History of the Jews in Africa
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African Jewish communities include:
- in the late 15th century.
- Lithuanian Jews.
- Beta Israel living primarily in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and sparsely in Eritrea.
- Almohadic Caliphate in the Middle Ages. The modern population of Berber Jews in Africa now numbers about 8,000 people in Morocco, with the majority having emigrated to Israel since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, along with smaller numbers scattered throughout Europe and North America.
- Historical communities which no longer exist in Africa due to assimilation, such as the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan in West Africa, who existed before the introduction of Islam to the region during the 14th century.
- Various relatively modern groups throughout Africa, most of whom claim some form of a Judaic or Israelite identity, and/or ancestry.
Ancient communities
The most ancient communities of African Jews are the
.In the seventh century, many
Of the seventh-century immigrants, some moved inland and proselytized among the
Ethiopia
In 1975, the Israeli religious authorities and government recognized the
Due to certain aspects of Orthodox Jewish marital laws, Rabbi Yosef ruled that upon arrival in Israel, the Beta Israel had to undergo a pro forma
Over time, due to their community's isolation from those in Europe and the Middle East, the practices of the Beta Israel developed to differ significantly from those of other forms of Judaism. In Ethiopia, the Beta Israel community was for the most part isolated from the
In many instances their religious elders, or priestly class, known as kessim or qessotch, interpreted the Biblical Law of the
One significant difference is that the Beta Israel lacked the festivals of Purim and Hanukkah, probably because they branched off from the main body of Judaism before these non-Biblical holidays began to be commemorated. Today, most members of the Beta Israel community living in Israel do observe these holidays.
They are a community in transition. Some of the kessim accept the rabbinic/Talmudic tradition that is practiced by non-Ethiopian
The
Beit Avraham have traditionally been on the lower rungs of Ethiopian social life. They have held occupations similar to those of the Beta Israel, such as crafts. Recently, the Beit Avraham community has attempted to reach out to the world Jewish community. They formed the
The Gefat people (known locally by the pejorative "Fuga") are a southern Ethiopian tribe descended from Beta Israel.[5]
Somalia
The Yibir are a tribe that lives in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and northern Kenya. Though they have been Muslim for centuries, some of them assert they are descendants of Hebrews who arrived in the Horn of Africa long before the arrival of Somali nomads. These individuals assert that Yibir means "Hebrew" in their language.[6]
Bilad el-Sudan
The historical presence of Jewish communities in Africa is well-attested to. Today, the descendants of these Jews live in nations such as Sierra Leone,
Another such community was that of the Zuwa ruler of Koukiya (located at the Niger River). His name was known only as Zuwa Alyaman, meaning "He comes from Yemen". According to an isolated local legend, Zuwa Alyaman was a member of one of the Jewish communities transported from Yemen by Abyssinians in the 6th century CE after the defeat of Dhu Nuwas. Zuwa Alyaman was said to have traveled into West Africa along with his brother. They established a community in Kukiya at the banks of the Niger River downstream from Gao. According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, after Zuwa Alyaman, there were 14 Zuwa rulers of Gao before the rise of Islam in the second half of the eleventh century.
Other sources stated that other Jewish communities in the region developed from people who migrated from Morocco and Egypt; others later came from Portugal. Some communities were said to have been populated by certain
The well-known 16th Century geographer
Medieval arrivals
North Africa and the Maghreb
The largest influx of Jews to Africa came after the
Tanzania
The
Songhai
In the 14th century many
The Kehath family converted with the rest of the non-Muslim population. The Cohens, descended from the Moroccan Islamicized Jewish trader El-Hadj Abd-al-Salam al Kuhin, arrived in the Timbuktu area in the 18th century, and the Abana family came in the first half of the 19th century. According to Prof. Michel Abitbol, at the Center for the Research of Moroccan Jewry in Israel, in the late 19th century Rabbi Mordoche Aby Serour traveled to Timbuktu several times as a not-too-successful trader in ostrich feathers and ivory. Ismael Diadie Haidara, a historian from Timbuktu, has found old Hebrew texts among the city's historical records. He has also researched his own past and discovered that he is descended from the Moroccan Jewish traders of the Abana family. As he interviewed elders in the villages of his relatives, he has discovered that knowledge of the family's Jewish identity has been preserved, in secret, out of fear of persecution.[9]
São Tomé e Príncipe
King
Modern communities
Cameroon
Rabbi Yisrael Oriel, formerly Bodol Ngimbus-Ngimbus, was born into the Bassa people. He says there were historically Jews in the area and that the word "Bassa" is from the Hebrew for 'on a journey' and means "blessing". Rabbi Oriel claims to be a Levite descended from Moses and reportedly made aliya in 1988, and he was then apparently ordained as a rabbi by the Sephardic Chief Rabbi and appointed rabbi to Nigerian Jews.
