Students at Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford lend a hand preparing the fare for the Moroccan-Jewish Mimouna celebration.
Shaliah Sael Abecassis makes sphinges for the Moroccan Mimouna feast at Temple Har Shalom in Warren.
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April 16, 2009
Solomon and Haviva Abecassis gave up their old life in Morocco at one day’s notice to make aliya. When they started out for Israel, they left everything behind — a home and two businesses and virtually all their possessions.
But what they did bring with them were their traditions.
Some of those Moroccan ways have taken root in Israel, becoming an integral part of Israeli culture, celebrated by people from all kinds of backgrounds. And now, thanks to their grandson and the passion they shared with him, Jews in New Jersey have discovered these traditions, too.
Sael Abecassis is the Israeli emissary based this year with the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey. In that role, he has been teaching Israeli culture and history to children and adults throughout the community. Some months ago, he said, he began thinking of ways to introduce the holiday of Mimouna — the beloved Moroccan celebration that takes place the evening after the last day of Passover.
With plans already in place for commemorations of Yom Hashoa and Yom Ha’atzmaut shortly after Passover, he opted for the next best option — just shifting the celebration and holding Mimouna before the seders.
On March 29 at Temple Har Shalom, the Reform congregation in Warren, and on April 5 at Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim, Cranford’s Conservative synagogue, he led a program that touched all senses: cooking Moroccan sphinges or doughnuts, belly dancing lessons, and painting wooden hamsot, hands of good fortune.
He also told the participants the story of his grandparents’ migration, and how they grabbed their chance to leave Marrakesh and go up to Israel. “That was how much love they had for Israel,” Abecassis said. “Things had gotten worse after 1948 [and Israel’s independence] but they still had a good life. But when the shaliah came to their door and asked if they wanted to go, they said ‘yes’ at once.”
They took their five children, one just two weeks old. Despite a request to be placed in Haifa or Jerusalem, near family members, they ended up in Sderot. They settled there, had another three children, and adopted yet another. The family still lives there.
These days, all over the country, but especially in places with communities from North Africa, holidays like Mimouna draw big crowds. Abecassis said that after the austerity of Passover, when many people stay at home rather than risk eating hametz, for Mimouna, “families open their doors and everyone takes to the streets, eating wherever they are welcomed in, feasting on sweets and pastries, and partying often until dawn.”
Haviva and Solomon Abecassis, grandparents of shaliah Sael Abecassis, in a photograph taken in Morocco before their hasty departure for Israel.
Students at Temple Har Shalom taste the fruits of their labor, Moroccan doughnuts they made as part of a celebration of the Moroccan festival of Mimouna.
‘Hard to match’
Sharon Friedman, director of education at Har Shalom, wrote in an e-mail, “The Mimouna celebration was designed for our fourth-graders (who are doing an in-depth study of the land of Israel) and their families…. It was fabulous fun! The belly dancing and cooking were special favorites. Many kids asked if they could ‘do it again next year.’”
Tamara Ruben, the director of the Beth-El Mekor Chayim religious school, said the program at the temple was outstanding. “Having been to some Mimouna celebrations in the past, I have to say that they are really hard to match,” she said.
She has made a point of introducing her students to the traditions of different Jewish communities and teaching about their background, she wrote in an e-mail. “The story of Jewish communities indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa is not widely known and tends to be denied or played down, often for political reasons. So at our religious school we find opportunities to familiarize our students with these exotic Jewish communities.”
The origins of Mimouna are a bit obscure, she said. “Some link it to the birthday of Rabbi Maimon, the father of Maimonides; others explain that it is a festival of emuna (faith) or mammon (wealth) because of the phonetic similarity between the words. The traditional holiday greeting fits right in: ‘Tarbakhu u-tsa’adu’ — ‘May you have success and good luck.’”
Whatever its roots, there was no doubt about how much local families enjoyed learning about Mimouna. Abecassis said he hopes it becomes a local tradition. His term in the Central community ends in September, but, he said, he would be delighted to hear next year that it is being celebrated again even in his absence.
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