Jews among Berbers: a Moroccan Exhibition

A photo exhibition titled Jews among Berbers was officially opened at the Bulgarian Academy of Science in Sofia on Thursday.

Dozens of images, short of making up an entire picture of everyday life of Moroccan Jews, show little known scenes dated back to the 1940s and 1950, when Jewish populations larger than now coexisted peacefully with Arab and Berber Muslims.

The events is part of the Morocco Days in Bulgaria organized by the country's Embassy to Sofia and due between November 30 and December 13, with cultural programs in both Sofia and Bulgaria's biggest city Plovdiv.

?What gave me the idea of this exhibition is the fact that both Bulgaria and Morocco saved the Jews during World War II. But what convinced me about the relevance of this event is the resurgence of the speech of hatred on the basis notably on manipulation of history and instrumentalization of religion," Morocco's Ambassador to Bulgaria, H.E. Latifa Akharbach, noted in her speech addressing guests attending the inauguration. These included Bulgaria's last King an former Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Education Minister Todor Tanev, the Bulgarian Academy of Science's head Stefan Vodenicharov, Bulgarian lawmakers, and ambassadors of other countries.

Taken by Elias Harrus (himself a Moroccan Jew) in the rural areas of the Atlas Mountains and and at the doors the Sahara, the photographs bear testimony to a mode of coexistence and similarities among Morocco's Jews and Muslims: having lived together for centuries, the two groups share numerous customs, and elements such as clothing and cuisine bear much resemblance. Morocco's Jewish population, on the other hand, used Hebrew characters in writing but its language was either Arabic or Berber. ...