As a collector, one always hopes for a special find, preferably an important discovery. That rarely happens. In more than 50 years of collecting Judaica, the discovery of this special mortar can safely be called exceptional.
I discovered the mortar, with pestle, in May in one of the many small shops selling antiques and local and Middle Eastern folk art in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. I was sitting there drinking afternoon tea with a few antique dealers I have known for decades. A customer came in and returned a purchase. It did not seem like an object he could do anything with.
I was about to leave when I asked if I could see what the person returned. I saw a dark object, covered in patina through which Hebrew texts gleamed. I can imagine that it didn’t seem attractive at first glance.
Bronze oxidizes when exposed to the open air. In my long career as a Judaica collector, I have experienced that often. This oxidation naturally forms a dark, sometimes colorful outer layer that we call patina. Oxidation seals off the underlying metal and protects it; that is what happened to this object after it had remained untouched for many years.
Because it was so dark and the text barely legible, I initially didn’t realize that I was dealing with something special. However, my friend, who was sitting next to me, examined it more closely and assured me that it didn’t look like a recent engraving. “It can’t be a forgery,” concluded my experienced friend, “it is a very old piece.” I became increasingly enthusiastic and decided to buy the object.
Once home, the polishing transformed the object into an exceptional treasure. As always with a new purchase, and this time with the idea that I was dealing with something special, I was restless and immediately contacted a few Judaica experts. Together, we discovered that the mortar was engraved around 1805 in Marrakesh for a rabbi, an emissary from Jerusalem, who descended from a famous rabbinical family. The mortar itself is probably of a much earlier date. What a discovery!
THE MORTAR was donated in Marrakesh, Morocco, by Rabbi Josef Delouya to Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo from Jerusalem to bring it to the Holy City. His son, Rabbi Yitzhak Ben-Hezekiah Josef Kovo, became the chief rabbi in the Land of Israel from 1848 until 1854. Isn’t it remarkable to find a unique object that made the journey from Marrakesh to Jerusalem a few hundred years ago?
The shopkeeper in the Old City of Jerusalem told me that he had found it among old household goods a few years ago and that it had ended up in his shop that way. How special to discover such a historically important object by chance in 2026 in a small shop in the Old City, like a needle in a haystack. It is still possible.
A mortar with Hebrew inscriptions from Marrakesh
The story of this mortar begins in Marrakesh, where it was engraved around 1805. The mortar itself may be of a much older date. It is a sand-cast bronze object of small dimensions; height 8.5 cm., diameter 8.5 cm. For thousands of years, mortars and pestles were among the most vital and ubiquitous medical tools. Before the advent of mass drug manufacturing in the mid-20th century, nearly all pills, syrups, salves, and ointments were handmade by apothecaries and physicians using these tools.
A mortar, known in Morocco as a mehraz, holds a special place in Moroccan culture. These heavy bronze mortars originated in Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus) between the 10th and 15th centuries. Early examples can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Córdoba; compare this mortar from Marrakesh with the mortar in the Israel Museum, as described in this article.
After the Spanish Inquisition of 1492, when many Jews fled Spain and settled around the Mediterranean, this type of mortar was introduced in Morocco. They were traditionally used for the preparation of medicines, to grind fresh herbs, roots, whole spices, and garlic for natural remedies. These mortars are symbols of ancient medicine by physicians.
In Morocco, they are also used for ceremonial purposes, particularly within Jewish-Moroccan and Amazigh (Berber) traditions, in addition to their culinary and pharmaceutical use. It was believed that they warded off the “evil eye” and brought “bracha,” a blessing, into the home.
It was customary in Meknes, whenever a son was born into the family, to place a mehraz on the street-facing windowsill and pound incense into it before the circumcision, the brit milah. The sharp clanging sounds of grinding were believed to ward off vermin, while the fragrant smoke provided a protective, celebratory atmosphere leading up to the brit.
It also served as a sign to neighbors and passersby that a son had been born. The loud, rhythmic pounding of incense served as an audible announcement across the neighborhood that a male heir had arrived, allowing community members to offer early blessings. Women also used a mortar to pound cumin for the circumcision and henna, which they applied to the entire body of the child to strengthen the skin. The sound is heard from afar.
