Career
Zafrani is particularly noted for having collected and preserved much or the music and oral poetry of the Jews of Morocco. He recorded, and thereby preserved, the melodies of Rabbi David Buzaglo (1903–1975), widely acclaimed as the greatest paytan of his time. Zafrani, was also a leading scholar on the history of the Jews of Morocco.
His best-known book is 2000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco (translated and published in an English edition).
Zafrani began his career as a teacher and became a school inspector in charge of the teaching of Arabic in the Alliance Israélite Universelle schools in Morocco. Later, Zafrani moved to Paris, France, where he was a professor and head of the Department of Hebrew language and Jewish civilization at the University of Paris.
Is a prize given to creators of work of literary, scientific or artistic merit by the Institut Universitaire Elie Wiesel.