(By Our Paris Correspondent)
A bird’s eye view of the leading Jewish communities in Morocco is contained in a report issued by the Central Committee of the Alliance Israelite from its secretary, Mr. Bigart, who visited the Morrocan Jews on behalf of this Committee in order to study their economic and moral conditions as well as the work of the schools founded by the Alliance in that country. The main points of Mr. Bigart’s report follow:
Tangier, Feb. 14, 1926.–I arrived here on Feb. 12th and was met at the pier by Mr. Abensor, President of the Jewish Community, and by Mr. Cohen, the vice-president. On the 14th I visited the Boys’ School which is located in a very fine building, the class rooms being large and well distributed, with good ventilation and abundant light. The Girls’ School is located in a very fine house, a real palace, which although it was not built for a school, meets all the requirements of a model and modern school. The teaching staff is of the best and the courses of study up to standard.
The first school founded by the Alliance in Morocco was that at Tetuan in 1864 and in Tangier in 1864.
Larache, Feb. 15.–The Principals of the schools at Larache report that the conditions here are lamentable. I visited one of the schools and found in a class room 50 students when there should not have been more than 20 or 25. I called the attention of the Principals that the Alliance could not allow such unsanitary conditions to exist. On visiting the village I discovered that there was no suitable house for a school to be had and under the circumstances it was decided that it would be worse to close the schools than to allow the existing conditions to continue. The number of students is around 300 and they come from every part of Morocco.
El Ksar, Feb. 16-The Jewish community consists of approximately 2,000 and is very poor. The Spanish Consulate has founded a school for the Jews. The number of students is around 250. The School buildings are worse than in Larache, being dark, damp and small.
Rabat, Feb. 18.–Yesterday we had an audience with Mr. Steeg, the Resident General of Morocco, We also called on Mr. Hardy. Director General of Public Instruction, to whom we outlined our plans and I am glad to say that my impression is that the Protectorate expects to carry out a complete and prompt reorganization. The Boys’ School is located in the barracks which are unsuitable for such purposes, but Mr. Hardy promised to remedy the situation as soon as the war with the Riffs is over. The principal of the Girls School is Mlle. Pereyre who is an excellent teacher and is obtaining splendid results. There is also a school for French-Jewish pupils under Mme. Valette. We were favorably impressed and it seems that good results are obtained.
Sale, Feb. 18.–The principals of the schools are Mr. and Mrs. Tadjouri and while they are not located in suitable buildings they are the best to be had in the village. These young principals are very well liked by the people.
Casablanca, Feb. 22.-Casablanca has a Jewish population of 20,000, most of them having come from the interior, from the South and other points of Morocco. Those from the interior and the South are extremely poor; however, there are a number of rich Jews and others are quite comfortable. The schools are in poor condition, there being too many pupils for the size of the buildings in which they are located.
The Jews of Morocco are of a unique origin, those from the interior are from Arabic extraction, whereas those from the North and West are of Spanish and Portuguese extraction. This difference in origin can be detected in their features, faith and mentality.
In Tangier and the seacoast towns where the Jewish population is of Spanish extraction and speaks the Spanish language, the Jews are more advanced, of higher mentality and more European-like than those of Meknes, Fez or Marrakech who are mostly from the interior and act like Arabs or barbarians. In short, our schools have given better results in the coast than in the interior and the contact of the Jews with the foreigners of all nationalities is beneficial to them.
Azemour, Feb. 22.-We stopped this morning at Azemour, a village of the interior from where the Jewish population has emigrated largely, there being now only approximately 500, most of them having gone to Casablanca or Mazagan. The French-Jewish school is under a Catholic teacher who is doing splendid work and is on excellent terms with the Jewish people. I was exceedingly pleased to find in this village a school suitably quartered, well managed and where are taught the principal elementary subjects.
Mazagan, Feb. 22.-The school here is beautiful having been built by the community on a plot given by the Alliance. The class rooms are large and there is plenty of light. The pupils are intelligent but there are quite a number of albino children having poor eye sight. The school has given excellent results. the children are well dressed, speak nicely and in general have a European appearance, in fact much more European than many large villages of France and this speaks very highly of our methods of education and the system employed. The French-Jewish school is under Mr. Jordan and this will be turned over by us and a new building will be constructed by the community with funds advanced by us which they will refund. This proposition will be submitted to the Alliance in due time.
The Congregation Am Echod, of Waukegan, III, will erect a new synagogue.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