Marrakesh in the 18th and 19th centuries
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the period in which the story of this mortar takes place, Jewish life in Marrakesh centered around the mellah, the Jewish quarter, which had been founded in the 16th century after the Spanish Inquisition. While Fez and Meknes grappled with political unrest and poverty, Marrakesh remained an important economic center, with flourishing yeshivas, Talmudic studies, and as a major meeting place for Kabbalists.
Jews lived under the legal status of dhimmi (protected religious minority) under the ruling Alawite dynasty. This status offered physical protection but imposed strict, often humbling social boundaries. The Jewish population was legally confined to the mellah, a walled-in quarter located close to the royal palace, so the sultan could offer swift protection.
While the gates were securely locked at night, the mellah functioned as a bustling city-within-a-city, rather than a completely isolated ghetto, as Muslims frequently entered to do business. When leaving the protection of the mellah to enter the Muslim medina, castles, or palaces, Jews were legally compelled to remove their shoes and walk barefoot.
This rule was heavily enforced during times of heightened political tension. Despite societal restrictions, the community retained an immense degree of legal self-governance. They operated their own bet din (rabbinical court) to handle internal civil and religious matters. The community was led internally by a shaykh al-Yahud (Jewish chief, or nagid) who acted as the primary liaison to the Moroccan government.
The situation changed dramatically under Sultan Moulay Mohammed ben Abdallah, who ruled in the latter half of the 18th century. He stabilized the economy and leveraged Jewish financial circles to foster international trade. Wealthy Jewish elites rose to the prestigious status of tujjar al-sultan (sultan’s merchants), dominating trades in textiles, precious metals, and diplomacy.
While the Jewish community faced physical and economic turbulence, its intellectual life thrived. Marrakesh officially eclipsed northern cities like Fez and Meknes to become Morocco’s premier rabbinical center. The city’s yeshivot flourished. Marrakesh became a major regional hub for the rigorous study of the Talmud and Kabbalah.
Intellectual and spiritual life was led by prominent, highly influential rabbinical families, most notably the Corcos and Pinto families. The 18th century solidified the unique Moroccan Jewish practice of venerating local tzadikim. The rural areas surrounding Marrakesh boasted the highest concentration of Jewish saint tombs in the country. Strikingly, local Muslims frequently joined their Jewish neighbors at these tombs to pray for rain or relief.
Dedication to Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo from Jerusalem
As engraved in the object, this mortar is given in Marrakesh to Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo. He is told to bring the object to Jerusalem, a sign of the longing of Jews in the Diaspora for the Holy City of Jerusalem. Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo was a shadar, an acronym for shaliach de’rabanan, meaning “emissary of the rabbis.” He was a prominent kabbalist and came from Jerusalem to visit Morocco on a fundraising mission around 1805.
He received an inscribed notebook from a local donor in the city of Safi, also known as Asfi, a major port city in western Morocco. During his stay in Sefrou, a city in central Morocco situated in the Fès-Meknès region, he complained that the community had not treated him with the respect due to him as a representative of the Holy City of Jerusalem.
In Marrakesh in western Morocco, he was presented with the mortar that bears his name and the cities Marrakesh and Jerusalem. The mortar can be dated to approximately 1805, around the time when Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo came to Morocco. He died in 1822 during a later mission.
Historically, these “emissaries of the rabbis” were official rabbinic envoys sent from the Land of Israel to Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Their primary mission was to solicit charitable donations (halukka) to support the survival of yeshivas, orphanages, and the impoverished Jewish population in the Holy Land. Because travel was dangerous, these emissaries carried official letters of certification, ktavei shadar, signed by leading rabbis, which authenticated their identity and mission to donors.
Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo was born into the esteemed Kovo family, a prominent lineage of Sephardi rabbinic scholars tracing their origins back to Italy before settling in Salonika and the Land of Israel. He was the father of Rabbi Isaac Kovo (1770-1854), who served as the Rishon le-Zion, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem. His family members served as leading rabbis at the renowned Beth El Yeshiva of kabbalists in Jerusalem.
