Morocco: Chair at Mohammed V University to promote research on Moroccan Hebrew law

A Chair of Moroccan Hebrew Law will be established at the University Mohammed V in Rabat to promote research on Moroccan Hebrew law.

The convention establishing the Chair was signed in Essaouira, during a ceremony marked by the presence of Advisor to the King and President-Founder of the Essaouira-Mogador Association, André Azoulay.

“With the creation of the Chair on Hebrew Law in Morocco, Essaouira has another first to its credit, which now vividly embodies the centrality of diversity at the highest level of our university courses,” said André Azoulay.

The Royal Advisor praised “the emblematic voluntarism of the prestigious Mohammed V University of Rabat which, in partnership with the Hebrew Law Research Center of Bayt Dakira, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Essaouira-Mogador Association, chose to carry on the baptismal fronts a Chair which will be a milestone in history.”

“With the creation of the Chair on Hebrew Law in Morocco, Essaouira has achieved another milestone that embodies the centrality of diversity at the highest level of our university curricula,” he said surveying the initiatives made since the launch, nearly two years ago, of school curricula that were “reviewed and corrected to teach our children the richness, depth and legitimacy of all civilizations that, over the millennia, have nourished and determined the uniqueness of our society.”

The Chair is meant to promote research in the field of Hebrew law in Morocco, to be a platform of exchange and debate on relations and dialogue between Islam and Judaism as well as an archives center on the subject matter. It will also enhance the Moroccan experience of rabbinical jurisdictions both in their organization and in their jurisprudential production.

This chair also seeks to contribute to setting up training courses in Hebrew law in Morocco, to conceive and implement research programs by national and foreign researchers (doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows), to organize doctoral supervision workshops, to program and oversee scientific meetings and to establish any institutional cooperation in relation with its missions.

Under the terms of the two-year binding convention, the parties are committed to appoint, as honorary chairperson of the Chair, a personality known for his or her commitment to peace, tolerance and interreligious dialogue, and a director of the Chair who will oversee the coordination of its bodies and the monitoring of its programs and activities.

A Steering Council will also be appointed to contribute to the strategic orientation of the Chair, to the evaluation of its general activity and to its outreach.
It will be composed of representatives of the University and the Hebrew Research Center of Bayt Dakira, as well as an academic team of the Chair, which includes researchers and experts in Hebrew law and interreligious dialogue. It will be responsible for developing the Chair’s research programs and coordinating its scientific activities.

Any organization or institution wishing to support the Chair’s projects and activities are welcome as partners.

Under the convention, the Chair will grant annual scholarships to deserving Moroccan doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, will facilitate researchers’ participation in national and international scientific events, and cover the costs of publishing research work carried out within the framework of the Chair.

The convention was signed by President of Mohammed V University Mohammed Rhachi; President of Morocco’s Hebrew La Research Center of Bayt Dakira Abdellah Ouzitane; and President of Essaouira-Mogador Association Tarik Ottmani.