See Mizrahi Jews, for more information about the Eastern Jews.
Maghrebi Jews ( or , Maghrebim), are a Jewish diaspora group with a long history in the Maghreb, which includes present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. These communities were established long before the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb and continued to develop under Muslim rule during the Middle Ages. Maghrebi Jews represent the second-largest Jewish diaspora group — approximately 1.8 million in France, Canada, Israel, Morocco, and Tunisia — with their descendants forming a major part of the global Jewish population.
Maghrebi Jews have lived in multiple communities in the northern Maghreb for more than 2,000 years, with the oldest Jewish communities present during Roman times and possibly as early as within Punic colonies of the era of ancient Carthage. Under early Muslim rule, Jews flourished in major urban centers throughout the region. However, they also faced periods of persecution, notably under the Almohad Caliphate. Before and after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, many Sephardic Jews fleeing persecution settled in coastal North Africa. Over time, Maghrebi Jews largely mixed with the newly-arrived Sephardic Jews, and in most cases, they adopted the Sephardic Jewish identity.
The Maghrebi-Sephardic Jewish communities declined during the mid-to-late 20th century as part of the Jewish exodus from the Muslim world, with most moving to Israel, France, Canada, and Venezuela. Today, descendants of Maghrebi Sephardim in Israel have largely embraced the modern Israeli identity and, in many cases, intermingle with Ashkenazi and Mizrahi communities. Some Maghrebi Sephardim also consider themselves Mizrahim, a term that typically refers to the Jewish communities of West Asia and Central Asia, including the Near East, Mesopotamia, Persianate societies, and the Caucasus. They have similar histories of Arabic-speaking backgrounds and parallel exoduses: the Mizrahim left the Middle East, and the Maghrebi Sephardim left the Maghreb during the mid-to-late 20th century. Among Arab countries, the largest Jewish communities now exist in Morocco, with about 2,000 Jews, and in Tunisia, with about 1,000.
The term 'Maghrebi Jews' refers to such communities as Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, Tunisian Jews, and Libyan Jews. The term Musta'arabi Jews ('Arabized Jews') was also used by medieval Jewish authors to refer to Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghreb.
'Maghrebi' can also sometimes refer to Egyptian Jews, although there are important cultural differences between the histories of Egypt (often considered part of the historical Levantine sphere), and the Maghreb proper (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya).
Early history
Antiquity The Jewish community of Ifran, from the Tamazight word ifri meaning cavern, is supposed to date back to 361 BCE and is believed to be the oldest Jewish community in what is now Morocco. Jewish communities settled in Cyrenaica, the eastern coastal region of Libya, as early as the 3rd century BCE. This migration is linked to the policies of Ptolemy I, a successor of Alexander the Great and the first ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt. By this period, Egypt had become a major center of the Jewish diaspora, with waves of migration from Judah beginning in the 6th century BCE. To strengthen his control over Cyrenaica, Ptolemy resettled Jewish populations in cities such as Cyrene, using them to help secure the region as part of his expanding kingdom. By 95 BCE, when Cyrenaica came under Roman control, the Jewish presence was already substantial. The geographer Strabo, writing in the early first century BCE, described Cyrene as comprising four population groups, one of which was Jewish, indicating the community's size and significance at the time. A notable figure among the Cyrenaic Jews was Simon of Cyrene, referenced in the New Testament.
After Jewish defeat in the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 CE, Roman General Titus deported many Jews to Mauretania, which roughly corresponds to the modern Maghreb, and many of them settled in what is now Tunisia. These settlers engaged in agriculture, cattle-raising, and trade. They were divided into clans, or tribes, governed by their respective heads, and had to pay the Romans a capitation tax of 2 shekels.
The Jewish diaspora uprising of 115–117 CE led to a major defeat for the Jews, resulting in the near-total destruction of Jewish communities in Cyrenaica and Egypt. By the third century, Jewish communities began to re-establish themselves in Cyrenaica and Egypt, primarily through immigration from the Land of Israel.
In the area of Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, the earliest evidence of Jews is found in inscriptions from the second century CE. Although some theories suggest a Jewish presence during the Punic period, there is no archaeological or literary support for this earlier timeline. A Jewish necropolis, possibly dating to the third century, was discovered at Gammarth, north of Carthage, including numerous burial chambers and features Hebrew inscriptions and Jewish symbols such as the menorah and shofar. The oldest known synagogue in western North Africa, found in Hammam-Lif, in modern Tunisia, dates to the late fourth or early fifth century. In Morocco, Hebrew-language epitaphs and menorah-decorated lamps from late antiquity have been found in the Roman city of Volubilis.
After 429 CE, with the fairly tolerant Vandals, the Jewish residents of the Maghreb's provinces increased and prospered to such a degree that Church councils decided to enact restrictive laws against them. Berber lands east of Alexandria were relatively tolerant and were historically very welcoming for Christians and Jews during the Roman Empire notably. After the overthrow of the Vandals by Belisarius in 534 CE, Justinian I issued his edict of persecution, in which the Jews were classed with the Arians and s.
