptoms as me.
We stopped at a Jewish graveyard:
“The most unexpected
we will find shrines to venerated Rabbis, known by the honorific ‘Baba’ [Arabic
father; holy man] where both Jews and Muslims come to pray and ask special
favors of the Divine in times of illness and needs. It is quite remarkable to see Jewish
graveyards and within them graves of honored rabbis being cared for in a world
completely bereft of Jews.”
~KIVUNIM Itinerary
When
we stopped for our routinely travel picnic lunch, a Berber worker at the lunch
stop gave me free tea—he was so sweet, and he told me to let him know if I
wanted anything else. I also got a free
present for my brother, a coca cola bottle with an Arabic label…my brother
loves labels from a marketing perspective, and not only that but he loves loves
loves Coca Cola, especially out of a glass bottle!
Telouet-Home of The Kasbah (fortress)
of the Glaoui brothers
Once
we got into the high Atlas Mountains region, we took a big jeep up the mountainous region to Telouet. It was
dark when we were going up the mountain, so we could not see how high we were
but we could tell that we were driving next to a cliff. The route resembled a spiral going up , and
it was nice and bouncy! In the back row with me was some other sicklings,
Tamar, Mikey, and Lila. When we finally
arrived to the village, we were welcomed by Berber men with gafir on their
heads and Berber women in Moroccan costume because tonight we would be
entertained by local tribal dancing. We
would be seeing and feeling “the powerful influence of Black African slaves
brought here by the sultan over the centuries.
Berber Ahouch or Ahwash dance is part of Moroccan Berber culture and
folklore…The word ‘Ahouach’ means group dances in Berber, dances related to one
another, poetic improvisation, individual and group singing in Tashelhit,
through rhythms alternating from slow to fast” (KIVUNIM Itinerary) The stars
and constellations were absolutely spectacular, and we went into the Auberges
(inns), which would be our home for the night. Kivunim’s business brings 1/3 of
inn’s yearly income which shows the significance of our relationship with the
Berber village.
The
inn was super comfy even though it was cold outside, and the room we would be
sleeping in reminded me of the mattresses and tents in the Bedouin village, the
Breema shack, and the Adulam hut house I have stayed in so far this year.
The Berbers made up the beds so thoughtfully,
and the 33 girls plus Gabi and Amal in a room with a furnace!
Jay,
Raphy, and Peter called in a Berber physician to check on the sicklings. I felt very connected to my ancient roots
because a village healer was coming to diagnose me with whatever sickness I had. It was a very unique experience going to the
doctor on top of the Atlas Mountains!
The physician was not dressed in any physician’s outfit like a doctor in
America would be dressed in, and he as wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. The doctor checked our blood pressure,
temperature, and stuck the disinfected handle part of a silverware fork in our
mouths to check our tonsils. He
concluded that Saul, Mikey, Bri, Tamar, and I all had infected tonsils with a
fever, so he gave us antibiotics that we would be taking twice a day for five
day. We had soup for dinner, and the
sicklings added a dissolving tablet to our water that made it fizz up.
Then
we went across the street to go to the Berber tent for the Berber tribal
dancing.
Peter told the sick people that
they could sleep and get some extra rest, but Bri and I being dancers and all,
were determined to have this unique experience!
The Berber women were dancing and singing in a semicircle.
Kivunim girls also joined in the circle to
learn the dance moves.
The men were in
the middle with the drums, and you could tell how passionate the villagers
were.
They served us tea too, giving us
such nice hospitality!
It is so
inspiring how on Kivunim we encounter such primitive people who live lives like
our ancient ancestors did.
I
went over to the Berber children and used body language to communicate. I said “Ismi Genna” and “Shu Ismak” to try
and learn their names. They don’t know
the same Arabic dialect that I am learning this year, but they were still able
to make out that I wanted to know their names.
I ended up using the international Arabic keyboard so they could write
out their names in Arabic for me. I
love the smiles I was able to bring to their faces and I love the concept of
human connection.
Then
I got a lot of energy and dance all over with my friend Bri and others.
A very young Berber boy taught me a clapping
sequence, and it was fun to dance with him.
I was happy that I went to the cultural experience, and after I slept in
the sick corner with Jana, Bri, Tamar, and Lila.
