Avraham Elmaleh

Born in Tangiers, where his father was a rabbi and judge, Avraham Elmaleh (al-Maliḥ) was educated at the modern school established in Tangiers by the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) and would go on to dedicate his adult life to the modernizing work of the Alliance. He first served alongside his wife, Messody Pariente, as an assistant in the AIU school in Beirut; they returned to Morocco in 1906 to work at the AIU school in Mazagan (1906–1909), before being appointed headmaster and headmistress of the AIU schools in Fez (1909–1916). Elmaleh was a champion for the rights of Jews in Morocco, and he advocated for their fair treatment to the Muslim authorities on several notable occasions.