Solika

Every Jewish Hatchuel has the story of Solika HaTzaddikah in their oral family history. Every family that has the story of Solika HaTzaddikah in their oral history is tied to the Hatchuel family in some manner. Many versions of her story exist, as well as scholarly works that continue to be generated. The basic story is that Solika, aged somewhere between 14 to 17, was accused of converting to Islam and when she denied this and stated she was a Jew, she was convicted of apostasy (denying the conversion or converting back), punishable by death. Her beauty and her demeanor complicated the situation as important men were smitten by both. They tried to save her by begging her to renounce her Judaism and stay Muslim or re-convert to Islam and marry them. She denied all. She even rejected the pleas of the heads of the Jewish community who thought that her uncompromising position would negatively impact the Jewish community and its relations with the surrounding Muslim communities. Solika remained resolute to the end. Her famous line is “I was born a Jew, I will die a Jew, Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad.” Her story has become a legend told by the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities. Her shrine has become a sight of pilgrimage for Jews and Muslims, especially for women seeking help for ill children or barrenness. The motifs of apostasy, assimilation, belief, conviction, and external threats to the Jewish people continue to captivate and arouse the emotions of audiences around the world, far beyond the borders of the Fez cemetery in which she is buried.