Les Juifs du Tafilalet (Rissani-Erfoud)

The Tafilalet, a vast oasis region in southeastern Morocco, was one of the oldest centers of Jewish presence in the Maghreb, situated on the routes of trans-Saharan caravan trade. Its Jews, Arabic- and Berber-speaking, played a role as commercial intermediaries and moneylenders, and the region was renowned for its religious traditions and venerated saints. The communities, dispersed among villages and small towns such as Rissani and Erfoud, preserved their own customs and liturgies. After 1948, and over the following decades, the Jewish population of the Tafilalet emigrated in large part to Israel.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World — Brill
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan