The Council of Jewish Communities here has temporarily abandoned plans to appoint directly a spiritual leader for the community in the post of Chief Rabbi, it was reported here today. The Council wanted the post of Chief Rabbi to be dependent on the Jewish community itself, rather than on the Ministry of Justice, which appoints the Moroccan rabbis.
The plan for the direct appointment by the Council of a Chief Rabbi had been rejected by Rabbi Saul Danan, president of the High Rabbinical Council, who felt that such a move would “disorganize” the religious affairs in the Jewish community, Rabbi Danan said the plan would “sow disorder” among Jewish religious circles in Morocco without bringing any advantages.
There are 160,032 Jews now living in Morocco, 71,175 of them in this city, which is the country’s economic capital, according to the latest census figures published here today by the Ministry of the Interior. The Jewish population of the country represents 1.4 percent of Moroccd’s total population the statistics show.
The Jews are concentrated chiefly in the towns, the census indicates, 14 percent of them living in Sefrou, 11 percent in Essaquira, and 5,2 percent in Marrakesh. Two towns in Morocco contain one permanent Jewish resident each. The places are Tarfya, on the edge of the Sahara Desert; and Chaouen, a small town in Northern Morocco.
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