The candle weighs three kilos. The bidding starts at five hundred dirhams.
The man who wins it has flown in from Haifa. He carries it to the tomb of Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan in Ouezzane, in the foothills of the Rif. The rabbi came from Palestine in the 1770s to collect funds for yeshivas in Hebron. Got trapped in Meknes for seven years by political instability. Died in Ouezzane. Now thousands come for his hiloula every May, from four continents, to light candles and pray at the grave of a man who never intended to stay and never managed to leave. Morocco does this to people.
Hiloula. Aramaic for celebration. But what's being celebrated is a death — the anniversary of a saint's passing, when the soul ascends closest to God and carries your prayers with it. You light the candle. You touch the stone. You move your lips. The bigger the flame, the louder the prayer. The three-kilo candle is not showing off. It is shouting.
At the shrine of Moulay Ighi in the Atlas Mountains, the story gets stranger. The rabbi — possibly Rabbi David Laskar, 1717 — sensed his death coming. Asked the local burial society to follow him to a hilltop. They dug a grave at his request. He washed himself in the river below, climbed up, lay down, and told the earth to close. A myrtle bush grew beside the grave. Centuries of pilgrims have lit hundreds of candles around it. The bush has never caught fire. You may believe this or not. The pilgrims do.
Muslims guard these shrines year-round. Not as a favour. As a continuation. The tradition of praying at saints' tombs came from the Amazigh, who practised it before either Judaism or Islam arrived in Morocco. The white domed structures dotting the countryside — marabouts — are the same practice, different prophet. When Jewish pilgrims arrive for the hiloula, Muslim neighbours open their homes, cook meals, and ensure the shrine is clean. The hospitality is not interfaith dialogue. It is older and simpler than that: it is neighbours doing what neighbours do.
Six hundred Jewish saints are venerated across Morocco. Their tombs sit in villages, on hillsides, at crossroads. Every year, the planes from Tel Aviv and Paris and Montreal bring people back to light candles at graves their grandparents tended. They are not visiting a foreign country. They are not performing nostalgia. They are continuing a relationship that predates the categories we use to describe it.
The hiloula of Rabbi Amram draws thousands to Ouezzane every May. The candles are still lit. The prayers still carried.
Tell us about your trip →The Facts
- —Hiloula = Aramaic for "celebration" — celebrates a saint's death anniversary
- —Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan: came from Palestine 1770s, died in Ouezzane
- —Thousands attend his hiloula every May from 4 continents
- —Candle bidding starts at 500 dirhams, candle weighs 3kg
- —Bigger flame = louder prayer
- —Shrine of Moulay Ighi in Atlas Mountains
- —Jewish pilgrimage tradition unique to Morocco
Sources
- Gottreich, Emily. The Mellah of Marrakesh. Indiana University Press, 2007
- Laskier, Michael. The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco. SUNY Press, 1983
- Ben-Ami, Issachar. Saint Veneration Among the Jews in Morocco. Wayne State University Press, 1998
