In 2014, Mimouna Associations decided to create an award in the name of Simon Levy זייל, a Moroccan Jewish puissant activist, a conservator of the Jewish Moroccan history and the godfather of Mimouna Association.
The Simon Levy זייל award recipients have genereally been involved in the preservation of the Jewish Heritage and the promotion of this culture within the young generation, often involving a great deal of commitment on a very regular basis.
In 2014, The High Atlas foundation, a Morocco-American NGO, and Mr. Jacky Kadoch, the president of the Jewish Community of Marrakech-Essaouira, were the first to receive the award so as to recognize their commitment in renovating the Jewish cimeteries across the country as well as their Tree of life project which is an initiative that enabled Muslim farmers in the region of Marrakech to benefit from Moroccan Jewish owned lands in order to build organic fruit tree nurseries and employ water-effecient irrigation systems. In the same year, Ms. Zhor Rehihil, the curator of the Jewish Moroccan museum in Casablanca, was selected to receive the award to highlight the role of the Moroccan Jewish Museum, the only museum of its kind in the MENA region, in preserving the Jewish Moroccan memory and culture. Another recipient of the award in 2014 was Mr. Jamaa Baida, the head of the archives of Morocco, who’s been doing a significant work for years in protecting and caring for the records of the history of the Moroccan Jewish community.
In 2017, Mimouna Association celebrated its 10th anniversary with the presence of HE. Mr. Andre Azoulay, the senior advisor to the king and the president of the honorary board of Mimouna Association and Mr. Rachid Belmokhtar, the former president of the AUI and the former minister of Education in Morocco, who were awarded as two Moroccan public figures who supported Mimouna Association and paved the road for it since its genesis.
In 2019, Mimouna Association, in partnership with the Jewish community of Fez and the Jewish community of Cairo, organized a conference about the legacy of Maimonides in Fez. At the closing of the two-days event, Mimouna Association decided to give award to Ms. Magda Haroun, the president of the Jewish community of Cairo, to recognize the special work she had been doing for years to revitalize and preserve the Jewish Egyptian heritage.
