Sol Hachuel

Sol Hachuel (Hebrew: ‫;סוליקא חגואל‬

Arabic: ‫زليخة حتشويل‬, spelt "Solica
Hatchouel" on her tombstone, see photo,
Tangier 1817–5 June 1834,[1] Fez) was a
Moroccan Jewish heroine who was
publicly decapitated when she was 17
years old. She was executed in 1834[2] for
alleged apostasy from Islam—apparently
without ever having converted to Islam.[3]
According to The Jewish Encyclopedia
Hachuel "was a martyr to her faith,
preferring death to becoming the bride of
the sultan."[2] She is considered a tzadeket
(saint) by some Jews[4] and is also revered
by some Muslims. Jews call her Sol
HaTzaddikah ("the righteous Sol"), while
Arabs call her Lalla Suleika or Lalla
Zoulikha ("holy lady Suleika").[5]
 Sol Hachuel

‫סוליקא חגואל‬
‫زليخة حتشويل‬

Alfred Dehodencq, Execution of a Jewess in

Morocco, circa 1861; one of several versions
of this painting by the artist.

Born 1817
Tangier, Morocco

Died 5 June 1834

Fez, Morocco
Cause of death Decapitation

Burial place Mellah of Fez

Criminal charges Apostasy

Criminal penalty Capital punishment

Parents Chaim Hachuel

(father)
Simcha Hachuel
(mother)

Hachuel's sacrifice served as an

inspiration to painters and writers. One of
the most detailed accounts, based on
interviews with eyewitnesses, was written
by Eugenio Maria Romero. His book El
Martirio de la Jóven Hachuel, ó, La Heroina
Hebrea (The Martyrdom of the Young
Hachuel, or, The Hebrew Heroine[6]) was
first published in 1837 and republished in
1838. Hachuel's story was also the subject
of a song by Françoise Atlan on the CD
Romances Sefardies.[6]

In the 1860s, the French artist Alfred

Dehodencq painted multiple versions of a
work depicting the execution of a Jewish
woman in Morocco; one of these paintings
was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1861
under the title Exécution d’une juive, au
Maroc. Some scholars say that Dejodencq
was inspired by the story of Sol Hacueul,[7]
but the artist's friend and biographer,
Gabriel Séailles, states explicitly, in more
than one book, that Dehodencq was an
eye-witness to the execution he depicted,
which took place in Tangiers.[8][9]

Life
Hachuel was born in 1817 in Morocco, to
Chaim and Simcha Hachuel, and had one
older brother. Her father was a merchant
and Talmudist. He conducted a study
group in his home, which helped Sol form
and maintain her own belief in Judaism.
Sol's mother was a housewife.[10]
Allegations of conversion to
Islam
According to the account of Israel Joseph
Benjamin, a Jewish explorer who visited
Morocco in the middle of the 19th century,
"never had the sun of Africa shone on
more perfect beauty" than Hachuel.
Benjamin wrote that her Muslim neighbors
said that "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."[11]

According to Eugenio Maria Romero's

account, Tahra de Mesoodi, a devout
Muslim girl and Hachuel's friend and
neighbor, falsely claimed she converted
Hachuel to Islam; obtaining a convert is
considered a particularly pious deed
according to the Maliki madhhab.

Arrest and execution

Based on a single and probably false claim
of her conversion to Islam, Hachuel was
brought to the court and told to kneel
before the governor. If she promised to
convert, she was promised protection
from her parents, silk and gold, and
marriage to a handsome young man. If
she did not convert, the pasha threatened
her as follows:
 I will load you with chains...I
will have you torn (apart) piece-
meal 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.[10]

The girl responded:

I will patiently bear the weight

of your chains; I will give my
limbs to be torn (apart) piece-
meal 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.[10]

True to his promise, the pasha imprisoned

Sol in a windowless and lightless cell with
chains around her neck, hands, and feet.
Her parents appealed to the Spanish vice-
consul, Don José Rico, for help. He did
what he could to free the girl, but his
efforts were unsuccessful.[12]

Inscriptions on the headstone of Sol Hachuel in Morocco

The pasha sent Hachuel to Fez, where the
sultan would decide her fate. The fee for
her transfer (and eventual execution) was
to be paid by her father, who was
threatened with 500 blows of the
bastinado if he did not comply. Eventually,
Don José Rico paid the required sum
because Sol's father could not afford it.

In Fez, the Sultan appointed the qadi to

decide Sol's punishment. The Qadi
summoned the Jewish sages of Fez and
told them that unless Sol converted, she
would be beheaded and the community
punished. Although the hakhamim urged
her to convert to save herself and their
community, she refused. She was
convicted and sentenced to death, and the
qadi ruled that her father would bear the
cost of her burial.[13] The sultan's son,
astonished by Sol's beauty, also tried to
convince her to convert to Islam. She
refused.[11]

Sol was beheaded in a public square in

Fez.[14] Romero described the emotions of
the citizens of Fez on the day of the
execution: "The Moors, whose religious
fanaticism is indescribable, prepared, with
their accustomed joy, to witness the horrid
scene. The Jews of the city...were moved
with the deepest sorrow, but they could do
nothing to avert it[.]"

