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THE CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 14, 1945
The Jews Of Morocco
(Continued from attention is continually distracted
by the clamoring of their empty stomachs? In those children's eyes you can often read the fight between matter and spirit � until
physical weakness achieves victory over the will to resist!
Nearly all schools of the Alliance Israelite are provided with canteens where the poor school children can take their noon-day meal. But this is not sufficient to maintain them in that state of physical fitness necessary for the performance of their scholastic tasks.
Besides this secular instruction, some rabbis give religious instruction to boys of all ages. Everything with this is so antiquat-
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ed, so anti-hygienic, that to watch such a class makes you think you are in a bad dream. The teachers have not made any special studies, have had no pedagogic training, nobody controls their work or the hygienic conditions under which they make their pupils study. The methods used by them defy common sense. The instruction is purely bookish and appeals exclusively to rote memory, which is over-developed to the disadvantage of the intelligence. The children, after having learned how to read with great pains, recite all day long. The Holy Scriptures, prayers, Talmud, are chanted to them day after day, until they are able to repeat them from memory�this will be the criterion of the competence
of the master and the efficiency of his method.
The grading of the different stages of religious instruction exists merely in theory. The fact is that you And. in the same school some children who have just learned how to read, alongside of young men who are ready to join in Tal-mudic discussions.
There are no seminaries in Morocco, so that the rabbinate is absolutely free and uncontrolled. Whoever has attended a "Yeshiva" and leads a religious life, is a rabbi; the title is conferred according to general reputation.
In conclusion it may be said that religious instruction in Morocco is a sore which ought to be healed with the shortest possible delay. It constitutes a real anachronism in our century.
The third aspect of Moroccan Jewish social life is that of "en-
ti'aide". This term applies to all associations and groups with essentially philanthropic aims.
The Jewish communities, such as have been analyzed previously, are the primary cells of mutual assistance of official character in Morocco.
In addition there are innumerable societies of all kinds in all towns. Each of them is assigned a specific task. Some look after mothers in childbed and their babies; others feed and dress school children; while some are concerned with post-school education. Old people and orphans are ?.wisted by special groups. In short, all indigent Jews who are in whatever need of assistance can turn to a society.
This does not mean, however, that these societies can also alleviate the sufferings of all these unfortunate Jews. The well-to-do
Moroccan Jews, on the whole, make a good effort to face all the needs, but they fail because the misery is too universal.
So, there remains much to be done in the field of welfare. Morocco is still far from being comparable to the United States in this respect, But what has been done there up to now deserves praise in many ways. We must remember that Morocco is a "young" country which has enjoyed the benefits of civilization for little more than three decades. And only civilization awakens people to the necessity of social assistance. In order to create an organization of this kind one must have a clear idea of what social structure is. With a more advanced state of civilization comes a deeper realization of inter-dependence and solidarity. Therefore, if Morocco, in spite of her "young" civilization,
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MEN WHO THINK OF TOMORROW ARE PLANNING "COOKING WITH LIGHTS" Miracles of cookery performed not by the heat of a fire, but by the heat of light, are plam
for the kitchens of tomorrow! Ovens '.ined with "electric light bulbs'* will cook your foods better in shorter time with the even, easily controlled penetrating heat of infra-red rays 1 It's better things for living such as this that your Victory Bonds will buy tomorrow!
Men who think of tomorrow say
"HOLD ON TO YOUR VICTORY BONDS
TODAY"
VICTORY BONDS hare helped as to fight and win a war.
They've minimized the danger of a war* inflation economy.
They've formed a backlog of safely-invested baying power that will benefit the individual and the nation when the danger of inflation is over.
Bat remember: inflation strikes hardest after a war.
What oar Victory Bonds will do �if toe hold on to them � is to keep prices down antil supply meets demand...when a dollar will bay a full dollar's worth of goods.
Think of tomorrow before thinking of cashing a Victory Bond!
THE HOUSE OF SEAGRAM
cial welfare, she is indeed to be admired for her accomplishments in this field.
The family life of Moroccan Jewry is very intense. However individualistic their outdoor life may be, this is widely compensated by the extraordinary intimacy among the members of one family. This intimacy is nevertheless quite liberal.
Especially in the large cities we frequently find highly emancipated families. Each member, conscious of his own personality, has acquired a certain liberty at the expense of the authority of the "paterfamilias". This is a general trend which everybody accepts, feeling that this is as it should be.
In less progressive families life is extremely primitive. The wife has to look after the house, prepare the- food, and bear children. The husband does the marketing and earns the bread for himself and his household. The family gathers around the dinner table only on Saturday and on holidays. The education of the children is completely neglected. It is up to the school teacher to educate or reeducate them. Family celebrations like circumcisions, bar-mi tzvahjj .. and weddings, are of very solemn character. They last for several days and the invited guests are very numerous. The entertainment offered on these occasions consists in an abundance of food and Arab music.
These customs are being gradually abandoned by families in touch with Western civilization. They are being replaced by a more or less true copy of European family life.
In the "Mellahs", almost exclusively inhabited by the poor, domestic life is encumbered by a large number of beliefs and superstitions. In certain kinds of ailments people do not send for a doctor until all empiric medications, which are the secrets of certain old women, have proved ineffective. One example out of a hundred is the following:
A child cornea home fealitiff sud-
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been to see the neighbor across the street. The mother, very anxious, but fully believing in the infallibility of her remedy, proceeds, to wipe the doorstep of the house the child has just left, with a rag. Then she carefully soaks this rag with the dirt on it in some oiL The concoction prepared in this way is given to the child. He drinks it under the watchful eye of his mother who recites certain prayers. If the child recovers, thanks are given to God who has provided medicines for all ills. Should he remain sick, it must be a serious case and other charms will have to be tried to cure him.
In educated families these practices belong to history, and are .mentioned only as something to laugh at. The school has introduced these people to principles of hygiene and health that are in stark contrast with the customs of their grandparents. The physician is the one in whom they trust. They educate their children at home according to modern rules, These children often speak French, are dressed like European children, and their behaviour, at home, on the street, and at school, differs in no way from that of their little French counterparts.
This account would not be complete without speaking of the Moroccan Jewish women and the part they play in the family and in society.
In the "Mellahs" you still find the primitive type of woman whose principal task is to be fertile. To bear children, male children above all, and bring them up as well aa possible, with more affection than science � this is about afl a boa-band expects of his wife. In this respect, some Moroccan Jews are outrageously orthodox. They follow scrapulovsly, abusively, tbe roles laid down in tbe Bible. Children, and mon ehiWrw! without �vtr ftvtac a thoocfat to their needs aad how to satisfy them.
An (jMstioas referring to var* riaf*, dhroit*, "states saisniitaV in art feeUsd hy nUctoM (i fcaJ) coarta that ap**7 tht Jewish law, which, ia