Sol Hatchouel Pictured above is the grave of Sol Hatchouel, a Moroccan Jewish girl who was charged with apostasy and beheaded at the age of 17. Located in Fez, the grave and shrine remain as a testament to Solica, as she is referred to, and her martyrdom, earning her the name "Sol HaTzaddikah" (The Righteous Sol) in Hebrew. Solica was born into a Moroccan Jewish family in Tangier in 1817 and was beheaded in Fez in 1834. The recounting of events leading to her death varies greatly among different cultures and religions. According to Jewish tradition, Solica was falsely accused of having converted to Islam by a Muslim friend of hers. When arrested and brought before the sultan, who asked her to accept Islam as her religion, Solica refused, stating that she was born Jewish and wished to die Jewish, and as a result was sentenced to death for apostasy, despite never having officially converted to Islam. Other versions of the events suggest that the sultan was enamored with Solica's immense beauty and attempted to convert her and take her as a bride. Enraged by her rejection, the sultan sentenced her to public decapitation. Regardless of how Solica's arrest and death sentence came to be, her execution served as an inspiration to the Jewish community of Fez, who were moved by her courage in refusing to give up Judaism. In Tangier and other Northern Moroccan cities, Jewish communities composed songs about Solica in Ladino to serve as cautionary tales to young Jewish girls. The inscriptions upon Solica's grave are in French and Hebrew and read as follows: French "Here rests Mademoiselle Solica Hachuel born in Tangier in 1817. Refusing to enter into the Islamic religion, the Arabs murdered her in 1834 in Fez. Torn away from her family, everybody mourns this holy child." Hebrew "The gravestone of the righteous Soliqa Haguel, a virgin maiden who greatly sanctified the Name of Heaven and died a martyr in the glorious city of Fez in the year 5594 (1834) [and is] buried here. May the Lord protect her. May her merit protect us. May it be G-d’s will."
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