Le DG de l'OIT salue l'adoption de la loi sur la grève au Maroc et sa validation par la Cour constitutionnelle    Avril diplomatique : Quand la France préside, le Maroc s'impose    Soudan du Sud: le CPS de l'UA appelle à un dialogue inclusif et véritable pour rétablir la confiance, l'unité nationale et la paix    Lancement d'un vol direct Agadir-Amsterdam    Le groupement « Boluda Towage-Marsa Maroc » désigné pour assurer les activités de remorquage et d'assistance à Nador West Med    Sortie du trésor à l'international : le Maroc émet un emprunt obligataire de 2 milliards d'euros    Coupe du Monde 2026 : L'interdiction de voyage menace la participation de plus de 40 pays    Températures prévues pour le jeudi 03 avril 2025    Genomia MDATA et la Fondation Mohammed VI des Sciences et de la Santé : une alliance au profit de la médecine de précision en Afrique    Abderrahman Boukhaffa décoré par le Roi Charles III pour ses contributions à la diversité linguistique au Canada    Rabat: Mehdi Qotbi reçoit une délégation du parlement andin    Dislog Group prend 70 % d'Afrobiomedic et développe son pôle santé    Al Barid Bank signe une année 2024 remarquable    Ghita Triki : "Résonance chromatique s'inscrit dans les programmes de visibilisation des cultures du Maroc et d'Afrique"    Installation de Mohammed El Habib Belkouch, Délégué interministériel aux Droits de l'Homme    Parlement andin: Le Maroc, «un partenaire clé»    Festival Mawazine: Will Smith et Kid Cudi en têtes d'affiche    Aziz Akhannouch, la tercera fortuna de Marruecos después de Benjelloun y Sefrioui (Forbes)    Zagora : Deux soldats tués lors d'une collision et un blessé    Maroc : CEMA bois de l'Atlas investit 150 MDH pour moderniser ses infrastructures    Algeria reports shooting down Malian Akinci drone    L'ONMT a opté pour Finn Partners pour organiser son roadshow en Amérique du Nord.    Real Sociedad : Inquiétude autour de Nayef Aguerd, sorti sur blessure    Sebta : 508 mineurs marocains accueillis en 2024    E-commerce : Entre engagements des Etats et défis des startups innovantes    Charles Thépaut, expert de la région MENA et de la lutte contre la désinformation au Quai d'Orsay, nommé premier conseiller à l'ambassade de France au Maroc    Ligue 1 : Hakimi et Ben Seghir nommés au prix Marc-Vivien Foé    Fraude fiscale : Carlo Ancelotti jugé ce mercredi    Le temps qu'il fera ce mercredi 2 avril 2025    CHU Ibn Rochd: les futurs dentistes poursuivent leur boycott des stages    Copa del Rey : Le Real finaliste au bout des prolongations d'un match fou !    1⁄2 Finale. Copa del Rey : Aujourd'hui, Atlético - Barça: Horaire ? Chaînes ?    1⁄4 de Finale. CCAF: Cet après-midi, la RSB est à Abidjan pour sécuriser le retour    Handball: Le Maroc accueille la 1ère édition du championnat du monde masculin U17    Milan : Hicham Lahlou, membre du jury du Salone Satellite Award 2025    La Dolce Vita à Mogador : Le Cinéma Italien à l'honneur à Essaouira du 23 au 26 Avril 2025    Commerce extérieur : le déficit continue de se creuser    L'Alliance des Etats du Sahel établit un droit de douane commun    Somalie. Les Etats-Unis ont le contrôle exclusif des bases aériennes et des ports.    Pardon et réconciliation au Niger, libération d'anciens hauts responsables politiques et militaires    Gabon. La campagne pour la présidentielle est ouverte    Un Festival pour promouvoir la cuisine ivoirienne    Trump menace Harvard de priver l'université de 9 milliards de dollars de subventions fédérales    Royaume-Uni : Le roi Charles reprend ses fonctions publiques après un traitement contre le cancer    Tamwilcom : Plus de 47,5 MMDH de financements en 2024    Aïd al-Fitr : Attention aux excès alimentaires après le jeûne !    L'Algérie revendique l'abattage d'un drone malien Akinci    Une chanson qui relie le passé au présent... Quand la voix de Hassan II rencontre les rythmes d'aujourd'hui    







Merci d'avoir signalé!
Cette image sera automatiquement bloquée après qu'elle soit signalée par plusieurs personnes.



