Do you know the traveler Rabbi Mordecai Serour?Mordekhai Aby Serour was both rabbi, merchant, explorer, geographer, teacher, adventurer, gold dealer and possibly a spy... But he is best known for being Charles de Foucault's guide he accompanied during 11 month in the South Moroccan.Mordekhai was born in 1826, in Akka (Tata province in the Souss region) in southern Morocco. He leaves his native village at the age of 9 for Marrakech and travels through all the roads around the Mediterranean and all the trails then unknown of Africa, from Morocco to Timbuktu. Between the ages of 13 and 17, during one of his trips around the Mediterranean, he stayed in Jerusalem, studied in a yeshiva and became a rabbi. His trail is then found in the Sudan where he is a gold dealer or as a caravanman in the Sahara. During his constant trips, he opens up new routes, he brings back African experiences then unknown and trade between Morocco and Africa. In Timbuktu, banned for centuries to non-Muslims, he manages to convince the local population that it is better to trade with Jews than with other peoples and founded a small Jewish community (with a minyan! ).Unfortunately, his caravans get attacked several times. The people of Timbuktu take possession of his property which he ends up giving up to return to Mogador in 1868, ruined. At Mogador, he meets the French Consul Auguste Beaumier to whom he tells his recent misfortune. Passionate about geography and fascinated by this polyglot rabbi, the Consul of France asks Mordekhai to write his story - in French! - from his African experiences and above all to describe all the routes followed. This story is published in the Bulletin of the Society of geography of Paris under the title "First establishment of the Israelites in Timbuktu". This raises the career of Mordecai. Thereafter, his trips will aim to collect botanical and geography samples for Parisian scientific societies and to collect information.In 1883, he is charged to guide through Morocco Charles de Foucauld, former military, Viscount and explorer. For this mission, which will last for nearly a year, the Viscount is disguised as a rabbi so that he can be unrecognised among the Jewish population and, most of all, that he can enter certain villages forbidden to Christians. Back triumphant from this journey, de Foucauld publishes a book that is a great success, but in which the role of Mordecai is not even mentioned. On the contrary, in his book, he strongly judges Moroccan Jews whom he presents as primitive. Also, in his correspondence with his closed ones, of describes Mordekhai as an ignorant character, without morals or principles.Betrayed, Rabbi Mordekhai Aby Serour dies in Algiers on April 1886, 6, forgotten by all!Our Moroccan Jewish collective heritage is the consuls, emissaries, Tajjers of Mogador, adventurers, rubber "researchers", aunt Phoebe who takes her tea in a porcelain cup and calls you by saying " seat down, nahbibesk! ", artisans sitting in a tailor looked at their work in the mellah, a rich merchant in a kissariah, the whiners who till their cheeks in front of a deceased (for a coin), the Berber Jewish children who recite Thora portions in a heder and Rabbi Mordekhai Aby Serour in his glory and in his lonely death!Welcome to all those who joined us this week Joseph Melul, Benamosi Sabrina, Kean Aflalo, Colette Bensimon, Armand Amar, Isaac Nahon, Elharrar Simone, Anat Uzan, Alex Pellas, Asln Camille, Lily Amore, Solange Attias Bohbot, סימונה בוכניק, Arlette Mums, Nath Aniel, Michael Amselem, Martine Karcenty, Bella Serrat, Dominique Levy-saragossi, Jacques Attias, Simon Ben, Ruth Mergui, Sandra Azancot Gundermann, Monick Rebibo, Karen Cohen, Patricia Bensimon, Gabriel Ovadia, Noah Gundermann, Odette Dayan, Miki Gordon, Marie Benaim Guerrero, Jacqueline Bibas, Marc Levy. A big thank you to those who invited you!Check out the group's goal and terms (first post in announcement) and enjoy your family trees!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZH5IQE52sY&fbclid=IwAR3-aftxUQwdQSqBIaXFRqC4FNPbOswXGuWp92If4guNNQ91Se4b-m-F184