A community settled in Djerba island off the coast of southern Tunisia during the Roman period. Mainly composed of Cohanim, they notably built the Ghriba synagogue with stones coming directly from Jerusalem. 'La Ghriba' is still to this day annually visited by many Maghrebi Jews.
Early Muslim rule
Under Muslim domination Jewish communities developed in important urban centers such as Kairouan and coastal cities of Tunisia, in Tlemcen, Béjaïa and Algiers in the Central Maghreb (Algeria) and in the western Maghreb (Morocco), especially in Fes and throughout the Atlas Mountains among the Berber populations. The relationships between Maghrebi Muslims and Maghrebi Jews were relatively good during Al Andalus peaceful era, until the ascension of the Almohades, who persecuted non-Muslims to a large extent during their early reign. Later Jews were relatively well treated by the Berber Muslim dynasties, namely the Merinids, Zianides and Zirides.
In the seventh century, the Jewish population was augmented by Iberian Jewish immigrants, who, fleeing from the persecutions of the Visigothic king Sisebut and his successors, escaped to the Maghreb and settled in the local Byzantine Empire.
Fez and Tétouan, Morocco and Tunis became important Sephardic rabbinical centers well until the early 20th century, when most Jewish populations emigrated to Israel, France, Canada, and South America.
Following the massacre of 1391 in Spain, a significant migration of Jewish refugees and conversos moved from Iberia and Mallorca to Morocco and Algeria, including notable rabbis like Isaac ben Sheshet and Simon ben Zemach Duran. The latter, having fled to Algiers, became chief rabbi and authored influential works on Jewish law, philosophy, and science, including Magen Avot, which addresses topics such as physiology, psychology, and natural philosophy. The migration from Spain increased in the latter part of the 15th century due to anti-Converso violence in 1473 and the intensification of the Spanish Inquisition in the 1480s, which led to the expulsion of Jews from Andalusia. As Spanish military forces advanced into Málaga and Granada, many Jews from these regions sought refuge in Morocco and Algiers.
Expulsion from Spain after 1492
North Africa (predominantly Morocco) became the primary refuge for Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, along with other destinations such as Portugal, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. Contemporary accounts describe the hardships initially faced by these refugees in the northern Maghreb. Solomon ibn Verga recorded instances of starvation during which people resorted to eating grass, while Judah ibn Hayyat described seeking refuge from the cold by burrowing into garbage heaps. Jewish refugees from Spain were later joined by those fleeing Portugal, especially after the mass forced conversions of 1497.
Upon arrival, Iberian Jews found the Maghreb's cities already home to numerous diverse Jewish communities. These included both long-established Jewish populations ("Toshavim") and recent arrivals from earlier expulsions ("Megorashim"). The newcomers often faced integration issues, leading to the later formations of distinct communities. Key areas of Sephardic Jewish settlements included major cities in such coastal areas as Tétouan, Tlemçen, and Oran, as well as inland centers such as Fez and Marrakesh. Sephardi Jews quickly dominated Jewish communal life in Morocco due to their scholarly and mercantile elite status. Some newcomers integrated into existing communities, while others remained separate due to cultural and leadership differences. The reception of these exiles was shaped more by local conditions and less by religious ideology. Political protection and social status were often precarious, with frequent outbreaks of violence and economic pressures impacting both Jews and Muslims.
Around the time of the Spanish Inquisition the Counter-Reformation was taking place. The Counter-Reformation was the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation, a movement in Europe that strived to popularize the newer sect of Christianity, Protestantism, throughout Europe. The Counter-Reformation mostly took place in Southern Europe, which is a large reason as to why Southern Europe is, for the most part, far more Catholic and far less Protestant than the majority of Northern Europe. The Counter-Reformation, being a movement to preserve and strengthen the Catholic influence on society, was opposed not only to Protestantism but to any non-Catholic belief that was seen as a threat to the Catholic society. Thus, the Jews of Spain overwhelmingly moved directly south to the Maghreb Region of North Africa and quickly prospered.
Recent history
World War II and the Holocaust
On the eve of World War II, 400,000 Jews resided in the Maghreb; throughout this time, each country differed in its treatment of its respective Jewish population.
Algerian Jews (approximately 35,000) had been granted French citizenship by the Cremieux Decree in 1870. France's Vichy Regime, then, oversaw the Jewish community in Algeria during World War II and imposed anti-Semitic measures such as stripping Jews of their civil rights, forcing them to wear identification markers, and putting quotas on their admission to primary schools.
Tunisia was the only country with direct contact with the German army; Germany occupied the country for six months from 1942 to 1943 until it was recaptured by the Allied forces. Under German occupation, the Jewish population, then 89,000, endured the Nazi regime and were subjected to harsh mistreatment.
In Morocco, whose Jewish population totaled nearly 300,000, Vichy-French authorities enforced anti-Jewish laws; at least 2,100 Moroccan Jews were forcibly interned in work camps.
Emigration