Blog Entry
Herzl Campers Unite…in Morocco!
January 27, 2012 by Herzl Camp Admin, under General Posts, Herzl, Beyond Webster, Letters from Staff, Where Are They Now.
Yonatan Dotan, Sam Kaplan and Jonathan Edelman in Rabat, Morocco
By: Jonathan Edelman
Herzl Camp staff members Jonathan Edelman and Yonatan Dotan are living in Israel for the year while participating in the KIVUNIM program. KIVUNIM, a program in international Jewish education, provides an intensive academic and experiential encounter with Middle Eastern, North African, Asian and European cultures.
This morning we had a unique and historic privilege. Because of KIVUNIM’s very special relationship with Morocco, we were invited to conduct a private Jewish memorial service at the tombs of King Mohammed V and his son, King Hassan II. As few know, Mohammed V through his courageous confrontation with the Vichy French was responsible for saving the lives of the 250-300,000 Jews of Morocco. I was asked to be the photographer of this event where the president of the community of Rabat and the President of the Jewish community. Outside the tomb, I asked a local guard how often people get to enter the tomb. He told me that some Moroccans spend their entire lives living in the country and never set foot near the tomb. It was truly an honor.
Afterwards, we made our way to the home of the American Ambassador to Morocco, the Honorable Samuel Kaplan and his wife Sylvia (Yes, Jewish Americans serving in an Arab country!). I did some research about Mr. Kaplan ahead of time and found out he is a Jew from Minneapolis. I figured I’d whip out my Jewish geography knowledge and see what we had in common. Turns out the US Ambassador was a ‘50-53 Herzl Camper! It was very fun comparing our experiences at the camp.
We then had a quick picnic lunch and headed up in the mountains to the city of Ifrane for a visit to the campus of the Al Akhawayn University and the home of the original Mimouna Club in Morocco. Here we were guests of Elmehdi Boudra, this unique college student who spearheaded the creation of the club and worked together with KIVUNIM to create and design the first conference on the Holocaust in the Arab World this past September. I was truly amazed at the beauty of this campus. We had a tour of the campus, a series of discussions with these very special Arab students, a vegetarian dinner and then an evening program before heading back to our hotel. The future of relations between Jews and Arabs was clearly being formed right here in Ifrane…there is a lot going on here.
We were also lucky enough to watch the Morocco vs. Tunisia Fütbol match with the students.
Tags: Jonathan Edelman, Sam Kaplan, Yonatan Dotan