IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...

concede to the American ambassador’s requests. The Makhzan, however, remained committed
to maintaining the status quo in this and other cases which challenged the traditional restrictions
which applied to Jews. 155
Notwithstanding the instances in which Makhzan officials refused to accept alterations to
Jews’ place in Moroccan society, the picture of the Makhzan as run by religious fanatics
unwilling to deviate from their understanding of tradition is misleading. In fact, the Makhzan
adopted a new language exhorting the equal treatment of Jews and Muslims, both in its
correspondence with foreigners and in its internal communications. The extent to which the new
language of equal treatment was a genuine expression of the Makhzan’s changed views on
Jews—versus an effort to please Westerners—is, of course, another matter. While it is
impossible to evaluate the Makhzan’s motivations with any certainty, the fact that Makhzan
officials used this new language in internal correspondence suggests a certain level of
genuineness.
* * *
In re-examining the role of foreigners’ interventions on behalf of Moroccan Jews, I offer
an alternative to a linear model in which foreign consuls and international Jewish organizations
intervened between passive Jews and a Moroccan state that was either bent on oppressing its
Jewish subjects or a victim of Euroepan divide-and-conquer strategies. Rather, I submit that the
155
See, e.g., a legal document from 3 Ramaḍān 1297 signed by the qāḍīs al-Kabīr b. al-Hāshim al-Kattānī and al-
Mahdī b. Aḥmad al-‘Alamī (in Paquignon, “La condition des juifs au Maroc,” 121-2 and Fenton and Littman, L’exil
au Maghreb, 318-19). This document testifies to an incident in which Jews came before the sultan with shoes on,
thus breaking the established tradition. See also USNA, reg. 84, v. 29, no. 1, Abraham Corcos to ‘Amr b. ‘Abd al-
Ṣādiq, 27 Ṣafar 1298/ 28 January 1881 and ‘Amāra to Abraham Corcos, 4 Rabī‘ I 1298/ received 8 February 1881.
These letters concern an incident in which Yitzḥaq ‘Amar violated the norms of Jewish-Muslim interactions when
visiting the pasha of Marrakesh. ‘Amar, an American protégé, not only refused to remove his shoes but also insisted
on standing (rather than sitting with the other Jews who were present). The resolution of this incident is not clear,
but there is little question that the Makhzan official was unwilling to accept this sort of behavior from a Jew even if
he was an American protégé.
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