מרדכי לבהר
“ראש כולל “לינק
לוס אנג’לס
Moroccan Jewry has been blessed with a rich and strongly halachic rooted heritage, dating back to the Spanish inquisition in the year 1492. The Megourashim (the expulses) heavily influenced the halachic traditions in the Maghreb, and for generations, their halachic rulings and customs have become the foundation for Sephardic Jewry in general and the Maghreb in particular.
Ever since the major influx of Jews have left the North African peninsula, spreading mainly to Israel, France and Canada, immanent danger of our halachic system and customs being forgotten has become a reality.
Many communities as well as individuals were faced with dilemmas, primarily in the Bet Kenesset on how to implement these customs. At times the Rabbi, often younger and not versed in customs, adapted the halacha according to works he had readily available, often based on different halachic customs than the Sepharadim in the Maghreb. Other times, individuals find themselves in communities of different nature; hence due to practicality alter their customs.
Yet, being that an accepted custom by a community obligates the following generation in this path, particularly by the customs of the Magreb whose traditions are one of the most firmly rooted in the Torah world today, it is a shame to adopt other customs and halachot merely because of it being more readily accessible[1].
Therefore, what great pleasure we have to witness the new generation thirstily seeking our traditions and reawakening our glorious past, keeping this chain alive. This is especially true in the present time where we are in the transitional stage between the “old” country and the new, and the danger of losing our mesorah is ever so present.
The Darke Abotenou website has filled this vital void, and testimony to this is in its short time disseminating emails, it has become extremely popular in our circles. Led by two wonderful budding Talmideh Hachamim, Ariel Picillo, Yossi Azulay, and Adam Ohayon, who grew up in Toronto, Canada, a place where the customs have been rigorously preserved, they took initiative to make sure our traditions are readily accessible in their native language to those who seek it.
It is my fervent wish that through the launching of this new website, by using the “dangerous” tool of internet for kedusha purposes (to those who are authorized to do so), keep up their wonderful work and bring pride to all of our hachamim of previous generations by preserving their Torah.
Amen.
Mordechai Lebhar
Author of “Magen Avot”
[1] One of the more famous misconceptions is that many of the Moroccan customs deviate from Maran and follow the Rama. In the Magen Avot, (Shoresh Shelisi), this topic is dealt at length, the conclusion being that the North African tradition tends to be one of the most loyal as well as the pioneers in its fidelity to Maran. This is due to the fact that they were the first to adopt his rulings as binding. Nevertheless, being that many students of the Rosh influenced Sephardic Halacha (as the Abarbanel writes that the Rosh is the Mentor of all Sephardic Jewry), this brought many of these rulings to these respectable communities. This indeed is similar to many of the Sephardic countries. Tunisia, Turky, Algeria, Greece, etc… Thus the Sephardim did not adopt particularly the rulings of the Rama, rather the rulings of the Rosh (which the Rama often follows) were of widespread practice in Sephardic communities.
Hasqama from e”H Ribi Kfir Barukh Mevorakh Dadon s”t, author of “Noheg Bam”