I slept all bundled up with my coat on and
blankets!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Telouet
So
we woke up around 8:00 and Peter told us that we would not be going to the
village school and the Kasbah (village’s ancient fortress) as previously
planned, because we would be snowed in for Shabbat if we stayed any longer. Nonetheless, the villagers were thankful and
thought that the presence of Kivunim brought luck and precipitation to Morocco’s
land. The King supposedly announced on
the radio that precipitation was long overdue, so maybe we were a lucky
charm. After the schoolmaster came and
we gave him all the toys and school supplies we brought with us, we returned to
the jeeps for what would be a long trek down the Telouet mountain. Bri and I were talking up a storm in the inn
about our home friends (dance and school), and so we understandably missed most
of the jeeps so were put in the last jeep group aside from Peter and Raphy.
So
our journey…
Or
jeep family started with Bri, Tamar, Jay and I being shoved in what seemed like
a military van. In the front were
Thalia, Hadrielle, Rachel, Alex, and Jana.
It was snowing immensely outside, and the first 10-15 minutes went
pretty smoothly (well for a 4-wheel drive slipping down a mountain), because we
kept getting stuck after that until the bus finally shut down. It’s crazy how a few days ago we were in
tropical Casablanca, and today we were struggling to get down a snow-capped
mountain. Jay and I noticed people
(Berbers) walking up the mountain, and I asked him what he thought they were
doing; he said they are living in the elements.
This was an ironic observation because who would have ever thought that
15 minutes later we would be seeing 14 Kivunum students and Gabi stranded on
the mountain since their jeep broke down.
They had to walk 1.5 miles in the snow for 30-50 minutes with limited
snow clothes on until they arrived at the bus.
PROGRESSION OF THE TREK DOWN AND
INSIDE JOKES:
- The Hunger Games-would we survive
driving in the snow next to the cliffs?
- Our bus’ back wheel fell off so Raphy
(who was in back of us), called the police
- While waiting we were calm and had a music
jam session
- The car that came to our rescue tried
towing the car with us in it by tying a string to his vehicle. Hadrielle said “we’re a camel behind another
camel”—that was a hilarious remark.
- Once the vehicle tried to tow us with
the string, the string connector instantly broke… so what was hilarious about
this was that they tried to tie the cars together again with the string after
the first attempt failed.
- Then Jay spotted smoke coming out from
behind his seat because the rubber was burning—so Raphy’s order to us was to
get out!
- We all eventually got into the new
vehicle. There was no windshield wiper,
so after the front mirror got snowed on, the driver would stop the jeep to
clean it off. He was also driving with
his head out the side window.
- All of a sudden we find Celia, Gabi,
Perrie, Nina and Lexi walking down the mountain. We unfortunately had no more possible room in
our truck after that. It was so sad
passing Kivunim people that we could not pick up, and it really set my
priorities straight for what I should be appreciative for in life.
- 1.5 hours later we made it down (Allhmdllah...Thank goodness!)
We
took another 10-12 hour bus ride today because the side of the mountain we were
supposed to go on was blocked by snow.
We therefore went all the way around the other side of the mountain, and
that added about 8 hours to the trip originally scheduled to be 2 hours. There was absolutely beautiful scenery nonetheless...and it was cool to see the Atlas mountains from many different sides. We finally arrived in the hotel in Merrakesh
at 11:40 PM. We ate dinner, said
Kaddish, and then I went to sleep!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Marrakesh
We
woke up around 9:00 and had breakfast before leaving for shul at 9:45. It was the first synagogue here built up
outside the mellah after the Vichy regime left and Morocco became an
independent country. The King did not
have to submit to any other power now and wanted the Jews to have freedom to
put their synagogue in places that they wished to. This shul was built by a family who took an
ark from a synagogue in the mellah luckily and coincidentally one day before an
unexpected fire destroyed the shul. The
ark is a few hundred years old and all the aesthetic work on it was handmade. The mehitzah separating the girls from the
boys was very small and was like an iron-crossed window, so it was hard to
hear/see what was going on. This year
girls are often confronted with this difficult experience of being behind a
mehitzah, because traditional Judaism is different in some places globally than
it is the way we were brought up praying.
After
services when we went into the actual synagogue room, I realized how different
it looked than what I imagined it to be from the other side. During the service the rabbi would speak in a
Judeo-Arabic dialect with French intertwined.
It is so cool how within the Moroccan Jewish community they can speak
three different languages and mush them together into conversation.
