Speaking at the opening of the Moroccan-Jewish Week in Creteil, Berdugo highlighted the actions of HM the King and the high solicitude of the Sovereign for Moroccan Jews, recalling that among these royal initiatives include the launch by HM the King in 2010 of a “vast” program to safeguard the Moroccan-Jewish heritage as an integral part of national heritage illustrated by several royal initiatives.
He cited in this regard the “extraordinary” rehabilitation of the Jewish religious and funerary heritage undertaken under the high royal patronage, which is “more than a symbol” and a huge work unique in the annals of humanity, to restore 180 religious sites and regain dignity to Jewish cemeteries and shrines throughout the Kingdom.
Two of the most significant examples being the restoration of the Attia Synagogue in Essaouira which houses Bayt Dakira and the Haim Zafrani Study and Research Center and the Assayag Synagogue in Tangier which, after its rehabilitation in 2021, houses the Beit Yehouda Jewish Museum, recalled. Berdugo, who also recalled the launch by HM the King in 2018 of the Museum of Jewish Culture in Fez which will open its doors in late 2023.
This cultural week opened Sunday at the initiative of the Israelite Cultural Association of Creteil (ACIC) in collaboration with several institutions in Morocco and France and Franco-Moroccan associations, with the aim of highlighting the Jewish-Moroccan heritage and shine the spotlight on the age-old living together between Jews and Muslims in the Kingdom.
