For Moroccan Jews, a party after Passover עבור יהודי מרוקו, מסיבה אחרי פסח

After eight days of observing Passover, most Jews happily put down their matzo and reach for the leavened breads, pasta, cookies, and other foods that had been forbidden during the holiday, which begins at sundown on April 14. A smaller group, primarily those of Moroccan-Israeli descent, will begin the celebration of Mimouna. They, too, will begin to eat hametz (leavened foods), but they make a party of it, with food, music, dancing, and sometimes even costumes.

Not well known in this country, Mimouna celebrates the end of Passover and the beginning of spring. Traditionally, Jewish families in Morocco gave or sold their leavened foods to their Muslim neighbors for the duration of the holiday. When Passover ended, they invited their neighbors into their homes for a feast. Moroccan Jews who immigrated to Israel in the state’s early days brought the celebration with them, and it has grown. Today Mimouna is a national holiday in Israel with big family or public outdoor parties that begin at sundown and often last into the next day. Frequently, politicians attend the celebrations, and it is a badge of honor to have a member of the Knesset, or local elected official, at your celebration.

In 2010, Boston’s New Center for Arts and Culture, a Jewish organization, working with the American Islamic Congress, brought Mimouna to this city. Eva Heinstein, a Jamaica Plain resident who worked at the New Center at the time, was instrumental in launching the interfaith celebration. The daughter of a Moroccan-Israeli mother and an Ashkenazi Jewish father, Heinstein grew up in California and celebrated the holiday with family and friends. “We thought it would be a great idea to bring women from Jewish and non-Jewish communities together, exploring the shared cultures of women who live in Arab lands,” says Heinstein.

“During Pesach, people don’t eat at each other’s homes,” explains Liora Kushner of Chestnut Hill, who runs Liora’s Catering. “Right after, [they] start to welcome others in. It’s an open house. Neighbors just walk in.” When she was growing up in Israel, cooking was her Moroccan-born mother’s domain. A former attorney who stopped practicing law when the youngest of her three children was born (her daughter is now 6), Kushner began cooking here because she missed the foods from home.