300 r Jessica Marglin
to provide for the Jewish poor in Meknes was undoubtedly religiously
motivated, charity also served a political function. Far from observing
a strict secular/religious divide, Jewish leaders combined the pious and
strategic roles of poor relief.
Beyond analyzing charity as a political tool, I ground practices of char-
ity in their historical context. Looking at other Jewish communities in
the Middle East and Europe, I draw comparisons in order to shed light
on the nature of Jewish communal leadership. Beyond the Jewish com-
munity, I point out similarities and differences between Jewish and Mus-
lim practices, although I shy away from claims concerning where these
norms originated.^3 Temporally, I situate changing practices of charity in
the transformations sparked by increasing contact with Europe in the late
nineteenth century.
Meknes provides good ground for such a case study, though the dif-
ferences among various Moroccan Jewish communities make drawing
general conclusions about Moroccan Jews difficult.^4 Rather, this inquiry
contributes to emerging studies of poverty, charity, and Jewish leadership
in the Middle East more broadly. In particular I build upon the work
of Yaron Ben-Naeh and Mark Cohen, who as yet are the only scholars
to write on poverty and charity among Middle Eastern Jews.^5 Although
studies of Muslim responses to poverty are more plentiful (especially con-
cerning the legal and religious aspects of charity), relatively few scholars
have turned their attention to the social history of poverty and charity.
Unfortunately, no such studies exist for the Moroccan context.^6 In order
to contextualize the case of Meknes, I thus rely primarily on studies of
communities elsewhere in the Middle East, particularly the Ottoman Em-
pire. A full-scale comparison with Moroccan Muslim practice would in-
volve original research using Muslim sources, which is beyond the scope
of this inquiry. Nevertheless, I draw preliminary conclusions about the
relationship between Meknes and Jewish, Muslim, and Christian com-
munities in the region.
The Jews of Meknes in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Meknes’s greatest claim to fame is its royal status (which it shares with Fez
and Marrakech). Chosen by the sultan Mulay Ismail as his new capital
in 1672, Meknes reached the height of its renown in the late seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries. It did not take long for this new capital to