Hatchwell, Sol
HATCHWELL, SOL
HATCHWELL, SOL (or Suleika ; 1820–1834), Jewish martyr of Morocco, where she is known as "Sol ha-Ẓaddikah." After Sol Hatchwell had visited Muslim friends in her native Tangier, two Moors testified that she had recited the Shahāda (Muslim declaration of faith). In spite of her vigorous protests, she was henceforth, according to Muslim law, considered a Muslim. Her case was brought before the sultan of Morocco, who ordered that she be brought from Tangier to Fez. Despite alternating offers of honor and threats, she refused to renounce Judaism. Condemned to death, she was publicly beheaded in Fez. For a long time, her martyrdom remained a historical topic, inspiring numerous Jewish and non-Jewish authors. The authors of legends, novels, plays, and kinot adopted the story of the "Jewish heroine" as their theme; the painter Dehodencq depicted her in his painting known as "The Torment of the Jewess." Her tomb in the cemetery of Fez became the site of pilgrimages of both Jews and Muslims.
bibliography:
H. de la Martinière, Souvenirs du Maroc (1919), 8; L. Godard, Description et histoire du Maroc (1860), 83–84; L. Voinot, Pèlerinages judéo-musulmans au Maroc (1948), 50–51; L. Brunot and E. Malka, Textes judéo-arabes de Fès (1939), 213–7; Attal, in: Sefunot, 5 (1961), 507; D. Corcos, in: jqr, 55 (1964/65), 56; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 304f.
[David Corcos]