Exhibition: Looking Back, Jewish Life in Morocco

Meknes, Morocco. Bet Ha-Knesset Rabbi Y'hoshua Berdugo, built 1927. Photo: Isaiah Wyner (Isaiah Wyner/WMF 1989)

Looking Back: Jewish Life in Morocco

An exhibition: "Looking Back: Jewish Life in Morocco," will have its Opening Program and Reception on October 14, 2010 at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Produced by the American Sephardi Federation, the exhibition will focus on the history of the Jewish people and Jewish life, as it once was in Morocco. The event will launch a year-long series of programs on "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey" including an international Symposium, a concert, and individual lectures. Dr. Norman A. Stillman, the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma, will present the keynote address.

For more information contact: exhibition curator Shelomo Alfassa at 001 917-606-8262

Jews have lived in what is today Morocco for millenia, and Jewish culture has been influenced by the Berbers, the Spanish, the Arabs and the French. This exhibition will provide an overview demonstrating the presence and flourishing of Jews in the ancient and modern Kingdom of Morocco.

According to the organizers: "The exhibition will be presented through the implementation of artistically designed textual displays, documents, pull quotes, non-photo images (e.g. lithographs and engravings), historic photos, captions, replications of historic documents, and other visuals which demonstrate the life of the Jews living throughout this North African country."

ASF holds the photo archive of the documentary expedition carried out in 1990 for the World Monuments Fund by Joel Zack and Isaiah Wyner. I remember fondly the great assistance given to that project by the late Prof. Yedida Stillman, wife of Norman Stillman. I hope that the exhibition is imbued with Yedida's joyous spirit.