(RNS) — Growing up in Fez, Morocco, Yona Elfassi was always aware of the history of the city, which has been a center of culture, learning and spirituality since the ninth century. Home to great minds such as the 12th-century philosopher and jurist Ibn Rushd and his contemporary, the physician and codifier of Jewish law Maimonides, the city was shaped by Jewish, Arab, Amazigh, Spanish and French cultures. These influences left a deep imprint on Elfassi, 37. “In my family there were (many) different languages — Moroccan Arabic, French, Hebrew at the synagogue, and my dad also speaks Amazigh, Berber,” said Elfassi. Music, too, was a constant presence — from Andalusian to Flamenco, to Moroccan classic, to Moroccan chaabi popular, to Berber music,” he said. “We weren’t a family of professional musicians, but we were a family that lived with music.” As a Jewish resident of Morocco, Elfassi belongs to a tiny demographic, as 99% of Jews of Moroccan heritage today live elsewhere. After major emigrations in the 20th century, only around 2,500 Jews remain …