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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Morocco 04: Sa'dian rule in the 16th century

Expansion to Sudan - gold trade and trade to India - pact with Holland - immigration and emigration movements

from: Morocco; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 12

presented by Michael Palomino (2008)

<THE *SA'DIS.

[Sa'dian occupation of Morocco - with Jewish help - Portuguese defeat - Christians ransomed - conquest of Sudan 1591 and gold trade]

According to a tradition, a Jewish scholar of Wadi Draa forecast to the Sa'dian sharifs that they would accede to the throne of Morocco. Encouraged by this prediction, they set out to conquer the country and took Marrakesh in 1525 and Fez in 1549. In fact, the Jewish counselors of the sharifs were not strangers to their progress. Their coreligionists - administrators, merchants, and bankers - supplied their financial requirements; other Jews, former Marranos who maintained close relations with Europe, supplied them with weapons in their capacity as armorers. When the Portuguese army was defeated by Abd al-Malik at the Battle of al-Qasr al-Kabir (or Battle of the Three Kings, 1578), the Jews commemorated the event by a joyful Purim (Purim de los Cristianos [[Purim of the Christians]]).

On the other hand, the tens of thousands of Christian prisoners taken in this battle were fortunate enough to be ransomed by the descendants of the megorashim [[Spanish and Portuguese Jewish refugees]] who treated them  with indulgence. The liberation of these prisoners against ransom by their families and the conquest of Sudan in 1591 brought a considerable quantity of gold to Morocco. Many Jewish families, especially those in the retinue of Ahmad al-Mansur, were among the beneficiaries of this exceptional (col. 335)

prosperity.

[17th century: Jewish trade from Morocco up to India - 1610: pact between Holland and Morocco against Catholic Spain - Jews as ambassadors for the sultans - Jewish masses have better life than the Muslims]

Of an enterprising nature, the Jews of Morocco traveled as far as India in the conduct of their trade: they also had gained a hold in the financial world, particularly in Tuscany, in one direction, and in northwestern Europe, in the other. This activity was in concert with the politics of the young Netherlands, which sought to strangle the economic power of Spain. In 1608 Samuel *Pallache arrived in the Netherlands and in 1610 he signed the first pact of alliance between Morocco and a Christian country.

The Pallache family played an active role in the political and economic interests of Morocco in Europe over a long period. The sultan Zidah (1603-1628) and his successors (1628-1659) took many other Jews into their service. As in former times, every Muslim leader had his Jewish counselor. The latter were the natural protectors of the Jewish masses. As a result, these masses generally lived in superior conditions to those of the Muslim population, which resigned itself to its fate.

[Jewish immigration from Leghorn and Holland - pirate traffic - English Tangier - Jewish emigration to the Middle East, Europe, and America - and remigration]

"Frankish" Jewish families from Leghorn [[Livorno]] and Holland settled in Morocco. Some were attracted by the pirate traffic which operated from Salé and Tetuán. In Tangier, which was under British domination, a small community of "Frankish" Jews existed from 1661; relations with the Muslims, however, were maintained through the mediation of the Jews of Tetuán; until the evacuation of the town in 1684, the Parienté [[?]] and the Falcon families played an important political role in the relations between the English and the Muslims. Moroccan Jews had also inaugurated a migratory movement a long while before.

There was a fair amount of emigration in the direction of the Holy Land, Turkey, Egypt, Italy (especially Leghorn and Venice), Amsterdam, Hamburg, England, and the countries of the two Americas [[?]]. Occasionally in their old age and once they had made their fortune, emigrants returned to their communities of origin. In Tetuán and later in Mogador this was a frequent occurrence.> (col. 336)

Source

Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Morocco, vol. 12, col. 335-336

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