4
One Jewish Family Remains
in Small Town in South Morocco
JERUSALEM — Tiznit, a
small town in the Berber
country of South Morocco
at the edge of the Sahara
Desert, is one of many small
communities in which there
has been a Jewish presence
for hundreds of years. There
are stones in the village, en-
graved in Hebrew, dating
from the 15th Century.
As late as 1965, there were
still 100 Jewish families in
Tiznit. The old mellah (quar-
ter) constituted at least a
quarter of the town and
there were three synagogues
and a Jewish school to ser-
vice the population. Some
three-quarters of a mile out-
side the ancient walls is the
Jewish cemetery.
Now, in common with
scores of other similar corn-
munities in the area, the
Jewish presence in Tiznit is
coming to an end.
The only Jews remaining
in Tiznit are the Soussan
family. The oldest son, Al-
bert, 29, came to ORT in
Casablanca, saying' that his
young brother, Haim, 14,
was interested in learning a
trade. A sister, Rachel, 17,
is finishing sewing training
at ORT's Val d'Anfa school.
The father of the family,,
David, 66, the mother, Sarah,
43, Albert and two younger
children, Meyer, 10, and
Simy, 8, still live in Tiznit.
The younger children have
never been to school and
can neither read nor write.
They speak only the Berber
dialect of the region.
Does the family plan to
leave the village? No, say
Albert and his father. They
have good relations with
their neighbors and want to
remain. And the children?
- "Well, perhaps we can
send them to Inezgane 'about
50 miles from here where
there are still a few Jewish
families and a rabbi who can
teach them a little Hebrew.
When they get a little older
we maybe will be able to turn
them over to ORT as we did
with our oldest, Simon, who
graduated from the ORT
school in Ain Sebaa, and
Rachel and Haim. For the
moment we have one major
problem — that's the syna-
gogue," said Soussan.
He was worried because
the synagogue was sold, and
the future of the six sefarim
and the 30 or so books of the
Zohar which made up the
synagogue library was un-
known. Once, when a fire
broke out in the synagogue,
the younger Soussan asked
ORT to come to Tiznit and
take possession of the sefa-
rim and the other books.
In making the trip to re-
cover the Books of the Law,
ORT officials met a former
officer of the French army
who has been living in Tiznit
since 1930 and has never left
the village.
Married to a local Berber
woman, this man fell in love
with the region and with its
history. He set about writing
down everything he could
find about the Jewish com-
munities of South Morocco
and over the years produced
a series of monographs on
celebrations, community
events, costumes and cus-
toms of the region.
Along with the writings are
a small museum of religious
and day-to-day objects, stone
lamps and fragments of en-
graved stones. This work re-
mains in Tiznit.
Meanwhile, the old scrolls
are now safe in ORT's Ain
Sebaa school. The books of
Zohar have been entrusted
to a yeshiva in Casablanca.
A FEATURE SUPPLEMENT
sponsored by _
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF HEBREW CULTURE
You don't have to be a
Catholic to be exorcised, de-
spite the impression left by
the popular film, 'Encyclo-
pedia Judaica states. "Ex-
orcism" means the expulsion
of evil spirits by spells. The
melancholia of King Saul
was from an evil spirit which
David's harp-playing drove
away. •hi the "Testament of
Solomon," a pseudoepigraph-
ic work of uncertain date,
the narrator states that dur-
ing the construction of the
Temple, King Solomon's
overseer was plagued by a
demon; the angel Michael
gave Solomon a ring with
which he exorcised the de-
mon.
The belief in evil spirits
entering into living persons,
causing mental illness, talk-
ing through the !possessed's
mouth and representing a
separate and alien personal-
ity, has existed up to the
present time.
While originally evil spir-
its were considered devils or
demons which entered the
body of a sick person, at a
later period they are thought
to be the spirits of dead
persons who have become
demons. Since the 17th Cen-
tury the term "dybuk" for
these spirits was introduced
into literature from the
spoken language of German
and polish Jews.