The first Jew elected to the United States Senate was of Moroccan descent
Publié dans Yabiladi le 27 - 11 - 2019

David Levy Yulee is known in the United States as the first Jew to serve as senator. But in Morocco, he is the descendent of a renowned Jewish family that gained respect within the Moroccan Jewish community and served the royal court during the 18th century.
David Levy Yulee was the first American senator of Jewish descent. Born in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, the story of this American politician has exciting details to it that cross the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Morocco.
David Levy Yulee is the descendent of the Ibn Yulis, a Sephardi family that had a prosperous life in Morocco, serving the royal palace during the 18th century. While he was known in the United States and in Florida in particular as a congressman and attorney, David Levy Yulee's career is just another chapter of his family's history.
Indeed, the Yulee's history stretches back to the 15th century, when Jewish families expelled by Spain during the Reconquista were forced to head south, finding refuge in Morocco. And just like other Jews, David Levy Yulee's ancestors left the peninsula in 1492 to settle down in the North African Kingdom.
A renowned Jewish Moroccan family
Joining the Jewish community in Morocco, the Yulees succeeded in «moving up the socioeconomic ladder, eventually serving the sultanate as emissaries and merchants to foreign lands», wrote American writer Kurt F. Stone in his book «The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members» (Scarecrow Press, Dec 29, 2010).
Indeed, Stone recalls that David Levy Yulee's great-grandfather, Judah, was an «upwardly mobile Jew». The man was a successful international merchant and a «financial consultant of the sultan» of Morocco.
Furthermore, Judah's brother, Rabbi Samuel Ha-Levy ibn Yuli was also close to the palace. According to the same book, the rabbi served «as both counselor to Sultan Moulay Abdallah and political leader of the Moroccan Jewish community».
David Levy Yulee's grandfather was also a respected man within the Moroccan Jewish community and the royal court in Salé. According to Stone, Eliahu Ha-Levy ibn Yuli «served as one of seven Jewish undersecretaries of the treasury to Sultan Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdallah», who ruled Morocco from 1757 to 1790.
David's grandfather was one of the people who helped sign the United States' first treaty with a foreign country, namely Morocco. Stone recalls that Eliahu «played a major role in the first Barbary treaty signed with the United States in 1786», referring to the Moroccan–American Treaty of Friendship.
A grandmother captured by Moroccan pirates
The heritage of David Levy Yulee's Moroccan family has another interesting side story to it. According to a 1955 book by Allen Morris «The Florida Handbook», David Yulee's paternal grandmother was a British woman who was captured by Moroccan pirates. «[She] was the beautiful daughter of a Jewish physician living in England (…) she was on an English ship bound for the West Indies when captured by Barbary pirates», Morris claimed.
The latter wrote in his book that as «a young virgin», David's grandmother, Rachel, «was a prize for the slave market in Fez where she was bought for Jaboub ben Youli, grand vizier to the sultan of Morocco».
However, this account was too improbable to be true and was later debunked by Stone. The latter stated in his book that contrary to what was believed, the account of Rachel is «patently untrue».
He explained that «according to eighteenth century adventurer and poet Samuel Romanelli's firsthand account, Rachel actually hailed from Tangier and spoke excellent Spanish».
Eliahu and Rachel gave birth to their son Moses in Essaouira, who grew up to become the father of the first Jewish American Senator. Moses was forced to flee Morocco as a child with his mother after Sultan Mohammed died suddenly in 1790.
«Moses grew up and took his mother and a younger sister to the Virgin Islands, where he married Hannah Abendanone and became a prosperous merchant», recalled Orlando Sentinel. «In 1811, Hannah gave birth to David and a second son, Elias, and two daughters», wrote the same platform, quoting Charlton W. Tebeau's A History of Florida.
In the United States, where his father bought 50,000 acres of land near Jacksonville, Florida, David served in the Florida legislature and as a delegate to the Florida constitutional convention of 1838.
In the 1840s, he became the first Jewish man elected to the United States Senate. But during the Civil War, he joined the Confederate Congress and supported slavery.


Cliquez ici pour lire l'article depuis sa source.