Have You Heard of the Jewish Joan of Arc?

Several months ago, I spent Shabbat morning at a Los Angeles synagogue filled with Moroccan Jews. I was intrigued to meet a lovely young woman whose first name I had never heard before: Solica. 

On the walk home, I asked my friend, David Elfersi, who was born in Casablanca, about this unique name. “You’ve never heard of Lalla Solica?” he asked incredulously, pronouncing the name as “Suleika.” I soon learned that nearly every Moroccan Jew, whether in Morocco, France, Israel or the United States, knows the name and legacy of Solica, the 19th-century Jewish Joan of Arc of whom few outside of Morocco have ever heard. 

On the heels of Purim, which celebrates another courageous female heroine, Queen Esther, and in honor of International Women’s Day (March 8), I want to share with readers the incredible story of a teenager named Solica Hatchouel, also known as Sol HaTzaddikah (“the righteous Sol”) or Lalla Suleika (“holy lady Suleika”).

Solica was born in the northern Moroccan city of Tangiers in 1817, the daughter of Haim, a merchant, and Simha, a homemaker. Her father was known for hosting Talmudic study groups in his home, and this seems to have had a deep effect on his daughter; Solica identified strongly with being a Jew. 

There was something different about Solica. Among the Jews of Tangiers, she was known to be strikingly beautiful, but also modest and renowned for her acts of chesed, or kindness. The 19th-century Jewish explorer, Israel Benjamin Joseph, wrote of Solica, “Never had the sun of Africa shone on more perfect beauty.” But according to Joseph, her jealous neighbors were apt to complain, “It is a sin that such a pearl should be in the possession of the Jews, and it would be a crime to leave them such a jewel.”

According to one account, after a bitter fight with her mother, the teenager sought comfort in the courtyard of a young, devout Muslim woman named Tahra de Mesoodi, who was Solica’s friend and neighbor. Tahra de Mesoodi was so jealous of the beautiful Jewish teenager that she falsely claimed that she had converted Solica to Islam, but that Solica now wished to return to Judaism. This account is offered by a Christian scholar named Eugenio Maria Romero, who claimed he interviewed those who knew Solica, including her parents, for his 1837 book, “El Martirio de la Jóven Hachuel, ó, La Heroina Hebrea” (The Martyrdom of the Young Hachuel, or, The Hebrew Heroine”).

Another account claims that a wealthy Muslim boy (also a neighbor) wanted to marry Solica and that his family threatened her if she would not convert to Islam in order to marry him. When Solica rejected him, the boy accused her of having converted to Islam, only to renounce it (a crime punishable by death). 

Whether it was her friend or a desirous boy who accused Solica of apostasy, that single false accusation unleashed a deluge of devastation. 

Solica hid in the home of a friend, but when soldiers threatened to take her mother away, she turned herself in to the authorities. The teenager knelt before the (pasha) governor at court, who promised her that as reward for conversion to Islam, she would receive gold, silk and marriage to a desirable young man. But in his book, which was written only three years after the incident, Romero claims that the governor warned Solica of dire consequences if she did not convert: 

“I will load you with chains,” said the pasha. I will have you torn (apart) piecemeal by wild beasts, you shall not see the light of day, you shall perish of hunger, and experience the rigor of my vengeance and indignation, in having provoked the anger of the Prophet.”

Incredibly, Solica responded: 

“I will patiently bear the weight of your chains; I will give my limbs to be torn (apart) piecemeal by wild beasts; I will renounce forever the light of day: I will perish of hunger: and when all the evils of life are accumulated on me by your orders, I will smile at your indignation and the anger of your Prophet: since neither he nor you have been able to overcome a weak female! It is clear that Heaven is not auspicious to making proselytes to your faith.”

Flabbergasted, the pasha ordered Solica to be held in a dark dungeon, with an iron collar around her neck and chains around her wrists and feet. He then sent her to the town of Fez, where the matter of the Jewish girl fell into the hands of the sultan himself. For nearly a week, Solica was dragged barefoot behind a mule-drawn cart from Tangiers to Fez.

In Fez, the sultan suddenly found himself with a potentially explosive problem: Like other North African countries, Morocco was becoming more susceptible to invading Western powers; four years earlier, in 1830, France’s Napoleon III had conquered Algeria, and now, the ruler was threatening Morocco (France would eventually begin a campaign of conquest against Morocco in 1907 and the country would become a French protectorate in 1912).

Pardoning a Jewish girl who had been accused of apostasy and insulting Islam, he surmised, would likely set off a wholescale uprising.

The sultan knew well that Moroccan public opinion was a powder keg when it came to perceptions of his leadership as weak or cowering to external pressure. Pardoning a Jewish girl who had been accused of apostasy and insulting Islam, he surmised, would likely set off a wholescale uprising.

But unlike other Arab countries, Morocco had mostly provided a safe environment for its Jewish population, and Jews there lived under the sultan’s protection. He felt a personal responsibility to protect the girl, but as sultan, knew the lay of the land better than anyone else. 

Rather than decide Solica’s fate himself, the sultan deferred the task to the Islamic court. I understand the sultan’s real concerns over a violent uprising, but I believe he missed a tremendous chance to act with merciful leadership. By outsourcing Solica’s case to the cadi (the judge of a shari’a court), the sultan placed Solica’s fate into the hands of some of the most fanatic men in the land — [a judge and a court who applied the Koran to the letter. 

Not surprisingly, the court informed Jewish sages in Fez that if Solica did not convert, she would be executed and the greater Jewish community would be at risk. While Solica was in Fez, even the sultan’s son is said to have been in awe of her beauty. He also asked her to convert and marry him. She refused.

Some believe that as much as the hachamim worried for her safety and that of the Jewish population, they rejoiced in their hearts over her unbelievable dedication to Judaism. 

The hachamim (learned Jewish men) of Fez entreated Solica to comply, but she would not forgo her Jewish faith. Some believe that as much as the hachamim worried for her safety and that of the Jewish population, they rejoiced in their hearts over her unbelievable dedication to Judaism. The Islamic judge ordered the hachamim to obtain a (false) confession from the girl that she had converted to Islam but sought to return to Judaism. 

What happened next is one of the most powerful, but little-known events in modern Jewish history. Next week, I’ll share the conclusion of Solica’s story and the amazing effects that one teenager’s courage has had on a Jewish population for nearly two hundred years. If you’re tempted to Google the outcome, don’t. This is a story that merits a more detailed and soulful telling, rather than a mindless click. And that’s the beauty of the reader-columnist relationship: We are moved together and we learn together.  

See you next week.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning, L.A.-based writer, speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TabbyRefael.