Netanyahu at Mimouna celebration
Netanyahu at Mimouna celebrationPR

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara visited the Mimouna festivities at the house of Aharon and Ilana Levy of Hadera.

Mimouna is a Moroccan Jewish festival which celebrates belief in both the past Jewish redemption from the Egyptians and the future Messianic redemption: The sages state that "In Nisan (the month in which Passover falls), the Jews were redeemed and in Nisan they will be redeemed in the future. "When Passover ends and the Jews are still not redeemed, the Moroccan Jews do not lose their faith. The word Mimouna, corresponding to the Hebrew word Emuna (faith), emphasizes this."

The Prime Minister said at the event that "this beautiful, colorful festival began as a festival of one community and has now become a festival for all the communities. It has a lot of love, welcome to guests, fellowship, warmth and joy."

"There's a lot to be joyful about," added Netanyahu. "I say this empirically because there are about 200 countries in the world and the people of Israel placed in a very high position in the happiness index, recently maintaining the 11th position on the list [ of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network-2017] . That means we have 10 more places to rise. There's lots to be happy about. Just look around and see the miracle which is the state of Israel. You see this isle of progress, of stability, of security and mutual responsibility."

Netanyahu added "You ought to know that world leaders are paying attention to this. I was recently in China with my wife Sara and the president of China, Xi Jinping, said to me: 'You know, we will soon have 1.4 billion residents.' and I told him 'we have just passed 8 million.' He then said 'but you are a world power, a world leader in technology and innovation.' He is right, but its not just innovation, not just ideology, its also curiosity, activity and initiative. It is ingrained in our psyche. Some African leaders asked me recently at the UN: 'Tell me, what is your secret? You are such a small country, small nation, yet you are so strong.' I said that our tree is a special tree. It sends branches up towards heaven in a continuous effort to grow and improve but it has very deep roots, in our land and in our heritage. The Jewish heritage has a combination of many different communities, a combination of faith and curiosity and this is what makes our economy, society and army strong and gives us a growing international standing.

"I never stop being amazed at the miracle of the rebirth of Israel, a people which was nearly wiped out has gathered its exiles, arrived here, built a wonderful country with soldiers, policemen and women and wives of security personnel who are keeping us going and bringing us to the wonderful future facing us. A happy festival to all," concluded the Prime Minister.