Ighil n-Ogho was the central mellah (*mallāḥ) of the Talouine region (Zagmouzen tribe), in the Sirwa massif, above the *Sous region (near Ras al-Wad). Zagmouzen was an important thoroughfare in the mountains between the *Dra‘a and the Sous valleys; it is still known today for its excellent saffron. The mellah existed since the sixteenth-century at least; judging from the large cemetery located two kilometers away, the mellah may have had some 350 inhabitants in the twentieth century; the 1936 census counted 240 Jews in the tribal district of Zagmouzen. In the Sous region, it was part of a large chain of mellahs that stretched from the *Tifnout valley to *Taroudant. Besides regional trade—especially almond—and peddling, Jews worked as jewelers, saddlers, blacksmiths, and cobblers. Some Jews partnered with Muslims in raising cattle and sheep, and growing cereal. There were three other mellahs in the area, Atougha, Ihoukarn and Tagouyamt.

Jews from Ighil n-Ogho were bilingual; they spoke mainly Judeo-Arabic and Berber with their Muslim neighbors. Among the noted families of the town were the Dar‘is, some of whom settled in Ashdod, Israel. Because of the relative size of the Jewish population, the *Alliance Israélite Universelle opened an elementary school in 1955, but the whole community immigrated to Israel in 1963 (321 people).

The Jews from Ighil n-Ogho venerated a nearby saint, Baba Yehuda u-Rubin Wizman, who is buried in Tadghia, near Talouine. The old synagogue in the mellah which was falling apart, was restored by the Fondation du Patrimoine culturel judéo-marocain at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

Le Commandant Bontoux, “Contribution à l’étude des Juifs dans les territories du sud (Annexe de Talouine), January 13, 1951 (manuscript in the archives of Ittihad-Maroc, Casablanca).

Dar‘i, Yehuda. ” Jewish Marriage in a rural community: Wedding Customs in Ighil n-Ughu” (Hebrew), in Ha-Hatuna ha-yehudit be-qehilot kafriyot: minhage ha-hatuna be-Ighil n’Ogho” edited with notes by Joseph Chetrit, in Joseph Chetrit, et al., Ha-hatunah ha-yehudit ha-mesoratit be-Maroqo: Perke ‘Iyun ve-Te‘ud [Miqqqedem Umiyyam, vol. 8] (Haifa: The University of Haifa, Faculty of Humanities and The Center for the Study of Jewish Culture in Spain and Muslim Lands, 2003), 553-558.

Jacques-Meunié, Djinn. Le Maroc saharien des origines à 1670, 2 vols. (Paris: Editions Klincksieck, 1982).