- Population
- 61,000
- Location
- Nationwide; strongest in southern and northern development towns (Netivot, Sderot, Dimona, Ofakim, Kiryat Shmona), Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Jerusalem
Moroccan Jews are the largest Jewish origin community in Israel after immigrants from the former Soviet Union: about 458,000 people were born in Morocco or have a Moroccan-born father, and close to a million Israelis claim Moroccan descent. Most arrived between 1948 and 1967, the later waves through the clandestine Operation Yachin, and were sent to transit camps and new development towns on the Negev and Galilee frontiers, where many of their grandchildren still live. Their traditional Sephardi-Maghrebi Judaism shapes the Israeli calendar: the Mimouna feast at the end of Passover, once a Moroccan home custom, is now a national event attended by politicians, and the annual hillula at the tomb of the Baba Sali in Netivot draws more than 100,000 pilgrims. Hebrew is the language of all generations; Judeo-Moroccan Arabic and French survive mainly among the elderly.