JooTube.TV: Passover & Mimouna - the journey to Israel, America, and now seders via teleconference

Israeli Pres. Reuven Rivlin attends a Moroccan Mimouna dinner in 2017
(Photo: Flash90 courtesy BreakingIsraelNews.com)

Mimouna, the traditional festival celebrated by North African Jews on the last day of Passover, is often overlooked when discussing that Jewish holiday of liberation.

David Suissa, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal (of L.A.) writes of this year's Mimouna in the context of coronavirus sequestration:

On Thursday night, as sundown falls on the holiday of Passover, Sephardic Jews everywhere will celebrate the centuries-old tradition of Mimouna. This is the night when Jews open their doors to their neighbors, offering tables lavish with sweets to usher in a year of sweetness and good fortune. If there’s a Jewish ritual that calls for maximum social connection, Mimouna is it.

As I wrote in a column years ago, “Mimouna represented the love and intimacy of a neighborhood. There’s nothing like popping in to see 10, 20, 30 different neighbors on the same night, most of whom you see all the time.” This year, after centuries of continuity, Mimouna parties around the world will come to a stop, conquered by a tiny virus.
. . .
As with so many other areas of our lives, the pandemic times are forcing us to accept a new reality.


Laurie Wolf (left) and her family celebrate in a screen shot from a Zoom seder she hosted. (Photo courtesy: Alaska Public Media)

Avihu Median was hosted by the I.A.C.

Six years ago, Israeli singer/songwriter Avihu Medina performed at Los Angeles' The Mark venue for the Israeli American Council on Mimouna.

The son of a cantor (chazan), Avihu has composed more than 401 Mizrachi (Oriental) songs. As of 2007, he had released nine albums. Mr. Medina is considered by some to be the best-known Oriental singer. He has composed many songs performed by Zohar Argov, considered the King of Mizrahi music.

In this JewTube exclusive video series, Mr. Medina and some of his fans shared their views about the occasion- and about the Moroccan and Yemenite Jewish experience. Enjoy:

Avihu Medina entertains at The Mark in Los Angeles, 2014

While Mr. Medina was pleased that he found so many fans of his music there, he expressed joking regret that conditions are such that so many Israelis have recreated their culture outside of the country, and not contributing to benefit the country.

Jewish communities outside of North Africa would also celebrate the end of Passover with similar traditions: the Iraqis customarily went out into nature and took a dip in the Tigris. The Persians also went out into nature. In Egypt, Israel and Turkey, the Jews celebrated the opening of a new year. "- "Ten things you didn't know about Mimouna" by Cafe Gibraltar, +972, April 10, 2015

How did so many Jewish citizens of predominantly Muslim societies come to Israel? The Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries, or Jewish exodus from Arab countries, was the departure, flight, expulsion, evacuation and migration of 850,000 Jews, primarily of Sephardi and Mizrahi background, from Arab countries and the Muslim world, mainly from 1948 to the early 1970s. The last major migration wave took place from Iran in 1979–80, as a consequence of the Iranian Revolution.