Mellah

A mellah (Arabic: ملاح, romanized: Mallāḥ, lit. 'salt' or 'saline area';^[1] and Hebrew: מלאח) is the place of residence historically assigned to Jewish communities in Morocco.^[1]

The urban mellah, as it exists in numerous cities and large towns, is a Jewish quarter enclosed by a wall and a fortified gateway, typically near the residence of the sultan or governor.^[1] In cities, the mellah was usually situated near the qaṣba (citadel), the royal palace, or the residence of the governor;^[1] some residents of the mellah held senior administrative positions and had to be available.^[1][2]

The rural mellah, as it exists or existed in the mountainous regions of the Atlas and the Rif and in the plains regions reaching to the Sahara, is a relatively isolated open village inhabited exclusively by Jews.^[1] These villages existed at a distance from the nearest qṣar or qaid.^[1]

Starting in the 15th century in Fes and especially since the beginning of the 19th century elsewhere, mellah districts were established in many Moroccan cities for the Jewish communities to live in.^[3][1] The name mellah derives from a local toponym in Fes which became the name of the first separate Jewish district in Morocco (the Mellah of Fez) created in that city during the 15th century.^[4] Haim Zafrani notes that the institution of the mellah was only imposed on some communities and only as of relatively recently in Moroccan history, and that segregation was not the rule in Islamic lands as it was in Christian lands.^[1]