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Sometimes there are columns so serendipitous that they make you believe in fate. This is one of them. It was Sunday, May 1, the last day of Passover for you readers in America but the first day after Passover here in Israel, where the holiday is seven days instead of the eight that it is in the Diaspora. This day is known in Israel for its Maimouna festival, a traditional North African and especially Moroccan Jewish celebration whose name has variously been traced to the memory of Maimonides, to the Hebrew word ma'amin (believer), and to one or two Arabic words. It's a day of feasting and revelry in which some families set up tents in their backyards or in parks and invite friends to join them.
Not being of Moroccan ancestry, I spent the Maimouna not in a tent but in my workroom, writing an article. At one point I had to look up a word beginning with the letters "mu." On their way to it, my eyes fell on another word they never had seen before. This was "muffuletta," defined by my American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as "New Orleans. A sandwich made with a large, round roll of Italian bread.... [Italian dialectal, bread with a filling, from Italian muffa, mold,...