“We Became Religious to Protect Our Children”: Diasporic Religiosity among Moroccan Jewish Families in France and Israel

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

While I enjoyed reading this article and the vignettes, and I find the research of scholarly interest, the article still needs extensive work to become publishable. The research question should be more clearly stated within the first two pages, in addition to adding a short summary of the structure of the article for the sake of clarity.

Transliterations should be checked over and standardised.

The background discussion of education, laïcité, and the parallel experiences of French and Israeli Jews of Moroccan heritage should be strengthened.

It may also be of interest to read the very recent article by Shukrun/Moreno on Moroccan-Jewish identity in Montreal for some additional perspective. Ideally the author could thread one theoretical underpinning throughout the article so as to sharpen the argument. Also, I realise the interviews were in multiple languages (I suppose, French, Hebrew, and Darija) it would useful to clarify the languages when providing translated quotes. 

Part of the Chabad discussion should come at the beginning of the article and I would encourage the author to focus the discussion on the relevance of Chabad vis-a-vis Moroccan Judaism opposed to a more generic synopsis, in addition to discussing the role of Chabad in Morocco. In the beginning, it is assumed that the reader knows what Chabad is and its significance, perhaps a brief explanation is necessary

WHile I agree with the concluding statement "Accordingly, there exist 1246

“Israeli” and “French” ways of observing Moroccan Jewish practices congruent with their 1247

respective socio-political contexts and historical processes. " I believe this needs more substantiation drawing from the article. 

Below are some line specific comments:

Page 1, Line 30 - I know it's a quote but "Arabs in Morocco" should be contextualized as not all Moroccans define themselves as Arab.

Page 1, line 42 "he run inside" should be "he ran inside"

Page 4, line 159-161, the discussion of laïcité is awkward and needs more refinement

Page 5 line 252-253 - should be reworded, as the French/English usages don't quite work

Page 6 line 258, I think should read "Some AIU schools were jointly"

Page 7, the discussion of Chabad is a little problematic and needs more explanation and nuance. Also, Chabad was present in Morocco post 1945.

Page 8, it would be interesting to note whether the family lives over the green line for financial or ideological reasons.

Page 11, line 550 - "about his recent delegation" this needs to be reworded

Page 16, line 778 is unclear as to what they are contributing to.

Aicha/Aïcha/Aisha was spelled three ways, this should be standardized

page 16 line 815, you need a citation in regard to the 10 salads, this is not standard across Moroccan tradition.

page 17 line 835, "Orel (b. 1987), the eldest of his three sisters, asserted that his parents" needs to be reworded as he is not one of his three sisters

page 22 line 1113 - I am not sure how the authors substantiates that traditions thrive more in Israel thank other places in the Diaspora (ie. France, Montreal, USA?), I mean numerically this makes sense but the substantiation should be justified.

page 24 line 1220, the average read may not know who Simon Levy is, perhaps a few words about his relevance are important?

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Some language editing is necessary, small mistakes in grammar and syntax take away from the clarity of the article.

Author Response

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a superb article, one of the best I have seen in a while. The essay combines a number of methodologies and does so in an impressive manner. The author has taken an ethnographic study, which they present in a particularly compelling and interesting manner. At the same time, the essay depicts long range historical and sociological development. The article demonstrates an excellent knowledge of Moroccan Jewish history and culture as well as the social, demographic, and religious developments it has undergone in recent decades. The author is well acquainted with and contends with theories of secularization, as well as the recent studies on movements of return to tradition. The bibliographical list is well chosen and complete and the author relates to numerous studies in the body of the essay.   

I find the topic and the research important, instructive, and particularly well written.

Author Response

Thank you for your time and for your insightful feedback; I'm delighted that you found the topic both important and well-executed. Your comments are truly motivating, and they reinforce my commitment to maintaining high standards in my research and writing endeavors. 

Furthermore, I appreciate your recognition of my integration of theories of secularization and movements of return to tradition into the narrative. It was my intention to weave these theoretical frameworks seamlessly into the discussion, offering a nuanced understanding within the context of Moroccan Judaism. I'm pleased that this contributed to the depth and richness of the discourse. Once again, thank you for your thoughtful review.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article shows how “Moroccan Judaism” has changed across generations during the diaspora in France and Israel. These transformations become evident in the field of religious observance and respect for traditions, resulting in an “Israeli” and “French” Moroccan Judaism. The author's fieldwork enabled him/her to gather information from several members of five different Jewish families of Moroccan origin. Of the five informant families, three currently reside in Israel and two in France. The social backgrounds of the informants are quite different from each other, as are their professions.

 

Methodologically, the article is well structured, the theoretical basis is solid, the topic interesting and sufficiently original. The sources cited are not particularly up to date; in fact, out of 67 works cited, only 17 are post-2010 and only 1 post-2018. In particular, references concerning issues of diasporic identity and nationalism appear to be outdated.

 

The table in the appendix is somewhat difficult to read. Horizontal entries consisting of several rows are not very intuitive. It would be good to add a legend to make them easier to understand or to choose a different layout.

 

It would also be interesting to elaborate on some aspects that emerge from the table in the appendix but are not discussed in the text, namely: the political orientation of the informants; the languages spoken inside and outside the household; and lastly, the nationality held by the informants. Interweaving these data with those already discussed in the paper could reveal additional aspects not only related to the diasporic identity of informants and their families, but also to their “Moroccan Judaism”.

 

The conclusions could be made more incisive by highlighting what are believed to be the most innovative aspects and the most original and unprecedented findings of the research.

Author Response

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf