Chabad emissaries throughout Africa, Europe and the Middle East gathered this week in Morocco for the largest conference of rabbis in the Middle East outside of Israel. The purpose of the conference is to strengthen Judaism and Jewish awareness in countries with a Muslim majority or with a small Jewish population.
This is the first conference since Morocco joined the “Abraham Accords” at the end of 2020. The hosts of the conference are Rabbi Levy Bannon, born in Casablanca, and his wife Hanna, who have been managing the activities of the Chabad movement in Morocco since 2009.
Morocco was the first country to which Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson sent emissaries, back in 1950 more than 70 years ago. Rabbi Mandi Hitrik, Chabad emissary in Turkey and chairman of the Union of Rabbis in Muslim countries, announced at the opening of the conference: “Rabbis who gather in a Muslim country to To strengthen Jewish life, they are a clear indication of the future of Jewish life in the region.”
During the ceremony, Rabbi David Bannon, from Montreal, Canada, one of the leading rabbis of the global Moroccan Jewish community, greeted the King of Morocco with the traditional blessing said upon seeing the face of a king. The popular initiative of the Rebbe to study the Maimonides’ book, one of the greatest Sephardic rabbis of all generations, is a unifying factor between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. Therefore, the conference opened at Maimonides’ home in the city of Fes, where those gathered held a ceremony to mark the end of study cycles in Maimonides’ book – Sefer ” Mishna Torah”. The end of the cycle of studying Rambam is a cause for celebration, as Jews all over the world recently completed the forty-second cycle of study (studying three chapters a day), and the fourteenth cycle (studying one chapter a day), as part of an initiative to strengthen unity among Am Yisrael which the Rebbe launched in 1984.
The conference includes workshops and meetings with important personalities, among them, Mr. Serge Bardougou, president of the Moroccan Jewish community, and the rabbis of Morocco’s court.
The location of the conference expresses Chabad’s ongoing commitment to the Jews living in Morocco and countries with a relatively small Jewish population or a Muslim majority. In just the last decade, the Chabad movement has established and expanded Jewish communities and infrastructure, which enable the existence of a prosperous Jewish life, in Uganda, the United Arab Emirates , Iceland, Angola, Ghana, Canary Islands, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Montenegro, Malta and Rwanda.
The current conference is attended by almost 40 rabbis from Uganda, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Ireland, Angola, Bulgaria, Ghana, Denmark, the Canary Islands, Zambia, the Ivory Coast, Turkey, Greece, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Montenegro, Monaco, Malta, Morocco, Norway , Nigeria, Slovakia, Spain, Serbia, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Czech Republic, Northern Cyprus, France, Congo, Canada, Cyprus, Croatia, Rwanda, Romania and Sweden.
“This year, we have the honor of hosting in Morocco the conference that marks a decade of tremendous growth,” says Rabbi Levi Bannon, Chabad emissary in Morocco. “This is an excellent opportunity for rabbis from different countries to gather and discuss different ways of strengthening the life of Jewish communities in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. We are excited to welcome our guests and pray that the conference will be held successfully.”
Rabbi Moshe Kotlersky, chairman of the Center for Educational Affairs, said: “Thanks to the Rebbe’s vision, the Chabad movement is today the most active Jewish movement with dedicated emissaries, who sacrifice so much of themselves to help others.”
Photo: Avi Viner – Center 302
