For instance, there was a huge festivity for the great poet of France Victor Hugo when he turned eighty years old.¹ There was also a celebration when the writer Chevreuil reached a hundred years.² Furthermore, there was a huge celebration in France last year, since that was the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the writer Lamartine.

Beyond writers, there are celebrations for all important³ dates of their history, which they always commemorate with great joy. Thus, in all the countries of the French, there are commemorations of the revolution that took place in the year 1789.⁴ And next year there will be a huge celebration in America, because it is the 400^th anniversary since Christopher Columbus⁵ discovered this new world (America).⁶ And such festivities are also common beyond the nations mentioned here. Indeed, even our brethren, the Jews all over Europe, hold a great festivity for their great minds (each in his own country) whenever they turn seventy, eighty, or a hundred years old.

Such was⁷ the festivity carried out all over the world when Sir Moses Montefiore turned a hundred years old.⁸ Each and every year there are celebrations of this kind. Last month, the Jews of Vienna in Austria held a great celebration because their rabbi Aharon Jellinek turned seventy. And the same in Paris, because the rabbi Shneur Zaks, who is known around the world for the precious exegeses that he wrote, turned seventy-five.⁹ And so was done for the rabbi of Copenhagen when he accomplished ninety years. Even in Romania, the land of troubles and exile, our brethren hold many festivities these days for the great rabbi Hillel Kahana, who began his 71^st year (may God prolong his good and pleasant days).

Indeed, next year there shall be a great celebration amongst the Jews. This year will mark a thousand years since the birth of the great rabbi Saadia Gaon. His entire writing will be printed anew. Rabbi Joseph Derenbourg from Paris will preside over the festivity in France and he is the one who initiated this cause. Beyond this celebration, they intend to commemorate next year the exile from Spain, which occurred four hundred years ago (1492) in the days of Ferdinand V the Evil and his cursed wife Isabel. Rabbi Don Isaac Abarbanel is one of the Jews who were expelled that year.

All that is mentioned here is only to remind our brethren: Go out and learn. This year marks five hundred years since our rabbis Isaac ben Sheshet and Simeon ben Zemah Duran came to Algiers.¹⁰ Five centuries since their light of the Torah has shone on us. For the Torah represents light, as the verse states.¹¹ There is no better or more suitable time for a Jewish celebration than the occasion of this year.

Indeed, the arrival of these two great rabbis in Algiers is considered to be the day when our country was born. For what was Algiers before the sun of these two rabbis had shone on her? […] They are the ones who elevated her standing and gave her great fame in the entire world […] There is no other time for a great celebration than this year, marking five centuries since the Torah came to Algiers, since the Tree of Life has been planted in our country – the Tree of Life which is the Torah itself, which gives life to everyone who reads it and to this day bears wonderful fruits.

For this reason, we ask our brethren, and especially the Grand Rabbis [of Algeria] and the members of the [Algerian] Consistory to consider this, so that we can have a great celebration for the two dear rabbis, famous around the world,¹² so that their great merit, the merit of the Torah which they brought to us in Algiers shall last forever.