Rabbi Oriel claims that in 1920 there were 400,000 'Israelites' in Cameroon, but by 1962 the number had decreased to 167,000 due to conversions to Christianity and Islam. He said that although these tribes had not been accepted halachically, he believes that he can prove their Jewish status from medieval rabbinic sources.[12]
The father of Yaphet Kotto, an American actor, was a Cameroonian Jew. Kotto identified as Jewish.[citation needed]
Côte d'Ivoire
Communities have been forming in Côte d'Ivoire in recent years and have been slowly growing throughout the region. The capital city of Abidjan has two synagogues, each with a population of about 40-70 congregants.[13] In addition, large groups of indigenous peoples referred to as Danites claim descent from the lost tribe of Dan and many from this ethnic group have shown interest in Judaic practices.[13]
Ghana
From the eighteenth century on what is now Ghana was a favorite locus for theories positing Israelite origins for various ethnic groups in the area. These theories were widespread and were taken up by powerful people in the twentieth century.[14] The House of Israel community of Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Sui has identified as Jewish since the early 1970s.[15] The Ga-Dangme tribe in the southern Region of Ghana assert that their ancestors are descendants of the tribe Gad and Dan who migrated south through Egypt. They observe many Hebraic traditions such as circumcision of their male child; they also cannot name their male child until he has been circumcised. They also have many ancient Jewish names that are traditional names.[citation needed]
Kenya
Theories suggesting Israelite origins particularly of the Masai abounded in the nineteenth century and were gradually absorbed into religious and societal practices throughout the area.[16] The chief proponent of Masai Israelite origins was a German officer Moritz Merkel whose detailed research is still in use today.[17] Of the many Judaic manifestations in the religious sphere is a small emergent community in Laikipia County, Kenya, which has abandoned Christianity and taken up Judaism. There are an estimated 5,000 of them at the present time. Although at first Messianic, they concluded that their beliefs were incompatible with Christianity and are now waiting to be instructed in traditional Judaism.[18] Some of the younger children of this community have been sent to the Abayudaya schools in Uganda to be instructed in Judaism and other subjects. Luos in Kenya are another of the groups considered by some to be of Israelite origin. They claim to have migrated hundreds of years ago from the north along the river Nile from Egypt through South Sudan and then into Kenya.[19]
Madagascar
In early modern times it was widely believed that Israelites had settled in Madagascar. Works by the French scholar Alfred Grandidier and Augustus Keane, the British professor of Hindustani at University College, London provided what they saw as conclusive proof of these ancient connections.
