The Mellah of Salé is exemplary in more than one respect. This place was home to an important dynasty of rabbinic judges (dayanim), all descended from a single line, that of the Encaoua. This line, originating in Spain, goes back to the 14th century, and even earlier according to the family tree that appears on the encaoua.org website. The representatives of this line traveled across all of North Africa, from Algeria to Morocco, and had numerous contacts around the Mediterranean basin.
The Mellah of Salé is exemplary in more than one respect. First of all, this place was home to an important dynasty of rabbinic judges (dayanim), all descended from a single line, that of the Encaoua. They exercised great influence over their coreligionists of Moroccan Judaism and, more generally, over all those of Sephardic Judaism. Secondly, thanks to the recognition of the spiritual value that the representatives of this line never ceased to embody and to the respect toward the Muslim religion that they never ceased to show, the Mellah of Salé was the scene of an understanding, which one may call harmonious, between Jews and Muslims. Not only did the respective dignitaries of the two religions meet frequently in Salé, but moreover the local Muslim and Jewish populations deeply respected one another before the establishment of the French protectorate in 1912. Thirdly, the Mellah of Salé is remarkable in that it was the place where an abundant Jewish literature blossomed, of diverse nature — theological, liturgical, legal, and poetic — and whose value is still widely recognized today.
In the 14th century, the first Jewish quarter was built in Fès, separated from the rest of the population. This quarter was erected on a former salt market, a product called millah in Arabic. This is probably the origin of the word Mellah used to designate the Jewish quarters in Morocco. Why did the Jews have to reside in a specific place relative to their Arab fellow citizens? The question is still debated today. Some claim that the Muslim rulers set up a distinct place of residence for the Jews to satisfy the demand of the Muslim population, exasperated at living with non-Muslims. According to this explanation, the mellah would reflect a discriminatory dimension. Other explanations advance the argument that the Mellah had a protective intent, serving as a shelter for the Jewish population in order to protect it from possible attacks.
Whatever the explanation for this assignment of the Jews to a specific residence in the cities of Morocco, it is important to note that the assignment concerned only the dwelling place of residence, and not the place where professional relations were conducted. The Jews could practice their professions outside the Mellah. It is perhaps in this dual conjunction — residence assignment and freedom of professional movement — that lie the particularities of Jewish life in Morocco, before the establishment of the French protectorate in 1912. It should be noted, however, that some Jews, those who did not accept living in places separate from the rest of the population, preferred to convert to the Muslim religion. Traces of this are found in the fact that their descendants were distinguished by their accent and their family names of Jewish origin.