Aryeh Mahlouf Deri was born in Meknes, Morocco, to Esther (née Azougi) and Eliyahu Deri. His parents lived in one of the new wealthy districts of the city, and were influenced by the French culture. His father owned a successful business of tailoring, and his family were traditional Jews, but not Orthodox. When Aryeh turned 5, he began to learn in Ozar Hatorah, a school that combined secular and Orthodox Jewish religious education. In 1968, as he turned 9, his family made Aliyah and settled in Bat Yam. Deri attended a religious boarding school in Hadera. In 1973, he began to study at Porat Yosef, a leading Sephardic yeshiva in Jerusalem. In May 1976, he transferred to Hebron Yeshiva, where he received his rabbinical ordination. In 1981, he married Yaffa Cohen. The young couple were financially supported by a couple of Holocaust survivors from New York who Yaffa knew.