Beit Yehuda Synagogue

The Beit Yehuda Synagogue, also known as Assayag Synagogue, is a cultural landmark and museum in Tangier, Morocco.

1901 Baedeker map of Tangier, showing the Beit Yehuda Synagogue just north of rue Es-Siaghine ("Main Street")

Overview

Unlike other Moroccan cities, Tangier had no walled Jewish quarter or mellah.[1]: 93  Even so, its synagogues were clustered in a neighborhood on the southwestern side of the medina,[2] known as Beni Idder for the family that initiated its development.[1]: 92 

The Beit Yehuda Synagogue was founded in 1890 slightly north of Beni Idder on the other side of rue Es-Siaghine. It remained in service until the late 1950s. It was then abandoned for about six decades.[3]

The former synagogue's revival as a museum was one of the cultural initiatives launched by the Moroccan government in the wake of the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement of December 2020.[4] The renovation was led by architect Malika Laâroussi, and the creation of the museum by museographer Isabelle Timsit.[5] The museum was inaugurated on 19 August 2022.[6]

See also

Notes
  1. Mónica López Soler (2013), Les couleurs de la memoire : Routes d´architecture pour voyageurs émotifs, City of Málaga
  2. Jordi Mas Garriga. "Map of Synagogues of Tangier". Discovering Tangier.
  3. "Jewish Memory Museum inaugurated in Tangier". The North Africa Post. 20 August 2022.
  4. "Jewish History Museum Inaugurated in Moroccan Port Town". The Algemeiner. 22 August 2022.
  5. "Assayag synagogue to house Jewish Museum of Tangier". European Jewish Congress. 21 June 2021.
  6. Safaa Kasraoui (21 August 2022). "Morocco Inaugurates Museum Dedicated to Jewish History in Tangier". Morocco World News.

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