The Council of the Moroccan Community living Abroad (CCME) exposed, Tuesday, November 13, 2018 in Marrakech, two exhibitions of photographies in the margins of the conference, “Moroccan Judaism: for a shared Moroccanity”.
In his opening speech, Mr. Abdellah Boussouf, Secretary General of the CCME first reminded, that the conference is held under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, which symbolizes the importance of the jewish community from moroccan descendance. Adding, “we have also been surprised by the number of requests to attend this meeting of gathering around the « Moroccanity » we share,”.
“Portraits of Moroccan Jews from the Atlas and Sahara” by the Photogapher Elias Harrus (1919-2008) is an exhibition organized by the Ministry of Culture and Communication to highlight the diversity of the Moroccan cultural heritage and its Hebrew tributary .
For his part, Mr. Mohamed Laâraj, Minister of Culture and Communication, welcomed this meeting, which celebrates an important part of the national identity.
Owned by a Jewish museum in New York, this is the second time that this series of unpublished photographs have been exposed said the author’s son, Mr. Daniel Harrus, who was at the vernissage of this unique exhibition.
The second exhibition is organized by the Council of the Jewish Community in Morocco and the Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Heritage Foundation under the theme “Rehabilitation Moroccan Jewish Cultural Heritage: Synagogues and Cemeteries”.
More than 50 photographic works are exposed in order to discover the places rehabilitated following the decision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to safeguard the places of worship, the cemeteries and the sanctuaries of Morocco.
Mr. Serge Berdugo, Secretary General of the Council of Israelite Communities of Morocco thanked the Minister of Culture for his attention to the Jewish-Moroccan component and said that this exhibition is also the opportunity “to remember the work that the Jewish-Moroccan Cultural Heritage Foundation has done since its creation in 1995 to restore and preserve the synagogues throughout the Kingdom”.
The screening of the documentary film “Yahssra … Douk Lyam”, directed by Serge Berdugo and Marc Berdugo, was also part of the evening’s program.
Filmed in the 1950s, the documentary tells a two thousand years old story and result of a cultural mix and a mutual respect between Jews and Muslims of Morocco. The Jewish community at that time counted 220,000 persons representing 2.3% of the population.
The Andalusian Orchestra of Oujda closed the artistic evening.
CCME
