Chronicle of Fez

In the year 5464 from the creation of the world. If I were to try to tell the travails and bitter tidings and troubles that we the community of Fez (may God guard it!) endured, time would run out and there would still be more to tell. At twilight of Thursday, the fourteenth of the month of Kislev [November 22, 1703]—under the sign of the Lord, who said to me, return to your land and your birthplace and I will deal good with you (Genesis 32:10)—the ark of God was taken and was requested in the celestial academy, to wit, the perfect sage, the distinguished judge, humble and happy in all his dealings, his honor R. Vidal the Frenchman (may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing!) and was buried the same night before the dawn, inasmuch as by our many evil sins Moulay Hafid, the son of the sultan Moulay Ismā‘īāl (his majesty be great) was here, for that is their custom. The sons of the above-mentioned king would pass our way on a daily basis to shear us and consume us.

And it came to pass on Thursday, the above-mentioned 14th of Kislev of the aforementioned year, word came to us that the Signor the King (may his majesty be great) had given Fez al-Jdid to the above-mentioned Moulay Hafid to rule it. And on Monday, the 27th of Kislev [sic], Moulay Hafid came with his household and everything that was his, and the community (may God preserve them!) came out to greet him, and its officers (may they live long!) with a goodly tribute. He received them courteously and sent them forth happy and well disposed. He appointed a eunuch over them, whose name was Abdallah ibn Kassim, and said to him, “If one of the negidim [leaders] wants to come to me, allow him.” But he said this with guile. By our great and evil sins, on the next day and the day after, his servants and courtiers came to the mellah [Jewish quarter], this one tyrannical, the next despotic, the third malicious, each acting willfully and arbitrarily. They would speak lying and deceitfully in the name of their master, and none would refute them. The one would demand wine, the second liquor, the third tobacco, the fourth pepper, the fifth clothing, the sixth a dagger, the seventh an amulet box.

They embittered our lives with levies and taxes from the first day that they came to the mellah, until the inhabitants were sick of their lives, and no one would leave his house to enter the market at all. They could not even remain in their houses, but each would take his belongings and children and flee from roof to roof and from corner to corner, hiding in lofts and in cellars. The minions [of the prince] would enter their houses and break down their doors and chests and take whatever they found there, to give to the king’s courtiers and the tax collectors. Whatever they would collect of the taxes during the day and night, would that it might suffice for the fowl and eggs, the fledglings and pigeons that they were obliged to render each day.

And it happened on the day, they sent us one of the nobles, whose name was Signor Rahal Fanja, to collect from us 4,000 old okas.¹ The congregation rendered it in one night, out of their great fear. Afterward, in that same week, they leveled allegations against a certain Jew who had recently married and not even spent a month with his bride. He was very heroic and complained bitterly. His name was Maimon Zabh. They brought him before Moulay Hafid for this matter, and he was burned in a fiery furnace. May God avenge him; so may it be His will. The next day, bright and early, he sent us one of his servants to collect a ransom for the Jew who had been burned, a talent of pure silver, okas [from the royal mint]. The name of the servant who came was Signor Ramadan, and he raised the sum in a single night.

The next day they sent one of the courtiers whose name was Ashraibi, and in his hand was a makahil [rifle] [ . . . ] four to make golden rings for them. They made the rings and placed in them gold equal to sixty weights of silver. To the gentile who brought them, they gave a commission of fifty okas of pure silver from the royal mint.

While the one was speaking, the next one came, and he said vehemently, “This is urgent. Get up and run, and procure grain and wine, and acquire for the son of my lord the king four silk pavilions.” They sent immediately to [the quarter] Fes el Bali and bought the silk with 1,600 old okas, paying a commission of 100 okas. On the same day, the above-mentioned Signor Ramadan came and said, “Pay me 150 old okas,” and they immediately gave him 150 okas.

On the same day he sent to us a very small man, a judge, blind, holding a staff in his hand, riding on the shoulder of a gentile, to provide him with a garment, which they immediately provided, and he put it on with a curse [Hebrew obscure]. The same week, another sent for four more pavilions, and they immediately bought them with 2,500 okas. On the same day they sent a red cloak so that it might be prepared according to the fashion of the kingdom, and the preparation cost them 150 okas. While the one was speaking, there came another and it was a courtier with a furious demeanor, his name Signor Gadif, to give him a garment for one of Moulay Hafid’s sons-in-law. They acquired the garment in question from top to bottom for 120 old okas and gave a commission for the same garment in the amount of 375 old okas.

When the community saw that their distress was great and their sin most severe, they conferred with their leaders to flee to Meknes, may God preserve it! Perhaps there they might find a cure and remedy for their illness; perhaps one might be able to bring their case to the king Moulay Ismail (may his majesty be great). They sent discrete groups. This was on Thursday, the 27th of Tevet. The above-mentioned groups all arrived on Sunday, the 9th of Shevat, during the month of Ramadan. By our great and evil sins, there was fulfilled: And I will visit their sin with the rod and their iniquity with plagues (Psalms 89:33). On that day, the groups came up to the casbah of the King Moulay Ismā‘īāl (may his majesty be great) and they cried out with a loud and bitter outcry. The king heard the voice of outcry and was dismayed. He commanded that they be brought before him. They ran, flustered, and pressed them forward until they came before the king.

At first they said to his majesty the king, “The nobles and collectors despoiled us and laid waste to our houses and to his majesty the king’s garden.” The king ordered immediately that the nobles and collectors should come before him to give an accounting for all the levies that they took from the mellah. He sent a letter, by the hand of the exalted nagid R. Abraham Maimran (may God protect him!), to the effect that the nobles and tax collectors should report to Meknes by word of the king. When they heard [this], they were exceedingly dismayed and frightened, and their faces changed. Woe to us for the day of accounting before the True Judge, blessed be He!

The nobles and one of the collectors set out, and on the fifth day they were brought before King Ismā‘īāl. They could not drink the waters from Marah, for they were bitter (Exodus 15:23). They were speaking and supplicating before the king (may his majesty be exalted), and he gestured to the courtiers before him to smite the Jews with bullets. They did so, and two Jews died immediately, one was named Moses ibn Maman, and another was named P. ibn Mnikis. A third was bleeding but did not die; the bullet hit him and passed between his trachea and windpipe but he did not die; he was wounded but later healed; and his name was Moses ibn Hanina. May God avenge their spilled blood; amen, so be it His will.

When the king saw the blood of the slain, he was greatly enraged, and his anger burned in him, to the voice of the outcry that they cried out before him on the first day. He decreed for the Jews who remained alive, and their nobles, to burn them in fire in the lime kiln. They led them to be burned. But then he said to bring them back, and when they returned, he asked them, “Where are your leaders?” And they said, “This one and that one.” He decreed that they be burned. They led them to the burning site, but there was no one to show them grace, mercy, or compassion except the mercy of heaven. The king turned his face to one courtier before him, whose name was Alkaid Algazi Bohpra. He said to him, “Bring back the Jews from the fiery furnace; see now, they and the whole community of Fez are entrusted to your hand until you raise from them twenty talents of silver, for I have shown them forbearance these three times.” And so he did, and brought them to Fez (may God guard it!) on the holy Sabbath, as they were finishing the morning prayers, under the sign: If [the maidservant] be unworthy in the eyes of her master, etc. (Exodus 21:8). Our sins brought all this about. May God remove His anger from His people Israel. Amen, so may it be His will.