In this feuilleton, Shalom Bekache appeals to the Jews of Algeria and their leadership to celebrate their history, calling on them to commemorate the arrival in Algiers of the prominent rabbis Isaac ben Sheshet (the RIBASH) and Simeon ben Zemah Duran (the RASHBATZ) in 1391. Bekache first surveys rituals to mark historical anniversaries such as the French Revolution and the birth dates of prominent thinkers such as Victor Hugo and then notes that European Jews have also adopted this custom, celebrating, for example, a thousand years since the birth of rabbi and philosopher Saadia Gaon. In this vein, Bekache calls for a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival “of the two Geonim” in Algiers, marking “five centuries since the light of the Torah has shone on us.” Combining impulses of the Enlightenment and Haskalah with a local perception of progress and “light,” this is an illuminating source on historical consciousness in the making.

Light and Joy

אורה ושמחה

Orah ve-Simhah

July 30, 1891

Feuilleton

Avner Ofrath

no known copyright

Jewish history, Jewish tradition, North Africa, modernity, Enlightenment, Haskalah, non-Jews