“It’s human nature for anticipatory excitement to build just before a happy event. We felt it just before the reading of the Megillah (Story of Esther) on the eve of Purim in Essaouira. Children and adults armed themselves with brooms, sticks, hammers, old shoes and traditional noisemakers and building up a head of agressive steam, headed for the synagogue to confront HAMAN THE WICKED. The noise that we created at the mention of Haman during the Megillah reading was most exciting.By the time the reading was over, all aggression had been expressed. The best part for me was the time of the communal build-up of a warlike state of mind for what we knew was the right cause.”

– Raphael Bouganim

Size: 40″ x 34″, Medium: oil on canvas