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Mellah, Sefrou, Morocco
Mellah, Sefrou, Morocco
Description
Now almost completely devoid of Jews, the mellah of Sefrou was once the most overcrowded in Morocco. There were 1,680 people for each acre of space in the Jewish quarter. The first members of the Jewish community came from eastern and southeastern Morocco, as well as southern Algeria, and the population only grew over the years when the out-of-the-way town became a safe haven for Jews fleeing bouts of persecution in Fez. Sefrou gradually gained a reputation as a home of scholars and places of education, leading many to describe it as “the Jerusalem of Morocco (Norman A. Stillman, “The Sefrou Remnant” Jewish Social Studies, Vol. 35, No. ¾, (Jul. – Oct., 1973), 256-258).”
