Moroccan Jews Gather in Rabat for Annual Hiloula Celebration of Rabbi Davila

This ritual is often eagerly awaited by the Jewish community, who take the opportunity to experience powerful moments of prayer, piety and meditation. In a statement to the press, the vice-president of the Israeli community of Rabat-Salé, Henri Abikzer, stressed that this annual event allows them to celebrate the anniversary of the venerated Saint Rabbi Eliezer Davila, who died and was buried in the Israeli cemetery of Rabat in 1761, according to Map.

It is "an annual occasion that brings together hundreds of Jewish pilgrims from here and elsewhere to meet and reaffirm their feelings of belonging to Morocco, in a spiritual atmosphere," he added.

In addition to religious songs and prayers, "the audience also expressed its unwavering attachment to its ’Moroccanness’ and to the glorious Alaouite Throne, welcoming the High Solicitude with which King Mohammed VI surrounds the members of the Jewish community". Prayers were also said for the rest of the souls of the late Mohammed V and the late Hassan II.

During this religious ceremony, supplicatory prayers were made to implore the Almighty to avert the drought in Morocco. This religious event was also marked by musical interpretations of patriotic songs and others from the popular and Judeo-Moroccan musical repertoire, in an atmosphere of celebration, brotherhood and openness.