Azoulay

Common card · No. 366498

Azoulay, sometimes spelled Azoulai, Azulai or Azulay (Hebrew: אזולאי), etc. is a Sephardic Jewish surname common among Jews of Moroccan descent. It is assumed that the family name Azulai is a Hebrew abbreviation of the beginning of the biblical restriction on whom a priest may marry according to Leviticus 21:7, אזול״י and thus indicates priestly descent: Biblical Hebrew: אִשָּׁ֨ה זֹנָ֤ה וַחֲלָלָה֙ לֹ֣א יִקָּ֔חוּ, romanized: iššā zōnā waḥlālā lōʾ yiqqāḥu, lit. 'They shall not marry a woman defiled by prostitution'.. Despite this long-standing tradition, a member of the family Abraham Azoulay of Marrakesh (not to be confused with the Kabbalist, Abraham Azulai of Hebron) protested this association vehemently, going so far as to excommunicate those who propagated that acronym.. According to Mohamed Chafik, "Azoulay" (Arabic: أزولاي, Berber languages: ⴰⵣⵓⵍⴰⵢ) is a common Moroccan Jewish family name, and has the straightforward meaning "hairy, whose body is full of hair" in Berber languages.

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