Sol Hachuel

Solika "Sol" Hachuel (Hebrew: סוֹלִיקָא "סוֹל" חַג׳וּאֵל, romanized: Sōlīqā "Sōl" Ḥaǧūʾēl; Arabic: زليخة حتشويل, romanized: Zulaykha Ḥatshuwayl; Moroccan Arabic: لالة زليخة, romanized: Lālla Zlīkha, lit. 'Lady Zuleikha'; 1817 – June 5, 1834) was a Moroccan Jewish woman from Tangier who, according to later recounts, was executed by decapitation in Fez in 1834, at the age of 17, for apostasy after her Muslim neighbors testified that she had converted to Islam, which she refuted. Her story has been retold in a variety of languages and genres over the following century, with each retelling affected by its own language, cultural context, and historical circumstances. Though there are variations in the accounts, she is widely regarded as a martyr and tzadika among Jews and a saint among Moroccans—Jews as well as Muslims—celebrated and revered for her loyalty to her faith. Hachuel's self-sacrifice served as an inspiration to many painters and writers. One of the most detailed accounts, based on interviews with eyewitnesses, is from Spanish writer Eugenio María Romero. His book El Martirio de la Jóven Hachuel, ó, La Heroina Hebrea (lit. 'The Martyrdom of the Young Hachuel, or, The Hebrew Heroine') was first published in 1837 and republished in 1838. Hachuel's story was also the subject of a song by French musician Françoise Atlan on the record Romances Séfardies (lit. 'Sephardic Romances'). In the 1860s, 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 (Execution of a Moroccan Jewess). Some scholars say that Dejodencq was inspired by the story of Sol Hachuel; however, his friend and biographer, the French philosopher Gabriel Séailles, states explicitly in more than one book that Dehodencq was...