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In Pictures: New World Passover

African Hebrew Israelites celebrate New World Passover this May
African Hebrew Israelites celebrate their arrival in Israel in the 1960s (MEE/Andrea DiCenzo)

Last week African Hebrew Israelites of Dimona celebrated what has come to be known as New World Passover. This is an event in which this small community celebrates their group leaving America, where they felt captive in the 1960s, and their arrival on the shores of Israel.

The festival began 40 years ago when their leader Ben Ammi Ben Israel led them first to Africa and then to the shores of Israel where they arrived in May 1968.

They celebrate both the ancient Passover, which happened last month, to honour their past and ancestors, as well as the New Passover to honour their own triumphs. 

The celebration happens every May, over a two day period, in which family member join invited guests to celebrate, pray, eat, and dance. Guests from Ghana, South Africa, and the United States descended upon the Negev for the two-day celebration.  

Photos by Andrea DiCenzo

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