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Jews worldwide attend cemetery rededication in Meknes, Morocco

It contains the graves of thousands of Jews, including the shrine of a scholar and rabbi from the late 1700s, Hacham Raphael Berdugo, also known as Hamalach (“the Angel”).

View of Old City in Meknes, Morocco, March 21, 2018. Credit: Dr. János Korom Dr. from Wien, Austria, via Wikimedia Commons.
View of Old City in Meknes, Morocco, March 21, 2018. Credit: Dr. János Korom Dr. from Wien, Austria, via Wikimedia Commons.

Jews from around the world with roots in Morocco attended a rededication ceremony for a historic Jewish cemetery in the city of Meknes after a complete renovation of the site concluded earlier this month.

The attendees, who came from France, Belgium, Canada, Israel and other countries, made the journey to visit the 10-acre cemetery, which dates back to 1682.

It contains the graves of thousands of Jews, including the shrine of a scholar and rabbi from the late 1700s, Hacham Raphael Berdugo, also known as Hamalach (“the Angel”), who was born in Meknes.

The cemetery’s renovation was ordered by King Mohammed VI in 2010 as part of a broader initiative to safeguard and preserve Jewish heritage sites across the country, including more than 170 Jewish cemeteries.

Efforts in many other related fields have flourished since the kingdom normalized ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords.

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