Jewish community of Tétouan

The Jews of Tetuan are members of a community founded by Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal to Morocco, along with Muslims who had also been expelled from the Iberian Peninsula. They were distinguished by the characteristics of the Spanish-Andalusian culture that they brought with them: language, manners, appearance, dress, education and occupation. The community was called "Jerusalem de Maroco" - Jerusalem of Morocco, or "Little Jerusalem." It was served by renowned rabbis and dayanim, and the synagogues had a large collection of ancient holy books.

The Jews of Tetuan, like the rest of the Jews of northern Morocco, used to speak a specifically Tetuani dialect of Ladino called Haketia, which combines words from Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic.