Morocco Touts Effort To Preserve Jewish Cemeteries
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Moroccan Jews touted their country’s efforts to preserve Jewish cemeteries at the opening of an exhibition on Morocco in Paris.
The preservation efforts, launched in 2010, have restored at least 167 Jewish burial sites, and were celebrated during the Feb. 1 opening of the “Contemporary Morocco” exhibition at the French capital’s Arab World Institute, the news site leconomiste.com reported Wednesday.
Serge Berdugo, president of the Council of Moroccan Jewish Communities and a special envoy to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, said the project was part of “a vision and practice which have been applied, for tolerance, dialog and respect which are the exact opposite of extremists’ schemes.”
Berdugo spoke during a showcase, “Rehabilitation of Morocco’s Jewish Cemeteries – Life Houses,” attended by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Jack Lang, the Jewish former minister of culture and currently the head of the Arab World Institute.
Among the officials representing the kingdom at the event was Princess Lalla Meryem. She received a letter signed by 27 Moroccan rabbis thanking the kingdom and its monarch for the renovation project.
Also during the event, Meryem presented Morocco’s Order of the Throne to three Morocco-born Frenchmen, each representing a different monotheistic religion.
The Jewish recipient was Michel Serfaty, rabbi of the Ris-Orangis municipality south of Paris. The Christian and Muslim were Michel Dubost, the bishop of Evry near Paris, and the rector of Evry’s mosque, Khalil Merroun.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
