Mellah

From Open Encyclopedia

Mellah is the term for the Jewish quarter of a city in Morocco; the name literally means the place where salt is prepared or sold.

Mellah has not always been the Jewish quarter in Morocco, it seems that the name comes from a place in Fez where salt was found, or prepared; after a riot, the king obliged some people to leave there, gradually the place became inhabited only by Jews and the name became common everywhere else in Morocco.

The first official Mellah was established in Fez in 1438. There was a considerable out-migration of Jews in the second half of the 20th century, with the result that mellahs are no longer Jewish neighborhoods.

[edit]