After
this, I met a Jewish 25-year old woman from Brazil who was stopped by Morocco
to visit her Moroccan friend before visiting Israel. Her parents were exiled from Egypt in 1956
and she loves Jewish education regarding the Diaspora.
We
were then free for a few hours after having lunch on the roof.
Michal, Celia, Devorah and I went right
outside the medina to explore the park and a mosque, followed by shopping.
Then we had a session with Peter about 1) the
Parasha of the week in which we discussed whether Pharaoh’s hardening heart was caused by his own free will or by God.
And 2) we recognized that King’s
Day was approaching and that free action vs. free thought was an important
concept to ponder.
People gave very
intellectual answers, and the questions asked were deep.
Part of Kivunim is learning how to ask
profound questions that can lead to scholarly quests to further our knowledge
about the world in which we live.
Then
for dinner we went to a traditional Muslim family’s home for dinner. Jamal has opened his house up to Peter and
Kivunim since 2005, and he has enjoyed learning more about Jewish customs and
traditions through the years. We were
delighted to hold our Havdalah ceremony in their lounge area, and following
that we had a cooking lesson by Jamal’s wife, with silly Raphy as the
translator. Then we had dinner and a
Henna party.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Merrakesh
First
we went to the Jewish Quarter and to the synagogue. The Jewish Quarter was created in the 14th
century and at its peak there were 31,000 Jews.
The gates were only closed Shabbat.
While we walked through the Quarter, we saw spices for cooking and for
witchcraft. The souks here would tell
fortunes and give people herbs.
The
synagogue: Mizrahi Jews came to build the synagogue.
A little child showed us the synagogue and
said Shabbat Shalom.
Peter told us that
a different time a kid walked Kivunim there and said that his grandfather told
him that he was living in the home that Jews used to live in.
After the synagogue, we went to the King’s
old palace and continued spending our day in the heart of Marrakesh.
There was beautiful mosaic all over the
palace and it was a big place to walk around.
From
a guidebook quoted on Kivunim’s itinerary: “Bustling, labyrinthine and shrouded
in shadows, the souks of Marrakesh offer the city’s most fascinating sights.” ~KIVUNIM
Itinerary
We
also passed by the Ben Youssef Mousque at the northern end of the souks.
In the famous square we saw a monkey on a
chain which was really sad.
We also saw
many Moroccan men dancing.
They make you
pay to get a picture with them, but I managed to dance with them and get a
picture for free.
I love the spirit of
Merrakesh; it is so mystical and the entertainment here is very fun and
exotic.
Some
facts about Merraksh:
It comes from a Berber phrase “come
and go.” The square was/is a popular space
for people to go and shop. It used to be
a slave and women market which is definitely unsettling but I am glad I was
informed of the square’s past history because I think a large aspect of Kivunim
is knowing from where something comes from, it’s past and its present state. The new town of Merrakesh was built by the
French in 1912. The mosque by the square
was built in the 12th century, and it is the highest minaret in Merrakesh. The three other minaret are in Rabat, Meknes,
and Cordoba (in Spain).
When
we entered the medina after a pizza lunch, we went to a spice souk shop. Merrakesh is the capital for spices. Saffron is the king of spices. It was so cool
and I bought green henna lipstick (turns pink on your lips), rose hand cream,
Moroccan oil, and Egyptian coal eyeliner for momma. The place was set up like a pharmacy and the
sales person was so effective at convincing us to buy the products. I also received a five minute massage—it was
lovely.
After
this, we had free time to shop around the medina, and Mackenzie and I went to
purchase a scarf and then we sat out a café with Gabi and Nina.
I got a good latte!
We went up on a roof and saw a beautiful
panoramic view of the square.
We also
saw acrobats, and I gave them some money!
I also love seeing the horses and carriage riding around town, and it is
definitely on my bucket list to go on one around Merrakesh if I ever come back.
Tonight
we went to an amazing restaurant with magnificent Mimouna club members. There was also belly dancing, and I went up
to do it. Talking to the Mimouna club
member at our table, I learned a lot.
The girl’s name was Sanaa Etolli.
She loves Morocco but feels like she has too many identities: French,
German, Moroccan, and Berber. She is a businesswoman
for SWISS International. She has a
beautiful necklace that has been passed down through her family. It has a prayer for good fortune written on
it in a mix of the Hebrew and Berber languages.
It represents how Jews and Berbers used to live together—what an absolutely
beautiful pendant. It was so interesting
to learn her story.
