Maghrebim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Maghrebim | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population | |||||||||||||||
|
2,000,000 |
|||||||||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Languages | |||||||||||||||
| Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic. | |||||||||||||||
| Religions | |||||||||||||||
| Judaism | |||||||||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||||||||
|
Jews |
Maghrebim (מַגּרֶבִּים or מַאגרֶבִּים) are Jews who traditionally lived in the Arab-Berber Maghreb region of North Africa (al-Maghrib, Arabic for "the west"), established Jewish communities long before the arrival of Jews expelled from Spain (see Alhambra decree), mainly in the Sherifian kingdom of Morocco.
The term Maghrebim is formed analogously to Ashkenazim and Sephardim. The Sephardi population in Maghreb was urbanised and wealthier, so most Maghrebim chose to assimilate into the Sephardic Jewish community. Today most of Moroccan Jews consider themselves to be Sephardi.
"Cave-dwelling Jews" of southern Tripolitania, whose fate is uncertain after 1960, were probably an early and isolated offshoot of Maghrebim.
The relationship with the Sunni Muslim majority has suffered in recent years as Arab hostilities engendered by the Arab-Israeli conflict have worsened relations between Arabs and Jews throughout the Arab world.
[edit] See also
- History of the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan
- Jews and Judaism in Africa
- Jewish ethnic divisions
- Mizrahi Jews
- Berber Jews
 |
This article about an ethnic group in Africa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
