Marc Eliany
Introduction by Annette B. Fromm
JEWISH FOLKTALES FROM MOROCCO: TALES OF SEHA THE SAGE AND SEHA THE CLOWN
Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021. ISBN: 978-1-79364-465-7
Reviewed by Ruth Ohayon1
Jewish Folktales from Morocco is a personal narrative and a two-part compilation of tales. During his childhood, Marc Eliany’s grandfather, Rabbi Mordekhay Elkhiany, and grandmothers, Tany Khessous and Esther Elkhiany, entertained him with moralistic tales of the sage/clown character named Seha. The tales reflect biblical stories, Jewish myths, the significance of oral traditions and literature, social values, historical commentaries, as well as social hierarchies.
In Part I, “Tales of Seha the Sage,” we meet Grandpa Mordekhay sitting in his store selling spices, regaling his grandson with stories about Seha, a figure who metamorphoses into a myriad of figures, including a beggar, a saint, a merchant, a tailor, and an angel. The goals of the storytelling consist in part of teaching the young about ethics, the importance of charity, generosity, compassion for animals, and modesty.
In the story titled, “Seha at Rabbi A’Mar’s Rock,” the author as a young boy learns that a brief prayer suffices. The importance of good character, acts of benevolence, and humility are highlighted in “Happiness and the Gardener’s Clothes.” Kindness and charity save life in the tale, “Seha the Beggar and the Woman Giving Birth.” Charitable behavior was praised universally. Grandma Tany, seamstress to the governor of Marrakech, recounts times when poverty was widespread and charity could alter one’s life.
Seha expresses much wisdom in the various stories. He exclaims, “When we respect law and order and don’t take advantage of others, peace reigns in the world. Redemption is the result of our doing. It is gained day by day, through good deeds and mutual understanding” (p. 56).
Some tales are humorous, as the one told by Grandma Esther in “Seha’s Cat and Fish.” In some places fish were rare. Seha bought a fish, and his wife was so happy that she consumed the whole fish. She later told him that the cat ate the fish, and he replied that he weighed the cat and the weight is the same, and he wanted to check his wife’s weight.
In “Seha and the Peace Maker,” Eliany recalls his grandfather’s teaching on the foundation pillars of humanity, namely Torah and compassion, justice and peace. Seha settled disputes in a conflict-torn village by vindicating every person who pled his case.
Jewish Tales from Morocco serves as an illuminating historical resource on the pre-colonial period, French rule, and the transition to modernity in Morocco. The Protectorate Treaty of 1912 between France and Morocco allowed for greater Western influence, the establishment of French education and culture, the migration from villages to urban centers.
The author presents valuable socio-historical documentation on Northern Moroccan Jews from the town of Beni Mellal. He expounds further Jews’ role in commerce and international relations. Moroccan Jews were noted for the production of jewelry and metalwork.
Humor is a powerful educational tool to transmit traditions, cultural values, and lessons of morality. In Part II,” Tales of Seha the Clown,” we encounter Seha as the fool, the trickster. The sage and the clown can both impart wisdom. The narrator’s grandfather advises that, “In every spoken word there is a lesson,” urging Eliany to take notes on the grandmother’s tales, in preparation for his bar mitzvah (p. 79). Storytelling can provide comfort to communities in need, and Seha can be an imaginary savior.
In one tale Seha is a poor, clever man who goes to see the king and tells him that he can make the camel speak, but it will take twenty years to accomplish such a feat and that he will need to house and feed his family during that period. Seha knew that he could not make a camel speak but at least his family would have food and shelter for many years.
During the pre-French Protectorate, poverty was widespread in Morocco, especially in rural areas. Grandma Esther’s tales reflect such a social reality. In “The End of the World,” Seha’s neighbors try to convince him to slaughter his sheep but he resists. One day, the neighbors announce the impending end of the world and that Seha should share his sheep with the community. He finally obliges. When the neighbors subsequently remove their clothes to swim in the pond, Seha burns them in a bonfire. Inquiring about the missing clothes, Seha cleverly responded to the neighbors, “Eat now, tomorrow is the end of the world; no one will need any clothes!”(p. 86).
Grandma Esther’s witty story, “The Logic of Darkness” reflects the people’s exposure to modernization and the introduction of electricity. Seha lost his ring in his dark basement, so he looks for it by the lamp post in the street. Seha explains to an inquiring neighbor that it is too dark in the basement to look for the ring.
Social inequality and poverty declined over the years but the urban-rural gaps remained strong.
Grandma Esther recounts the story of “Lost Sleep.” Seha is unable to sleep and wanders about the village. A neighbor asks him what he is doing out in the middle of the night, and he responds “I am looking for my lost sleep” (p. 92).
Once in Israel, Grandpa Mordekhay replaces Seha, the fictional and allegorical character, with Biblical and Jewish heroes. Jewish Moroccans living in Israel rarely told stories about Seha.
Eliany writes, “The metamorphosis of Seha, as a popular fictional Jewish hero, depicts the survival struggles of a disadvantaged community within a majority society which has the power to alter its fate” (p. 103). The various incarnations of Seha indicate that he is not a “submissive actor but a resilient survivor” (p. 87).
Marc Eliany in Jewish Folktales from Morocco depicts simple, generally brief stories and anecdotes, to portray social problems and cultural values. Seha is characterized by fairness, responsibility, wit. In the Introduction to the text, Annette B. Fromm writes that the character Seha appears “in the same tales told by Sephardic Jewish, Muslim, and Christian neighbors throughout the Mediterranean basin” (p. 2). She further summarizes the significance of the text, “These Jewish Moroccan tales remain a significant source of historical information about this important community, now dispersed” (p. 3).
I read the text with much interest and curiosity. The various incarnations of Seha, the expressions of wit, cynicism, and kindness enriched the cultural fabric and imagination of a precious historical period of Moroccan Jewry. Marc Eliany fortunately collected his grandparents’ beautiful folktales and captured memories of a past that will not be forgotten.
1 Ruth Ohayon, PhD, is Professor Emerita at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. She focuses on postcolonial literature, Francophone women writers, Caribbean and diasporic studies.