Thursday, the day after Passover in Israel, marks Moroccan Jewry’s Mimouna commemorations and at least two important Torah-study seminars.
The traditional post-Passover Mimouna celebrations began with festive meals on Wednesday night, with large families gathering together to enjoy singing, traditional foods, and spiritual nourishment for the coming months. The central ceremony was held in Sderot, under the auspices of the army and with the participation of rabbis and other public figures from around the country. Tel Aviv’s Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Sderot Mayor David Buskila spoke, and the Pirchei Jerusalem and Pirchei Sderot choirs performed, together with the Sderot Orchestra.
Seminars: Living Faith in Yad Binyamin, starring movies by yeshiva students, and "Jews and Non-Jews in the State of Israel."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and President Shimon Peres took part in the Mimouna commemorations in the capital.
The festivities commemorate the hope and belief [“Emunah” in Hebrew, apparently related to the word “Mimouna”] that just as the Jewish People were redeemed on Passover, so too they will merit the Final Redemption "speedily in our days."
Another explanation given for the Mimouna is that because of the stringencies against eating chametz [leaven] on Passover, many people would not eat at each other's homes throughout the weeklong holiday. The Mimouna is therefore a chance to renew ties between families and neighbors, showing that the Jews are united in brotherly love.
The Mimouna was originally celebrated by Jews in North Africa, and was celebrated publicly in Israel for the first time in 1966. Two years later, it was celebrated by some 5,000 people in Sanhedria Park, which had just that year become part of modern-day Israel during the Six Day War. Since then, the Mimouna's popularity as a public event has grown each year, and is now celebrated nationally by hundreds of thousands of people. One of the main centers is in Sacher Park in Jerusalem.
Religious Jews, Secular Jews and Non-Jews in Israel
In the city of Ramle, the second annual Ramle Conference is underway, featuring lectures on the relationship between the Jewish people and the non-Jewish minorities living in Israel. The conference, entitled “Between Israel and the Nations,” is co-sponsored by the Kommemiyut movement and the religious core group that has settled in the mixed Jewish-Arab city and deals with such issues on a daily basis.
Among the lecturers are Yesha Rabbis co-Chairmen Rabbis Dov Lior and Zalman Baruch Melamed, as well as MKs Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) and Uri Ariel (National Union), Jewish Leadership leader Moshe Feiglin, and Ramle Mayor Yoel Lavie. Tzfat’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Uri Sharki of Rosh Yehudi, and Rabbi Uriyah Shachor of the core group are also on the roster.
The topics being covered emphasize the uniqueness of the State of Israel as a Jewish country, and the ramifications thereof on law, public policy, Jewish literature and art, and other areas. Rabbi Sharki’s lecture is entitled, “A positive attitude towards the State of Israel by the countries of the world – is this possible?”
Prof. Moshe Koppel of Bar Ilan University recommended that the government cede some of its religious-cultural authorities to the private sector. He asked rhetorically, "Does anyone doubt that if education and media were privatized, more people would choose religious education and nationalist programming than is currently provided?"
Professor Asher Cohen of Bar Ilan University said that the Religious-Zionist sector must take a more forceful position on issues important to it, citing as an example its success in thwarting a hareidi-religious attempt to take over Shemittah issues and its failure in the matter of conversions to Judaism that were approved by the Rabbinical Court of Rabbi Chaim Druckman.
Movies and Speeches on "Living Faith"
Not far away, in Yad Binyamin, the former Gush Katif flagship yeshiva Torat HaChaim is holding its third annual “Living Faith” seminar – starring movies produced by the yeshiva’s Jewish Media school.
Interspersed with these clips are speakers such as Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl (the former Rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem), on the topic of “The Heart and Mind in the Life of a Believer,” and Rehovot’s Chief Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, on “The Relationship Between Belief and Trust in G-d.” In addition, speakers such as Breslover Rabbi Shalom Arush and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, as well as a one-man show by former Israel Television actor Sharon Rejiniano, will be featured.