40—Friday, My 5, 1974
According to the EJ, the
historian Flavius Josephus
mentions a certain plant
called Ba'aras winch was
used "by the exorcists to
drive out the demons from
sick persons possessed by
spirits of 'wicked persons
that enter living men." As a
cure, Rabbi Johanan ben
Zakkai recommends : "Take
roots of herbs, burn them
under him and surround him
with water, whereupon the
spirit will flee." The litera-
ture of the disciples of the
famous 16th Century kabalist
Isaac ben Solomon Luria
contains many stories and
"protocols" about the exor-
cism of dybukim.
N urn é r o u s manuscripts
present 'detailed instructions
on how to exorcise them.
The power to exorcise was
given to "ba'alei shem" or
accomplished hasidim. In
one spectacular case, Judah
Moses Fetja ,af Baghdad ex-
orcised Shabbatai Zevi and
his prophet Nathan of Gaza
who had appeared as dybu-
kim in the bodies of men
and women in Baghdad in
1903. The last protocol of this
kind was published in Jeru-
salem in 1904.
INFLATED TIMES
The cost of making history
has always been terrific, but
never quite what it is now.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Visiting a wounded soldier in Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek
Hospital..
A Cultural Chronology Of Israel :1948-1973
1948: First Israel money issued
Department of Antiquities created by Govern-
, ment
1949: Compulsory Education Law passed by Knesset
Weizmann Institute of Science opened
1950: Haifa City Symphony founded
Jewish View of Exorcism
I
TARBUTH FOUNDATION
Tribes of Israel, dedicated at Hadassah Hebrew
University Medical Center
Oldest Hebrew inscription of "Jerusalem" dat-
ing to 700 BCE discovered at wall of burial cave
near Lachish in northern Negev
S. Y. Agnon becomes freeman "Honorary Citizen
of Jerusalem"
1951: School of Adult Education established at He-
brew University upon initiative of Martin Buber
1963: First International Musicological Congress in
Jerusalem
Zalman Shazar's autobiographical "Kokhve Bo-
ker" (Stars of the Morning) published
1964: Jewish Music Research Center at Hebrew U 1-
versity established
1952: Israel's first Doctors of Medicine graduate at
Hebrew University
1953: Hebrew Language Academy established by Gov-
ernment
Hebrew University dedicates New Campus at
Givat Ram in Jerusalem
1954: Cornerstone of Yad Va'shem Memorial to vic-
tims of Holocaust opened in Jerusalem
1955: Bar Ilan University opens first term
Israel acquires four of the seven Dead Sea
Scrolls discovered in 1947
1956: Tel Aviv University founded
24th Zionist Congress opens in Jerusalem
1957: Arid Zone Research Institute opens in Beer-
sheba
1958: "Hechal Shlomo" dedicated in Jerusalem
First International Bible Contest in Jerusalem
Joseph Klausner, famous scholar died
1959: Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog died
1960: Yigael Yadin announces "Letters of Bar Koch-
ba" discovered in Judean desert cave
International Conference on Role of Science in
the Advancement of New States opens at Weiz-
mann Institute
1961: Remains of Bar Kochba fighters and 70 papyrus
documents found in caves on Dead Sea shore
First Israel Music Festival in Jerusalem
Haifa Municipal Theatre opens
1962: Chagall Windows, representing the Twelve
Israel National Museum opened in Jerusalem
"Midrashan" in Sde Boker, educational institu-
tion in the Negev established upon initiative of
Ben-Gurion
Martin Buber died in Jerusalem
1966: S. Y. Agnon receives Nobel Prize for Literature
1967: Hebrew University returns to its home on Mt.
Scopus
Yitzhak Don Berkovitz, prominent Hebrew writer
and translator of Scholem Aleichem's works into
Hebrew died
"Khan," first permanent theatre in Jerui,'
since King Herod opens
Israel's TV begins to operate
1968: Groundbreaking for Harry S. Truman Center for
Advancement of Peace
Centre of Israel's Music established by Public
Council for Culture and Art
1969: "Illegal Immigration" Museum opens in Haifa
Yehuda Burla, Hebrew novelist, died
1970: Died: S. Y. Agnon
Nathan Alterman, Hebrew playwright and
poet
Avigdor Hameiri, Hebrew poet and novel-
ist
1971: Large parapet stone discovered on Temple
Mount
New Tel Aviv Museum inaugurated
George Wise Astronomical Observatory near
Mizpeh Ramon in Negev established
1972: Universities of Haifa and Beersheba receive rec-
ognition as independent institutions