User:Ericaschuman/sandbox

= Article Evaluation = I completed my article evaluation on the House of Wisdom (Beit al-Hikma)

Everything in the article seemed relevant but there is a warning banner on source reliability and factual accuracy. The article is neutral in tone and even brings up counterarguments to the topic in the article. The links I clicked on seem to work but not all the sources have full citations, and some are to sites like personal blogs which aren't as credible. The talk page has suggestions for additional information and many notations of inaccurate/non credible sources. The article is rated C-Class and is apart of 6 WikiProjects. This wikipedia article mentions that the existence of the Beit al-Hikma is controversial and that it might not have even existed which we did not talk about in class. It also mentions that other libraries around the world adopted the same name. The article also views the Beit al-Hikma as more of a group than a physical structure. Otherwise, its description as a cultural and intellectual center and the Mongol's destruction of it are discussed. Overall, the article covered a wide but relevant array of information but is not necessarily based on credible sources given the numerous warnings and talk page comments I saw.

= Choose a Topic = For the wikipedia assignment, I'll be adding onto the article about Mellahs (walled Jewish ghettos in Morocco)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellah

Right now, there is very little information on the page and only a couple paragraphs so I think there is a ton of room to expand and add more details.

= Add to an Article (Bibliography) = Goldberg, Harvey. “THE MELLAHS OF SOUTHERN MOROCCO: REPORT OF A SURVEY.” The Maghreb Review, vol. 8, no. 3, ser. 4, 1983, pp. 61–69.

Gottreich, Emily Benichou. Mellah of Marrakesh : Jewish and Muslim Space in Morocco's Red City, Indiana University Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Miller, Susan Gilson, et al. “Inscribing Minority Space in the Islamic City: The Jewish Quarter of Fez (1438-1912).” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 60, no. 3, 2001, pp. 310–327. JSTOR

There are not a ton of existing sources on Mellahs, these are three of the most relevant and credible ones I was able to find.

= Drafting Contributions = Add to first section:

While the settling location of Jews was by Muslim rulers was typically imposed, the mellah existed in a relatively autonomous fashion, with Jews building and sustaining their own communities within the walls of their quarter. Indeed, there was resistance to forced relocation, but ultimately the Jewish mellah became a sanctified space that the Jews had pride for. "The one gate that gave way to the medina, which could have easily been repudiated as an emblem of imprisonment, instead came to be treated as an object of reverence by the mellah ’s inhabitants, as we see in this description from the early twentieth century:

If one stops for a moment in front of this gate, one sees a curious thing: All who pass, children, beggars, peddlers driving their donkeys loaded with merchandise, old women, hunched-over men, all approach this dusty wall and press their lips against it with as much fervor as if they were kissing the holy Torah. The mellahs of Morocco primarily came about as Jews migrated to Morocco after being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition.

There were two primary justifications given for mellahization. First, these Jewish quarters were often in close proximity to the ruling local powers, offering a form of protection for the Jews. This explanation also addresses the resulting effective authority over differing religious populations; if all the Jews are physically together, it is easier to maintain effective muslim rule, assess taxes, and keep count of the community. The second justification of cause for the institution of the mellah is the idea that mellahs were a "collective punishment for specific transgressions." Jews were associated with ethical deviance, physical malformation, and disease and so were separated from the Christian and Muslim populations.

Organization relative to the city as a whole gives insight into how Jews were situated compared to the Muslim majority and how relevant these justifications are to specific mellahs. "'Sometimes the quarter is contained within the larger city and forms a microcosm of it, such as the Jewish quarter of Tetuan; at other times, it is removed from the molecular city and attached to the royal enclave, as in Fez. The siting of the quarter invites speculation about its origins and the relationship between the Jewish minority and the Muslim majority. Was the purpose of the quarter to isolate its inhabitants, to safeguard them, or both? In Fez, the proximity of the mellah to the royal palace is often read as a sign of dependency of the Jews on the power and protection of the ruling sovereign.'"

Physical Space and Cultural Interaction
Mellahs, walled on all four sides and typically gated, housed the Jewish population of Moroccan cities. As a result, these spaces fostered Jewish communal life through it's physical structures. Mellahs were typically organized in neighborhoods and had synagogues, a Jewish cemetery, and kosher markets situated among other public areas. Even the synagogue itself facilitated a wide variety of Jewish communal needs including education, ritual baths, and spaces for children to play.

While at first these quarters offered considerable comfort to Jewish families, with spacious homes and protection due to proximity to the royal palace these luxuries soon came to a close. "'Yet over time, the quarters’ narrow streets became congested and overrun with people, and they became synonymous with ghettos. The Jews were confined to the inner walls of the rundown mellahs, and the areas became associated with cursed, “salted” land, much like the Jews were perceived among Moroccan society.'"As Jews were key players in trade and commerce, mellahs were often situated on major waterways and were usually pretty close to each other to facilitate trade networks effectively. Even more so, the mellah's market became a prominent space for not only the Jewish community, but non-Jewish peoples who would come to shop on market days. Because Jews commonly held merchant and artisan positions, the mellah was an attractive trade post for the entire city, not just the Jewish quarter. Separation certainly stifled cultural interaction to some degree, but Muslims were allowed to enter the mellah and did so if they needed goods and services that fell within the Jewish niche.

Add to History: 20th Century Onwards
Today few Jews remain in Morocco, and especially in Marakesh, "parts of its mellah were undergoing the early stages of gentrification." In fact, only three jewish families remain in the mellah's area. Only one synagogue remains, Synagogue Fassin, and despite no congregants, it has been carefully preserved.

The Mellah of Fez faces a similar fate, however it is currently undergoing renovation thanks to UNESCO funding.

The legacy of the Moroccan Jewish Quarters on commerce remain, as the markets constructed and brought alive by Jewish merchants not only exist today but still in the lively forms they served in previous centuries for the Jewish communities.

A visitor notes: "'The quarters’ squalor still exists, but they’re also picturesque and bustling — and that, too, speaks to Morocco’s vibrant Jewish past.'"