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In August 2019, Ait Ourir, a town and municipality in Al Haouz province, made headlines as it bordered the village where a German activist wanted to build North Africa’s first Holocaust memorial. Regardless of this recent story, the small Atlas Mountains town is home to another account related to Jews in Morocco.
Few people know that the city had a Mellah (Jewish quarter) where members of the Moroccan-Jewish community lived before leaving for other Moroccan cities or abroad.
Tombs of Moroccan Jews in the city stand as proof that a Jewish community once lived in Ait Ourir. In fact, the Jews of Marrakech discovered that the new city is home to a cemetery where the Jews of Ait Ourir buried their dead.
«While leaving Marrakech and heading to Ouarzazate, about 20 minutes by car», you can notice a whitewashed wall standing on the right side of the road with a message referring to this place. According to the Diarna, it is the tomb of Rabbi Habib Mizrahi. To distinguish the building from others surrounding it, the ones who built it made sure to paint it in blue to help Jewish pilgrims notice it easily.
Legend has it that the Rabbi came from Israel centuries ago, either as an emissary of the people or to raise funds for schools, as it was the case with many other Jewish saints. This happened «800 years ago», the keeper of the Rabbi’s mausoleum said in a video broadcast on the channel «Mémoire Ait Ourir».
For «centuries, the sanctuary had been just a small hut [and] few visitors hiked up the mountain to visit the tomb». The same source explains that «a Muslim man who lived nearby took care of the grave and brought water to the Jews who climbed the mountain after shopping at the Tuesday farmers market in the village below».
A Jewish saint venerated by Muslims
But this tradition changed over time, Jews from Marrakech built «a large terracotta complex around the tomb, with bedrooms, bathrooms and a place to accommodate the pilgrims who visit the sanctuary for the Hiloula of the rabbi - generally celebrated during Lag b'Omer».
Legend has it that a member of this family had a dream in relation to Rabbi Habib Mizrahi. «He would have said to him: This is the place where I would like the Jews to visit me to pay tribute to me», pointing at his own grave.
The building is located «within the cemetery where the Jews settled in Ait Ourir Laqdim (ancient Aït Ourir) buried their dead due to the lack of land near their homes», explained L'Economiste in a 2001 article.
The same mausoleum is home to another grave. «The other nearby tomb belongs to Rabbi Shlomo Hazzan, a rabbi from the Jewish community in the south of the Kingdom».
At a certain time in the history of this region, «Muslims also venerated the tomb of the rabbi», wrote Diarna, recalling that it was called «Moulay Tadot, the master of Acacia, named after a tree growing near his grave».
