Sephardic Heritage International DC’s 12th annual Mimouna — a Moroccan Jewish celebration marking the end of Passover — took on a renewed sense of importance amid the current war in Iran, according to SHIN DC’s founding director.
The April 12 festival included live performances and art, traditional sweets and remarks from high-level diplomats and members of Congress.
“Mimouna is a celebration of neighborliness, recalling when doors of Jewish homes were open at the end of Passover to welcome others, including Moroccan Muslims,” Afraim Katzir, the founding director of SHIN DC, said in a press release.
“When you come to the Mimouna, it’s a festival, but you feel like you’re at home,” Katzir told Washington Jewish Week.
The District’s “Festival of Good Neighbors” comes weeks after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in late February, launching a major military operation. The U.S. has since engaged in talks with Iran to end the war, and President Donald Trump agreed to a “double-sided ceasefire” with Iran for two weeks, an agreement that recently came under strain.
“It is deeply meaningful and gratifying that this event took place even in the midst of war,” Katzir said of the Mimouna. “This reinforces the enduring message of peace, neighborliness and coexistence — values at the heart of Mimouna.”
Attendees ate homemade Moroccan sweets and foods that had been forbidden during Passover.
“Those are the two pillars of the traditional Mimouna: good food [and] music in a package of neighborliness and hospitality,” Katzir said.
The event featured Moroccan-Israeli singer Neta Elkayam, alongside an interfaith ensemble at the Edlavitch DCJCC’s JxJ Stage.
The traditional festival historically brought together Morocco’s diverse communities.
“The kind of diversity we’re dealing with today is a lot more than people had in their cities in Morocco, especially in D.C., which is one of the most diverse regions in the U.S.,” Katzir noted.
A staff member of the Moroccan Embassy greeted attendees of the April 12 Mimouna, which was hosted by SHIN DC in partnership with the Embassies of Morocco and Israel. The event brought together community members of many backgrounds.
“Of course, there are Moroccan Jews, but there are all kinds of people,” Katzir said. “We had Moroccans from all different religions. We had the entire spectrum of D.C., and not just Jewish and Muslim.”
Other attendees were members of the Christian faith, atheist or agnostic. “That’s the whole point of the Mimouna, which is a very special holiday because it’s the only holiday that celebrates coexistence,” Katzir said.
This interfaith unity, he said, is important because the fight against antisemitism is not effective as a solely Jewish effort.
“Mimouna is not just a Jewish effort,” he said. “It’s important to have people coming together in this way.”
At every SHIN DC Mimouna, Katzir reads a poem by Rabbi David Buzaglo, a 20th-century Moroccan rabbi, that describes the feeling of brotherhood on this holiday. Buzaglo recounted the tradition of Moroccan Muslims bringing “plentiful gifts” to their Jewish neighbors after Passover.
One line of the poem reads, “The Hebrews and Arabs recline together, their hearts rejoice with music and song, and you cannot tell the difference between a Hebrew and his Arab brother.”
“That spirit is really important right now,” Katzir said. “We need so much more of that spirit to have unity between Jews, Muslims, all people amid all the global tensions that we have today.”
The Mimouna is especially important now because people want to know, “What comes after [war]?”, Katzir said: “One of the things that people need is hope.”
Merav Oren and Hananel Edri, an Israeli duo connected to the ANU Museum of the Jewish People, traveled from Tel Aviv to present at the Mimouna.
“They had spent all this time in bomb shelters, and in fact, the ANU Museum was closed in Israel because of the war,” Katzir said. “If all you see is war, you ask yourself, ‘What hope is there?’ or ‘What’s going to come after war?’ Because no one likes war.”
The timing of Mimouna, at the end of Passover, also carries a significant message.
“There’s the idea of commemorating future redemption, and part of that commemoration of a future redemption is looking forward to a time when peaceful coexistence will prevail and war and intolerance will be no more,” Katzir said.
“In the times that we’re living in, [with] all these global tensions, it’s really important to not lose that hope,” he added. “Part of our hope is that the Mimouna’s message of interfaith peace and good neighborliness will take root in the entire world, including the Middle East, including Iran, and that hope and that desire for peace will grow for many Mimounas to come. This is really the overarching message of Mimouna and it’s a message we always need.”
Mia Resnicow contributed reporting to this article.
