Azoulay (Hebrew: אזולאי), sometimes spelled Azoulai, Azulay, Azulai, Zouela, etc. is a Sephardic Jewish Surname, common among Jews of Moroccan extraction.
The source of the name is debated. The name has a Berber form, and has been explained as referring to the Tazoulait region near Errachidia, thus meaning 'from Tazoulait'. It has also been linked to the Berber word 'izli', meaning 'good'. Some have linked it to the Spanish phrase 'ojos azules' (blue eyes). Some linguists argue that it is an acronym of a passage from the bible "They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane" (Leviticus 21:7), indicating that the Azoulay name-bearers are members of the Cohen tribe.
Azoulay is the name of a notable Jewish family descended from Spanish exiles who, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and following decades, settled in the city of Fes, Morocco. The family includes:
There's a house down on the corner
That we always used to talk about
Never had the guts to go inside
Not even on a dare
Boarded up and creepy
Scary eyes looked out upon a sleepy town
Fascination kept us guessin'
Why the sign read to beware?
We always knew just
What would hit the fan
If we got an up close look
At the boogie man
Shadows on the wall
Voices in the hall, oh, yeah
There's more than just a mouse
In the Zavelow House
Zavelow, Zavelow, Zavelow, yo
I could look inside the window
If I jumped upon my trampoline
Could've sworn I saw Hannibal Lichter
With a hatchet and a head
Not the kind of place you'd see
In Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Unless they did an expose
On the night of the living dead
But with a pretty girl
To hold my hand
Could've got an up close look
At the boogie man
Yeah, shadows on the wall
Voices in the hall, oh, yeah
There's more than just a mouse
In the Zavelow House
Oh, Zavelow, woah
But with a pretty girl
To hold my hand
Could've got an up close look
At the boogie man
Yeah, shadows on the wall
Voices in the hall, oh, yeah
There's more than just a mouse
In the Zavelow House
Yeah, shadows on the wall
Voices in the hall, oh, yeah
There's more than just a mouse
In the Zavelow House
(Zavelow, Zavelow, Zavelow)