A Study of Jewish Communal Leadership in Meknes, 1750–1912 r 301replace Fez as the center of Jewish learning in Morocco.^7 Although by the
late nineteenth century both Meknes and its Jewish community had de-
clined in importance, it nevertheless remained a vibrant hub of Moroccan
Jewish life. Most accounts agree that by the turn of the twentieth century,
the city’s Jews numbered about six thousand.^8
The leadership of the Jewish community of Meknes followed patterns
found in many other Moroccan cities. At the top of the pyramid, the
va ̔ad (or the ma ̔amad), a council of learned elders, made the majority of
decisions for the community.^9 Usually composed of seven men, including
rabbis and influential laymen, the va ̔ad wrote the taqanot that regulated
much of the community’s daily life.^10 The nagid was primarily respon-
sible for relations between Jews and the Muslim authorities. He acted in
parallel to the communal council, and at times in cooperation with it.^11 A
number of other communal officials—the head rabbi, the shohet (ritual
butcher), and the treasurer, among others—were appointed by the va ̔ad
or by the community itself. Yet not every member of the council agreed
to each taqanah, and at times individual members passed taqanot on be-
half of the entire group.^12 I thus use the term “Jewish leaders” rather than
“va ̔ad” in order to emphasize the fluidity of the group responsible for
communal decisions.
Meknes’s Jewish leadership was faced with a community that in socio-
economic terms largely resembled its Jewish and non-Jewish equivalents
throughout Morocco. Arriving at exact proportions for the makeup of
Meknes’s Jewish population is impossible at this point. Nonetheless, the
sources indicate a general schema of the community. A tiny minority of
extremely wealthy families occupied the top of the pyramid, comprising
between four and ten households at the end of the nineteenth century.^13
These families were generally engaged in trade and had connections with
wealthy and influential Muslims.^14 In the shadow of the fabulously wealthy
lived the majority of the population who earned their livelihood as arti-
sans or small-time merchants—those I refer to as the “middling sorts.”^15
Although these householders were normally able to support themselves,
they were poor enough to be in danger of slipping into destitution at even
minor catastrophes.^16 In precolonial Morocco, political turmoil was of-
ten the catalyst for a fall from riches. During times of political instabil-
ity, merchants were unable to open their stores, artisans could not work
in their shops, and many had their possessions looted by armed mobs.^17
Finally, at the other end of the spectrum were the completely destitute,