Lalla Salma

We didn't think we'd get a JONJ profile out of our trip to Morocco (Oh, who are we kidding! Of course we would get a JONJ profile out of our trip to Morocco!), considering that its once-large Jewish community has pretty much immigrated to Israel in its entirety. And if we're gonna get a JONJ profile, it would probably be of some historical Jew the tour guide would mention to make sure the Jewish history of the country was also covered...

Well, this profile is not of anyone historical, and not even of a Jew, but once we learned that Morocco currently (sort of, we'll explain) has a Jewish (very sort of) princess, we would have to write about her, right?

Her name is Princess Lalla Salma, and, in other countries, she might be called queen, for she is married (sort of) to the current king, Mohammed VI. (Before you ask, he only has one wife... or perhaps none. We'll get to that soon enough.) No, Lalla Salma is not Jewish! But research has shown that her family, Bennani, originated as Jews in the old capital Fez, but became bildiyyin (Jewish converts to Islam; sort of like Moroccan marranos) centuries ago.

So what's with the sort ofs? Well, nobody knows if Lalla Salma and the king are still married! She has disappeared from the public eye, but there has been no official confirmation. The two are definitely separated, but no one knows for sure what the real deal is.

Maybe she went back to her real job, software engineering? Now that's a viable profession! Sort of...