As per Jewish law, on Saturday night, Jews in Morocco began inserting a section in their prayers for rain. Normally a custom marked only inside synagogues, this year’s prayers for precipitation came at the behest of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI who turned to the Jews to save his nation from drought. Remarkably, the prayers were answered within a few hours.

Moroccan media reported that the king’s request from the Jews came in response to an ongoing drought. The Moroccan king’s request coincided with Jewish custom in which Jews outside of Israel begin praying for rain on the night of December 4. 

Responding to the king’s plea, the Council of Israelite Communities in Morocco, or CCIM, published a statement in which it “invites worshipers to pray in all the synagogues of the kingdom” so that God may “spare our country and help His Highness the King.”

This came after the monarch sent out a similar request to all of the country’s mosques and churches to pray for rain on Tuesday at 10:00 AM. The Muslim prayer for rain in case of drought is called “Salat al-Istisqa” in Arabic. The source for this in the Koran (2:60) refers to Moses praying for water for the Jews (Exodus 15:25).

Heavy rain began falling in Casablanca on Sunday, just a few hours after Morocco’s Jews began praying for rain. The rain is still falling according to weather reports.

Jewish tradition describes prayers for rain as a stubborn challenge in the face of the divine. The Talmud (Taanit 19a) tells the story of Honi Ha’Me’agel (Honi who drew circles). One year, the rain did not fall in the winter season and a drought ensued. Honi drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and informed God that he would not move until it rained. When it began to drizzle, Honi told God that he was not satisfied and expected more rain; it then began to pour. He explained that he wanted a calm rain, at which point the rain calmed to normal rain.

Morocco’s call for prayers for rain comes amid a drought that has been affecting Morocco’s agriculture sector. The 2021-2022 season also experienced a dry agriculture year. The drought caused Morocco a drop of 67% in cereal production compared to the 2020-2021 season.

This mirrors a similar request made in 2014 by the Moroccan king. King Mohammed VI requested that the Jews pray for rain on January 11, one day after Muslim prayers for rain were held in the country’s mosques. The king made the request upon hearing predictions that Morocco would suffer a drought that year.

Rain reportedly began falling the day after the Moroccan Jews began praying. Rabbi Levi, a Chabad rabbi for the Jewish community in Morocco, told BeHadrey Haredim at the time that the king had made this request at least three times previously.

Sam Ben Shitrit, chairman of the Federation of Moroccan Origin, was quoted as saying that a warm relationship existed between the Moroccan monarchy and the Jews.

“The father of Mohammed VI used to turn to the rabbis of Morocco whenever a drought prevailed,” Ben Shitrit told Behadrey Haredim. “Rabbi Shalom Mashash [who served as Chief Rabbi of Morocco, and later as Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem until his death in 2003] was friends with Mohammed V, father of the present king. The king told the rabbi that before his father’s death, he called his son and told him that he must watch over the Jews for they are his lucky charm.”

The current Moroccan government normalized relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement involving the United States. 

Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community as Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. At its peak in the 1950s, Morocco’s Jewish population was about 250,000-350,000. Due to the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel and other nations, this number has been reduced to approximately 3,000. The vast majority of Moroccan Jews now live in Israel, where they constitute the second-largest Jewish community, with approximately half a million.

Notwithstanding their dwindling numbers, the affection and respect between Jews and the Kingdom of Morocco are still palpable. Under King Mohammed VI, Morocco has undertaken massive renovations of Jewish heritage sites, and every year rabbis and community leaders across the world are invited to the Throne Celebration held every 30 July in Rabat.