Nigeria
At the present time, the existence of Israelite associations is mainly attributed to the Igbo, many of whom claim Israelite origins. Most of the Jews of Nigeria can be found among the Igbo ethnic group. Certain Nigerian communities with Judaic practices have been receiving help from individual Israelis and American Jews who work in Nigeria with outreach organizations like Kulanu.[22][23] The number of Igbos in Nigeria who identify as Jews has been estimated to number around 4,000 (2016), along with 70 synagogues. Many have converted from Christianity.[23] Other sources give a higher estimate, claiming that some 30,000 Igbos were practicing some form of Judaism in 2008.[24]
South Africa
Uganda
For centuries, it was believed that Jews inhabited the central portions of Africa. Some Africans were keen to adopt Judaism in recent times. One of these was Samei Kakungulu, one of the most remarkable Ugandans of his generation, a brilliant military strategist and a man who had a great amount of spiritual and intellectual curiosity. In 1919, having declared that "we now will be known as Jews," he was circumcised along with his first son, whom he called Yuda. His second son was subsequently circumcised on the eighth day, in the Jewish fashion, and he was named Nimrod. In 1922, Kakungulu published a 90-page book, which was essentially a guide to Judaism. He died a Jew (albeit one with a residual belief in Jesus) and his followers in Mbale, who are known as the Abayudaya, continued to practice Judaism, despite the persecution which they were subjected to during the rule of Idi Amin, when many of them converted to Christianity or Islam, and today, they are some thousand strong. In the twenty first century, the Abayudaya are considered observant practitioners of Judaism, many of them have undergone formal Orthodox conversions, and they have forged strong links with Jewish communities in the United States and Israel, along with increasingly strong links with Black Jewish communities in Africa and elsewhere.[25] In a relatively new movement, the Abayudaya of Uganda have converted to Judaism since 1917, influenced by the American William Saunders Crowdy, who claimed that African Americans were descended from the Jews.[26]
Zambia
A number of European Jews settled in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). At its peak in the early 1960s, there were 1,000 Jews living in the country, many in Livingstone. The number began to fall after independence and there were estimated to be around 50 remaining by 2012.[27]
Zimbabwe
Anglo-Jews
The Zimbabwe Jewish community was mainly of British citizenship, whose arrival coincides with the first white colonists in the 1890s.[28] At its peak in the early 1970s, it numbered some 7500 people (80% Ashkenazi Jews) who lived primarily in the two communities of Salisbury (now Harare) and Bulawayo in Matabeleland. Smaller rural communities also existed for short periods in Kwekwe, Umtali (now Mutare), and Gatooma. The community declined in part due to age, but most Jewish residents in Zimbabwe left after violence and social disruption. In 2007, the local Jewish community had declined to 270. The community had strong links with Israel.
In 2003, the Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation Synagogue burned down; this was followed by several letters justifying the fire based on economic antisemitism.[29]
The Lemba People
The Lemba,"wa-Remba", or "Mwenye"[30] are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Zimbabwe and South Africa, with smaller, little-known branches in Mozambique and Malawi. According to Tudor Parfitt, when he first worked in the field among the Lemba in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi in the 1980s, they numbered an estimated 50,000. They speak the same Bantu languages their geographic neighbours speak and they also bear a physical resemblance to their geographic neighbors, but some of their religious practices and beliefs are similar to Jewish and Muslim practices and beliefs. According to Parfitt, the Lemba claim that they once had a book which described their traditions but it was lost.[31][32]
Parfitt has suggested that the name "Lemba" may originate in chilemba, a Swahili word for the turbans which are worn by some Bantu men, or it may originate from lembi, a Bantu term for a "non-African" or a "respected foreigner".[33][34] Magdel le Roux says that the name VaRemba may be translated as "the people who refuse" – probably in the context of "not eating with others" (according to one of her interviewees).[32] In Zimbabwe and South Africa, the people prefer the name Mwenye.[30]
They have a tradition of ancient Jewish or
Mauritius
According to the 2011 census carried out by Statistics Mauritius, there are 43 Jews in Mauritius.[40]
See also
- African American–Jewish relations
- African-American Jews
- Black Hebrew Israelites, groups of African Americans who believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites
- Genetic studies on Jews
- Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
- History of the Jews under Muslim rule
- Jewish diaspora
- Jewish ethnic divisions
- Jewish history
- Madagascar Plan, a plan to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to French Madagascar proposed by the Nazi German government
- Who is a Jew?
- Uganda Scheme, a British plan to create a Jewish homeland in East Africa
- List of Jews from Sub-Saharan Africa
- Moroccan citron
- Lemba people, an ethnic group in Southern Africa which claims Israelite descent
Notes and references
- ^ Hirschberg, Haim Z. "The Problem of the Judaized Berbers," Journal of African History 4, no. 3 (1963): 317.
- ^ Ausbel, Nathan. Pictorial History of the Jewish People. New York: Crown, 1953. 225–227.
