Rabbi Danon synagogue

The Danan synagogue, which is next to the Marinid enclosure wall, in the street of Farran Tahti, is part of a residential ensemble that comprises two residential quarters on the first floor and two mezzanines. It is one of the finest buildings in the Jewish culture and occupies a special place in Moroccan Judaism. It was founded by E Mimon Bussidan, from Zawiyat Aït Ishaq, and has been in the Danan family heritage since 1812 (date of the first asset transfer). It bears the name of Rabbi Shelomo Danan[1] (1847–1928), who officiated there at the start of the twentieth century. The monument was unused between 1969 until its restoration in 1997.

The oratory has all the attributes of a typical synagogue: an entrance hall, a prayer hall, the teba (altar), and a cellar. Unusually, it is preceded by two small vestibules. The first leads to the first-floor residences, the second to the cellar and the prayer hall.

The prayer hall is composed of four naves divided into two bays. There are large windows in its walls and its ceiling is covered with rafters and laths supported by solid beams and cedarwood corbels. The enormous hekhal (the cupboard that contains the scrolls of the Torah) is built into the enclosure wall. The teba is raised up on three steps, and surrounded by an openwork balustrade. The women’s gallery, which was entered from outside, is no longer part of the synagogue. In the cellar, located in the prayer hall, and accessible through a trapdoor, was the cradle-vaulted mikvé—ritual baths for the ‘shaking off’ of sins.

The synagogue’s decorations combine polychrome plaster, carved and open woodwork, ceramic mosaics, and wrought-iron. It is particularly developed in the prayer hall on the level of the hekhal, the building’s most precious element. On the wall behind the cupboard are geometric patterns. The hekhal has carved plaster decorations, with champlevé floral and geometric motifs painted in white, blue, green, and yellow, framed by a rectangular strip adorned with polygonal knotwork in both horizontal and vertical directions. The basic repeated motif is the eight-pointed star surrounded by hexagons and stars with six corners. Carved wood has been used for the hekhal, adorned with five-lobed and double palm leaves that extend into volutes and arches. The corbels are adorned with mouldings that alternate edges and twisted cord. The baluster has openwork, with trilobed garlanded and lambrequin arches. The floor is covered in white and green ceramic tiles.

The building’s plan and decorations are closely linked to Islamic art and this shows that artistic productions can never be viewed without taking into account their geographic or cultural contexts. Classified as a UNESCO world heritage site (with three other places of worship at Fez[2]), the Aben Danan synagogue was the first to be restored because of the important role it plays in the Jewish religion and culture across the Maghrib as well as in the advent of reforms. While it is no longer used as a place of worship, it has taken on another role as a synagogue-museum for cultural and tourist visits.

[2] This refers to the Sla del Fassiyine, Sla de R. mimun Mansano and Em habbanim.