Moroccan Torah Scrolls: Theorizing a Diasporic Afterlife

Abstract

Torah scrolls are more than ritual objects; when used in a congregation, they take on semihuman characteristics and are given special agency. For Sephardic communities, some scrolls bear witness to the history of migration and trade that has uprooted them over five centuries. This article examines Torah scrolls originating in Morocco or used today by Moroccan communities, arguing that they take on different meaning for the community depending on whether they are used, displayed or guarded. We consider the difference in social meaning between chanting from a scroll and venerating it, and how Moroccan Jewry is impacted by efforts in Morocco, Israel and the diaspora to ascribe ownership of the Torah via networks of patrimony and belonging. Offering an ethnographically-informed analysis of Torah scrolls in London, Essaouira and Tel Aviv, this article demonstrates that Torah scrolls serve as productive members of the communities that own them when they facilitate a thorough understanding of the migration networks that create communities.