- ^ שרון שלום, מסיני לאתיופיה: עולמה ההלכתי והרעיוני של יהדות אתיופיה, כולל "שולחן האורית" - מדריך הלכתי לביתא ישראל, עורך אברהם ונגרובר, ידיעות ספרים, 2012
- ^ "Ethiopia: Beit Avraham", Black Jews Official website, visited 22 November 2006
- ^ "Serving the Scattered Tribes of Israel | Jewish Voice". www.jewishvoice.org. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- ^ a b Bader, Christian. Les Yibro: Mages somali, Paris 2000, 129–144
- ^ Browne-Davies, Nigel, 'Jewish Merchants in Sierra Leone, 1831‐1934,' Journal of Sierra Leone Studies, Volume 6, Edition 2, pp 3-110, URL: http://thejournalofsierraleonestudies.com/downloads/Version11.pdf
- ^ People-in-County Profile: Dawsahak; D. J. Philips, Peoples on the Move, Pasadena, CA, 2001.
- ^ The Renewal of Jewish Identity in Timbuktu by Karen Primack, on Kulanu's website. Viewed 22 November 2006. Archived 29 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sand, Jay. "Sao Tome and Principe". Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ Silva Horta, P. Mark and J. da The Forgotten Diaspora: Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World, (New York 2011); Parfitt, Tudor (2020) Hybrid Hate: Conflations of Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Semitism from the Renaissance to the Third Reich. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Jews in Cameroon", Haruth, accessed 22 November 2006
- ^ a b Sussman, Bonita Nathan. "Kulanu: Developing Judaism in Cote d'Ivoire and Gabon". www.kulanu.org. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ T. McCaskie, 'Asante Origins, Egypt, and the Near East: an idea and its history' in D.R.Peterson, and G. Macola(eds.) Recasting the Past: history writing and political work in modern Africa. (Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 2009) (New African Histories Series) 125-148; Parfitt, Tudor (2013) Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press pp.44-6,177-118
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press (2013) pp.118-119
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (2002) The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson pp.190-1. Parfitt, Tudor Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press (2013)
- ^ "The Maasai and the ancient Israelites: an early 20th century interpretation of the Maasai in German East Africa".December 2017, Scriptura 116(2)
- ^ Additional communities have emerged in Kasuku near the western part of the country after splitting off from Messianic movements. Kenyan Hebrew converts celebrate Easter in style from the Kenyan Sunday Times newspaper. Accessed 22 November 2006.
- ^ "Kenyan political exile finds Jewish home, soul in S.F.", accessed from JewishSanFrancisco.com Archived 2 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine on 22 November 2006.
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (2002) The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth p.203
- ^ a b Josefson, Deborah (5 June 2016). "In remote Madagascar, a new community chooses to be Jewish". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ Kulanu website, especially relevant is the Nigeria page, which treats the Igbo question more extensively.
- ^ a b Sam Kestenbaum, 'Meet the Igbo, Nigeria's Lost Jewish Tribe,' The Forward 24 January 2016.
- ISBN 978-0195333565.
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (2002) The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p.185; Parfitt, Tudor Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press (2013) pp.121-3
- ^ Henry Lubega, "Mbale's Jews" Archived 17 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Uganda Mission, accessed 22 November 2006.
- ^ Tutton, Mark (19 January 2012). "The forgotten story of Zambia's Jewish settlers". CNN. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- Barry Kosmin, MAJUTA, Mambo Press
- ^ "Around the Jewish World in Zimbabwe, Jews Carry on After Arson Destroys Biggest Shul". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ a b Parfitt, Tudor. (2002), "The Lemba: An African Judaising Tribe", in Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism, edited by Parfitt, Tudor and Trevisan-Semi, E., London: Routledge Curzon, pp. 42–43
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor, Journey to the Vanished City: the Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel. London: Hodder and Stoughton
- ^ a b le Roux, Magdel (2003). The Lemba – A Lost Tribe of Israel in Southern Africa?. Pretoria: University of South Africa. pp. 209–224, 24, 37.
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (1992) Journey to the Vanished City: the Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel.see the full explanatory note on p. 263.
- ISBN 978-1-58465-329-5. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- .
