In honor of Freedom Holiday, Yad La'amim distributed to Jews in Arab countries translated into Arabic • "Matzot did not come to the holiday, but they were excited about the gesture"

• For the first time: Haggadah in Arabic // Photo: Yad Layim

Hundreds of Jews in Arab countries celebrated the Passover Seder with the West Bank in Arabic.

The translated Haggadahs are the result of Yad Layim's activity for Passover. To date, the West Bank has been written in Arabic, but the content included verses in Hebrew. This is the first time that the contents of the Haggadah have also been translated into Hebrew, and some of it is also integrated with broader explanations and explanations, "says Daoud (pseudonym) in a conversation with" Israel Today. "" They said thank you and were very excited about the gesture. "

In fact, the Haggadah was supposed to be physically sent to Jews in Arab states and Palestinian cities and villages with which the organization is in contact, but due to the Corona epidemic, the organization contented itself with sending a printable PDF to the email address it has. At the same time, there were also those who received matzos from the organization through delivery through a third country. “We are in contact with Jews from Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, but only the Jews in Iraq have been able to send matzos. After Suleimani's assassination in January, we realized that Iraq might be in a state of turmoil, so we rushed to send the matzos to a Jewish family living in Mosul, in order to reach them before Passover and so it was. This will be the first time that those Jews, who have already received books and other religious items from us, will celebrate Passover. "

"Unfortunately because of the matzah corona we sent to Jews in the other countries will not be able to reach them before Passover, but at least they were allowed to read the Haggadah and feel free," Daoud concluded with satisfaction.

The Roots Division at the Brothers Association was established about a year ago and aims to connect with Jews living in Arab countries - second and third generation assimilation. In practice, these are Jews whose mothers or grandmothers married Muslim spouses, so they are Jewish by law and quite a few are interested - despite the objective difficulties - to find out more about their Jewishness.

Initially, the organization contacted those Jews, after their details came from their families who left the same countries and passed on their details to the organization. The department consists of 4 employees, fluent in Arabic, who contacted those Jews and interested them in Judaism. Later, after publishing two videos in which the Arabic-language international fighter, Ziv Yehezkel, called for lost Jews to return to Judaism and trace their sources, he began to reach the department with a wave of inquiries (she is now also assisted by a website on a dedicated Arabic-language Facebook page and her people conducting Torah lessons on Skype As well as Torah study in Socrata, DL).

"The department has three circles," Daoud says (pseudonym). The wider circle includes close to 2,000 Jews that we send a few words to for the holidays. In the middle circle, there are about 400 Jews who want a closer relationship with us, members of our Facebook page and regularly log into our site to find authentic and contemporary Jewish material. In the nearer circle are 60 Jews who regularly attend Torah lessons or study Torah one on one, and receive from us - each according to what it seeks - Jewish literature and religious objects. This is how a virtual family was set up, in which some of those Arab Jews begin to know their Jewishness through virtual Jewish lessons. ”

Naturally, the association often absorbs nazis on its Facebook page, but the organization makes it clear that they are not excited about it. "We took into account that working on such a sensitive issue would give rise to threats and curses in its wake."

In Daud's view, "We see ourselves as a Chabad house for those Jews, which is an address that gives them the opportunity to peek and learn about their Jewishness. Those who want to expand this knowledge more deeply, contact us and receive what they require, "he concluded.