Monday, January 13, 2014
ON THE ROAD to Essaouira
Today
we are driving to the Atlantic coast for a day of relaxation. We just went to a supermarket. It was fun to frolic around a Moroccan
supermarket, and Kivunim students played soccer outside before we left to
continue traveling.
We
would have a lot of free time to explore the rampart and port where we could
watch fisherman working on their trade.
Also
during out drive we saw goats in Argon trees, and a donkey resembling Petal
from Adulam Farm, was sitting under the tree watching over the goats (or I
guess you can say physically under the goats)! There was also a man holding a
baby goat—it was a glorious sight!
Essaouira
We
visited the Jewish cemetery and the synagogue.
Essaouira is known to many as Mogador because it was colonized by Portuguese
and Spanish people and this is the name they gave to the port. “As a port city Jews actually held much of
the trade and economy of the port, the latter providing 40% of all trade on the
Atlantic coast between Tirhbuktu and Europe.
The traded good consisted mostly of ostrich feathers, gold dust, salt,
ivory, slaves, etc…The most important Moroccan Jewish merchant families from
Tangier, Agadir, Marrakesh, and parts of northern Morocco were recruited by the
sultan to take charge of developing trade activity and relations in Mogado vis-à-vis
Europe.” ~KIVUNIM Itinerary
The
French changed Mogador to Essaouira in 1912 because they did not want the
Portuguese name. There were 41,000 Jews
here at one point, while the population of Muslims was 10,000. This percentage of Jews is even more than the
Jewish majority percentage in Thessaloniki.
The Portuguese colonized places outside of their main land because they
wanted to use their colonies to make more profit. Jews had business contacts with other parts
of the world, so they ran the trade market here—they were international traders
and Jewish commerce was prevalent on a global scale.
Today
is also King’s Day, so we rang a Tibetan bell, and we were a voice in Africa—we
rang the bell of freedom in commemoration of the special day. As Martin Luther King, Jr. would say, “LET
FREEDOM RING!”
After
this we went to the rampart and the medina and had a lot of time to shop around after exploring
the rampart overlooking the ocean!
We
ate delicious seafood for dinner.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Arazane
Going to Arazane was probably one of
my most vivid experiences on this trip.
Visiting an adobe synagogue claimed to be 850 years old, and meeting
Harim, an 85-year old man who was entrusted by the rabbi to keep the synagogue’s
key, has retained Arazane’s connection to their past Jewish heritage and
neighbors. Also seeing the hospitable Muslim
kids made me so happy, and they had an innocent curiosity to follow us to the
synagogue and learn of our intentions to visit their village. We went into the adobe synagogue and all
squeezed ourselves into the tiny space, yet were still super comfortable and
felt attached to our ancient, eternal roots.
We brought a myriad of voices into the sacred space, and adding unique
voices into the earthly air reminds me of the mosaic of faces found in the
river in the novel Siddhartha. We sang Tov Lehodot and Ana B’koach, while
Harim also chanted something to us in Hebrew that he has remembered after all
these years. He also said “Shalom” and “Mazal
Tov.” It was super inspiring hearing a Muslim man remembering and preserving
the Jewish tradition in Arazane, and his past friendship with the Jews and
covenant to the rabbi and the synagogue speaks so much for the concept of
coexistence itself. We also saw a beautiful
ancient mikveh bath, and then were welcomed onto yoga mats with an offer of
sweet tea. We took a picture with Harim,
and I shook his hand delicately to send him my appreciation, for I knew that
although we do not speak the same language, human touch speaks louder than
words.
We
then drove along the water to our final destination of the day, and driving in
the present time after we walked through our ancient Jewish past represents the
eternal beauty and seemingly contradictory yet purely complementary elements
found throughout this trip.
Taroudant
We
spent the rest of the day (it is also Prophet Mohammed’s birthday), in
Taroudant, and we visited the Medina.
Then we had some free time, ate dinner, and ended the evening with a
reflection session.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Casablanca
We spent a day on the road to travel back to Casablanca, where we would be staying for one last night in Morocco. We had some free time once we got to the hotel, and then for dinner we went to another Jewish club for dinner. It was also Tu B'shvat so we had a small seder for that, and we also met the founder of the Mimouna Club, who has just received a degree from Brandeis University!! It was a nice night, and then I got a lot of sleep before traveling the next day.