Apparently the sultan instructed the

executioner to wound Sol first, hoping that
the sight of her own blood would frighten
her into accepting conversion. But Sol
remained steadfast.

The Jewish community of Fez was

awestruck by Hachuel's heroism. They had
to pay for the retrieval of her corpse, her
head and the bloodstained earth for a
Jewish burial at the Jewish cemetery. She
was declared a martyr.[12][13]
The Jews called Hachuel "Sol ha-
Tzaddikah" (The righteous Sol), and the
Arabs called her Lalla Suleika (the holy
lady Suleika). Her grave became a place of
pilgrimage for both Jews and Muslims
alike.[15][16][2] Léon Godard explains the
custom in his Description et histoire du
Maroc:

Despite their intolerance,

Moroccans, however
contradictory this may appear,
do in some cases honour the
holy people of other religions, or
beg the aid of their prayers from
 those whom they call infidels. In
Fez, they render a kind of
worship to the memory of the
young Sol Hachuel, a Jew of
Tangier, who died in our time of
terrible torture rather than
renounce the Law of Moses, or
alternatively renew an
abjuration previously made, by
yielding to the seductions of
love."[17]

Her headstone has inscriptions in both

Hebrew and French. The French text reads,
"Here rests Mademoiselle Solica Hachuel
born in Tangier in 1817 refusing to enter
into [or 're-enter'; the French text reads
rentrer] the Islamic religion. The Arabs
murdered her in 1834 in Fez, while she
was torn away from her family. The entire
world mourns this saintly child."[15]

References

Citations

1. "‫( "סיפורה של סוליקה הצדקת‬https://www.ka

n.org.il/Item/?itemId=110564) . Israeli
Public Broadcasting Corporation (in
Hebrew). Retrieved 28 February 2022.

2. Schloessinger 1901-1906, V. 5 p. 381

3. Noy, Ben-Amos & Frankel 2006, p. 92-3.
 4. Vance 2011.
5. "Solika's Full Story | Hatchuel-Hatchwell" (ht
tp://hatchuel-hatchwell.net/solika/solikas-f
ull-story/) .

6. Romero 1838.
7. Sigal-Klagsbald 2012, p. 66-7.
8. Séailles 1885, p. 146-151, 185.
9. Séailles 1910, p. 112-116, 195.
10. Romero 1838, p. 18.
11. Benjamin 1863, p. 274-5.
12. Dickens, Ainsworth & Smith 1852, p. 89-
140.

13. Gilbert 2010.

14. Azoulay 2009.
15. Noy, Ben-Amos & Frankel 2006, p. 87.
16. Gitlitz & Davidson 2006, p. 134-5.
17. Godard 1860.

Sources

Azoulay, Yehuda (2009). "Suleika" (https://we

b.archive.org/web/20110716041353/http://
www.sephardiclegacy.com/pdf/July09.pdf)
(PDF). Sephardic Legacy. Archived from the
original (http://www.sephardiclegacy.com/pd
f/July09.pdf) (PDF) on 16 July 2011.
Retrieved 28 April 2010.
Benjamin, Israel Joseph (1863). Eight Years
in Asia and Africa, from 1846 to 1855 (https://
books.google.com/books?id=BdpAAQAAMA
AJ) . Israel Joseph Benjamin.
Dickens, Charles; Ainsworth, William
Harrison; Smith, Albert (1852). Bentley's
Miscellany (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=rXZHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA97) . Richard
Bentley.
Gilbert, Martin (2010). In Ishmael's House: A
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McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-1-55199-
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Gitlitz, David Martin; Davidson, Linda Kay
(2006). Pilgrimage and the Jews (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=Hc3XAAAAMAAJ) .
Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-98763-3.
Godard, Léon Nicolas (1860). Description et
histoire du Maroc (https://archive.org/details/
descriptionethi00godagoog) . Tanera.
Noy, Dov; Ben-Amos, Dan; Frankel, Ellen
(2006). Folktales of the Jews, Volume 1: Tales
from the Sephardic Dispersion (https://books.
google.com/books?id=vW-9E_fFSOUC&pg=P
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0-8276-0829-0.
Romero, Eugenio María (1838). El Martirio de
la jóven Hachuel, ó, La heroina hebrea (https://
books.google.com/books?id=1AoQfRleFTc
C) . Impr. á cargo de Diego Negrete.
Schloessinger, Max (1901–1906). "Fez". In
Singer, Isadore (ed.). The Jewish
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History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of
the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to
the Present Day. Vol. V. New York; London:
Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 380–381.
Séailles, Gabriel (1885). Alfred Dehodencq:
histoire d'un coloriste (https://catalog.hathitru
st.org/Record/100238189) . Paris: P.
Ollendorff.
Séailles, Gabriel (1910). Alfred Dehodencq:
l'homme & l'artiste (https://catalog.hathitrust.
org/Record/010362946) . Paris: Société de
Propagation des Livres d'Art.
Sigal-Klagsbald, Laurence (2012). Les Juifs
dans l'orientalisme (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=ALmFtgAACAAJ) . Skira
Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-127712-0.
Vance, Sharon (2011). The Martyrdom of a
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