Moroccan Jewish Festival ’Mimouna’ Gains Global Popularity Among Youth

And 3 for Global Mimouna. Since 2019, Sandra Yerushalmi, Shimon G. Levy and Yona Abeddour have initiated this project to share meaningful stories of celebration, coexistence and prosperity through Mimouna. For the 2022 edition, several events are planned: a Mimouna celebration in Casablanca organized by a Muslim student; a joint Iftar and Mimouna celebration in a Moroccan synagogue in the heart of Brussels; an interfaith Mimouna event in London; a Mimouna musical encounter in Jerusalem by Shahar Avakeshcha, a group that aims to preserve the poetry of the Moroccan Jewish community through the learning and singing of piyutim and bakashot (liturgical poems).

A festival of good neighbors celebrated in Washington, DC by Sephardic Heritage International DC and a family Mimouna celebration organized by the Arviv family in Ashkelon that will bring together Jews, Muslims and Christians in a family setting are also on the agenda for this edition. According to the explanations of Yona Abeddour, he and the two other co-initiators of the project provide a wide community with the necessary tools and ingredients to organize and host Mimouna celebrations in their own homes. "Thanks to our website [globalmimouna.org], we hope to have taken the first step to facilitate things, by sharing resources, recipes, music, history, etc," he told the Jerusalem Post.

"The idea is to encourage Jews and non-Jews, Moroccans and non-Moroccans, Sephardim and Ashkenazim to welcome Mimouna and open their doors and hearts to neighbors of all faiths and origins," added this young Moroccan who immigrated to Israel in 2016, stating that Mimouna continues to be a living history of how Jews and Muslims thrive and celebrate side by side in Morocco and other parts of North Africa. "This historical heritage of friendship and cooperation continues today and through Global Mimouna," he continued.

Mimouna has been very popular in recent years. "Mimouna, the Judeo-Moroccan festival, is gaining so much ground in areas populated by Moroccan Jews and Muslims, especially in European and North American cities. Mimouna continues to be celebrated in Rabat, Paris, Brussels, London, Washington, DC, etc. where Moroccan and Israeli diplomats are invited to participate in this unique celebration," said Yona Abeddour.