5/10/2012

May 10: a late messianic movement in north Africa

During a period of pogroms whipped up by the fervor of the First Crusade, a Moroccan scholar named Moses a-Dar'i predicted that the Messiah would arrive on Passover of 1127, freeing the Jews who lived under the Almoravid dynasty of Morocco. In fact this dynasty - which, though short-lived, controlled much of Iberia and founded the city of Marrakesh - collapsed in a rebellion in 1147.