In 1809, a Protestant missionary organization was established in London whose main goal was to convince Jews to convert to Christianity. “The London Society for the Propagation of Christianity among the Jews" eventually operated in 52 countries, employing hundreds of missionaries, and functioning as a well-oiled propaganda machine. The agents of the mission traveled around the world seeking opportunities to penetrate disadvantaged Jewish societies, in order to influence from within, mainly through free education for children and teenagers.
In 1875, representatives of the organization arrived in the city of Mogador in Morocco. The city was bustling with Jews, many of whom belonged to the wealthy economic elite and lived in the wealthy European neighbourhood of the city. So many of the city’s merchants were Jews that the port of Mogador remained closed on Shabbat. After morning prayer on Shabbat, Jewish families used to take a walk to the sea, where they bathed and spent the afternoon. Rabbi David Elkayam, the “Da Vinci of Mogador", was a renowned poet, sculptor, portrait painter and Torah scholar. From his home in the Mellah (the poor Jewish ghetto) he bemoaned the indifference of the wealthy Jews who ignored the economic distress of the thousands of Mellah Jews.
Rabbi Elkayam was not the only one who took note of the poor condition of the Mellah Jews. The representatives of the London Society for the Propagation of Christianity among the Jews decided to take advantage of the situation and open a free school for Jewish girls in the heart of the Mellah. The school was established in 1875 and claimed to offer an "excellent English education". Many poor Jewish families felt they had no choice but to send their daughters to the school, realizing that they were giving them an education that would improve their future at a terrible cost.
Meanwhile, on the wealthy European side of the city lived the legendary Corcos merchant family, which controlled an economic empire through the help of their sons, who lived overseas in European countries. The young Moses Corcos frequently travelled between Morocco and England for the family's business. In England, Moses met a Jewish woman named Stella Duran. Stella had been born in Brooklyn to a very privileged family: her father's family were rich tobacco merchants of Algerian origin, while her mother belonged to the legendary Montefiore family. The family had moved from the US to England, and Stella chose to pursue a career in education. At the age of 34, after managing a private school in London, she married Moses Corcos, and the couple set up home in the European district of the wonderful Mogador.
Shortly after moving to Mogador, Stella decided to explore the city, and she wandered, full of curiosity, through the poor Jewish neighborhood of the Mellah. She heard the angelic singing of girls emerging from one of the buildings, and was horrified to discover that these were Jewish girls, students of the mission school, in the midst of a Christian liturgy lesson. Her response was to set up a competing school for poor Jewish girls, thus establishing, in 1885, the first Jewish school for girls in Morocco. The school was called "Honor and Courage" (Kavod VeOmetz) and the principal was Stella herself. She decided that all studies would be conducted in English, while French, Jewish Arabic, and Arabic would also be studied. The level of education was very high, and students studied the same subjects as those offered at English private schools at the time: history, geography, grammar, literature, writing, translation, and poetry. Along with these theoretical subjects, and in consideration of the girls’ socio-economic background, the school also provided professional classes in sewing, embroidery and knitting. Stella established a Jewish theater at the school, where students staged annual productions; this was, in fact, the first Jewish theatre in Morocco. Stella charged no tuition fees to the impoverished families, many of whom were also helped with donated medicines and clothing through the school.
The school was so successful that within a few years the daughters of wealthy ambassadors and merchants began study at Stella Corcos’s school in the Mellah. Stella expanded her activities and was active in the public sphere as well, fighting for better conditions for the poor residents of the Mellah neighbourhood. At the height of her activity, she managed to meet with the king of Morocco, and offered him a plan to build new and cheap apartments for the Jewish ghetto.
Stella's husband supported and helped her in her endeavors until his sudden and untimely death in 1907. Stella was left with six children, whom she raised alone while successfully managing the school as well as her husband's businesses and properties. She maintained the school during periods of economic crisis, drought, epidemics, and even after the onset of French protectorate rule in 1912. Thanks to Stella Corcos, thousands of lower-class Jewish girls were able to maintain their Jewish identity while receiving an excellent Jewish education of creativity, tradition and excellency.
During the morning prayers in the synagogues this last Shabbat, Torah scrolls were scrolled all the way from the end back to the beginning, and the cycle started over with Parashat Bereishit – the story of the creation of the world. The story of the establishment of the first Jewish girls’ school in Morocco is a success story that began with a Jewish educator who saw a need and acted upon it. As we start reading the Torah anew from Bereishit, and as the new semester begins here at the Melton Center, Stella Corcos reminds us that the ability to initiate and start something new is one of the most prominent qualities of an educational leader.
The Melton Center wishes you an academic year of wonderful and brave beginnings!
In the photo: students of Stella Corcos' school. Courtesy of Sidney Corcos. This article used information from the blog and archive of the ANU Museum.