Although the origins and early evolution of the Jewish communities of Tarudant and the surrounding region are not documented, it can be asserted that Jewish rural or semi-rural communities existed at least since the eleventh century in Tarudant and its environs. In the mid-twelfth century, Abraham Ibn Ezra’s famous qina (elegy), which evoked the destruction of Jewish communities in North Africa and Andalusia under the Almohads, mentioned the Sous region; Tarudant was one of the largest communities there. Extant sources demonstrate that Tarudant, a town located 8…