As clarified in the inscription, the mortar was crafted in Marrakesh by Josef Elmash’ali. Rabbi Josef Delouya wrote the text. It is engraved on the rim of the mortar and on all eight sides, and it is dedicated to Rabbi Hezekiah (Hizqiyah) Josef Kovo to bring the mortar to the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Josef Delouya was a Moroccan tzaddik and kabbalist who is historically associated with Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains region. The Delouya family, the old spelling was De Loya, from the city of Loya in Navarra, had a distinguished Sephardi lineage of Spanish origin that settled in Marrakesh following the 1492 expulsion from Spain.
For generations, they became prominent leaders, merchants, and Talmudic scholars. Rabbi Josef Delouya is remembered today through his hilula, an annual anniversary of a righteous person’s passing. His tomb is located near Ouirgane in the Atlas Mountains, south of Marrakesh. It serves as a major pilgrimage site where Jewish travelers from Morocco and across the globe gather to pray, light candles, and seek blessings.
The Hebrew engraving on the object translates to:
This is the craftsman, Josef al-Mas’ali of the city of Marrakesh, may the Most High establish it, Amen.
This mortar is meant for Jerusalem, the Holy City,
May it be rebuilt and established speedily in our days
And it belongs to the learned Sage, the Shadar [the Rabbinic Emissary] the Honorable Rabbi Hizqiyah Josef Kovo, known as Bachar, may God protect him and grant him life
And the name of the craftsman, who made it in the city of Marrakesh
May the Most High establish it, Amen, his name is
Josef al-Mashali, may the Lord protect him and sustain him.
And the author is Rabbi Josef Delouya.
The extended Kovo family
Over the centuries, the Kovo family, also spelled as Covo or Cobo, produced highly influential community leaders, chief rabbis, like Jacob Hananiah Kovo in 1888, and renowned scholars. The family was incredibly expansive; branches of the community even branched out from Salonika to other parts of the Ottoman Empire, such as Monastir and Vidin in Bulgaria. The family originally traces its roots back to Covo, a town near Milan in Italy, before settling in Salonika following the Spanish Inquisition. The family provided the community with an uninterrupted chain of spiritual leaders, including six chief rabbis over 300 years.
A genealogical and historical breakdown of the Kovo family dynasty includes: the son of Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo, Rabbi Yitzhak Ben-Hezekiah Josef Kovo (1770-1854), born in Salonika, and he eventually immigrated to Jerusalem and later succeeded Chaim Abraham Gagin to serve as the chief rabbi of the Sephardi community in Ottoman-controlled Palestine from 1848 until his death in 1854.
A Moroccan-Jewish mortar in the Israel Museum
So far, I have traced only one other bronze cast mortar from Morocco with a Hebrew inscription in a public collection. It is described by the former curators of the Israel Museum, Aviva Muller-Lancet in La vie juive au Maroc, Jerusalem 1973, and Chaya Benyamin in The Sephardic Journey 1492-1992, Yeshiva University Museum, New York 1992. Benyamin mentions that it is dated to the second half of the 16th century. If this is correct, it makes it the oldest known Jewish object from Morocco.
According to the inscription, this mortar was used for the preparation of medicine. It was the property of a Jewish physician, a member of a family of physicians whose grandfather was among the exiles from Spain.
The Hebrew inscription is: I am Josef, son of Dan, son of the greatest physician among the exiles from Spain, Azaria, son of the holy Hushiel, physician.
Bond with Jerusalem
The extraordinary mortar from Marrakesh, bearing a text written by Rabbi Josef Delouya of Morocco and dedicated to Rabbi Hezekiah Josef Kovo of Jerusalem, traveled from Marrakesh to Jerusalem in the first decade of the 19th century.
The text reflects the desire of the Jewish community in Marrakesh to emphasize the bond with the Holy City of Jerusalem, as is also written on the mortar. It is the ultimate wish of Jews in the Diaspora to return to the Holy Land and the Holy City when the Messiah comes.
This remarkable object has survived all these years. A merchant in a shop in the Old City found the mortar among old household goods, and thus it ended up in his shop, unaware of its important history. How special it is to discover in 2026, by chance, in the Old City of Jerusalem, such a Jewish historical object with such a rich history. This object tells us a wealth of information about Jewish life in earlier times.
Thank you to Shay Mendelovich, who transcribed the text on the mortar and provided information on the Kovo family.
The writer, born in Amsterdam in 1946, is an International Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, author, photographer, and collector of Judaica. He lives with his wife, Hanna, in Jerusalem.