- ^ van Warmelo, N.J. (1966). "Zur Sprache und Herkunft der Lemba". Hamburger Beiträge zur Afrika-Kunde. 5. Deutsches Institut für Afrika-Forschung: 273, 278, 281–282.
- PMID 8900243
- ISBN 1-930143-89-3.
- ISBN 978-0-12-420195-8.
- ^ Statistics Mauritius (October 2012). "2011 Housing and Population Census" (PDF). p. 69. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
Further reading
General
- Blady, Ken: Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, Jerusalem, Jason Aronson.
- Bruder, Édith: Black Jews of Africa, Oxford 2008.
- Kurinsky, Samuel: Jews in Africa: Ancient Black African Relations, Fact Paper 19-II.
- Dierk Lange: "Origin of the Yoruba and the "Lost Tribes of Israel", Anthropos, 106, 2011, 579–595.
- Parfitt, Tudor (2002) The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Parfitt, Tudor (2013) Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, Harvard University Press.
- Parfitt, Tudor (2020) Hybrid Hate: Conflations of Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Semitism from the Renaissance to the Third Reich. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Parfitt, Tudor and Egorova, Y. (2005) Genetics, Mass Media, and Identity: A Case Study of the Genetic Research on the Lemba and Bene Israel. London: Routledge.
- Rosenthal, Monroe and Isaac Mozeson: Wars of the Jews: A Military History from Biblical to Modern Times, New York, Hipporcrene Books, 1990.
- Sand, Jay: "The Jews of Africa", Image Magazine, 5 May 2009
- Williams, Joseph J.: Hebrewisms of West Africa: From Nile to Niger With the Jews, Ney York, The Dial Press, 1931.
- History of the Zimbabwe Jewish Community
Northern Africa
- Israel, Jonathan I."The Jews of Spanish North Africa (1580–1669)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540–1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 151–184.
- Israel, Jonathan I. "Piracy, Trade and Religion: The Jewish Role in the Rise of the Muslim Corsair Republic of Saleh (1624–1666)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540–1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 291–312.
- Israel, Jonathan I. "Tangiers, Sephardic Jewry and English Imperial Ambitions in the Maghreb (1661–1684)" in Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540–1740). Leiden: Brill 2002, pp. 421–448.
- Jews in Africa: Part 1 The Berbers and the Jews, by Sam Timinsky (Hebrew History Federation)
- Tarikh es Soudan, Paris, 1900, by Abderrahman ben-Abdall es-Sadi (trad. O. Houdas)
- The Jews of Timbuktu, Washington Jewish Week, 30 December 1999, by Rick Gold
- Les Juifs à Tombouctou, or Jews of Timbuktu, Recueil de sources écrites relatives au commerce juif à Tombouctou au XIXe siècle, Editions Donniya, Bamako, 1999 by Professor Ismael Diadie Haidara
West Africa
- Mark, Peter and José da Silva Horta, The Forgotten Diaspora: Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011.
- Joseph Eidelberg "Bambara (A PROTO-HEBREW LANGUAGE?)" https://josepheidelberg.com/blog/
Nigeria
- Remy Ilona: Igbos, Jews in Africa?, (Volume 1), Mega Press Limited, Abuja, Nigeria, 2004.
- Charles K. Meek: Northern Tribes of Nigeria, Volume 1, Oxford, p. 66.
- Kannan K. Nair: Origins and Development of Efik Settlements in Southeastern Nigeria. 1Ohio University, Center for International, 1975.
- Eze Okafor-Ogbaji: Jews of Nigeria: The Aro Empire,
Ethiopia
- Stigma "Gojjam": The Abyssinian Pariah Orits, Guihon Books, University of Geneva, 1993, by Muse Tegegne
External links
- Gorin, Howard (Rabbi): Site about travels Amongst Nigeria's and Uganda's Jews
- Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce: Jews and Berbers,
- Sand, Jay: Site about African Jews
- ISSAJ – International Society for the Study of African Jewry
- Scattered Among The Nations
- The Awakening & In-Gathering of The Ibos
- History of the Jewish community in Ghana
- Shabbat in Ghana