Divided Dreams: Moroccan Jews and the Post-Independence Moroccan State

This talk explores Moroccan Jewish leftist attempts to reconcile Jewish and Moroccan identities within an increasingly murky Moroccan political context of the 1960s and 1970s.  Jewish members of leftist parties remained staunchly devoted to their Moroccanness and their hopes for their country in the face of massive Jewish migration and political repression. The talk first examines political splits in the mainstream Moroccan political parties and the state’s ability to control or co-opt them before 1967. Second, it discusses Zionism, clandestine migration, and King Hassan II’s complicated relationship to Israel within a Cold War context. Third, it reveals the break between the Communist party and the foundation of a far-left party, Ila al-Amam (“Forward” in Arabic), Jewish leftists in response to the 1967 Six Day war and the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel. Fourth and finally, it juxtaposes the fates of the Communist party and its Jewish leaders, Simon Lévy, Abraham Serfaty, and Edmond Amran El Maleh within the Moroccan national political narrative.

Alma Rachel Heckman is the Neufeld-Levin Chair of Holocaust Studies and Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in modern Jewish history of North Africa and the Middle East with an interest in citizenship, political transformations, transnationalism, and empire. Her first book is The Sultan’s Communists: Moroccan Jews and the Politics of Belonging (Stanford University Press, 2021).

Monday, 15 November, 7 pm Israel / 5 pm UK / 12 pm EST

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Divided Dreams: Moroccan Jews and the Post-Independence Moroccan State

This talk explores Moroccan Jewish leftist attempts to reconcile Jewish and Moroccan identities within an increasingly murky Moroccan political context of the 1960s and 1970s.  Jewish members of leftist parties remained staunchly devoted to their Moroccanness and their hopes for their country in the face of massive Jewish migration and political repression. The talk first examines political splits in the mainstream Moroccan political parties and the state’s ability to control or co-opt them before 1967. Second, it discusses Zionism, clandestine migration, and King Hassan II’s complicated relationship to Israel within a Cold War context. Third, it reveals the break between the Communist party and the foundation of a far-left party, Ila al-Amam (“Forward” in Arabic), Jewish leftists in response to the 1967 Six Day war and the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel. Fourth and finally, it juxtaposes the fates of the Communist party and its Jewish leaders, Simon Lévy, Abraham Serfaty, and Edmond Amran El Maleh within the Moroccan national political narrative.

Alma Rachel Heckman is the Neufeld-Levin Chair of Holocaust Studies and Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in modern Jewish history of North Africa and the Middle East with an interest in citizenship, political transformations, transnationalism, and empire. Her first book is The Sultan’s Communists: Moroccan Jews and the Politics of Belonging (Stanford University Press, 2021).

Monday, 15 November, 7 pm Israel / 5 pm UK / 12 pm EST

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