African Jew

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Template:Jew African Jew has a variety of meanings:

Scattered African groups who have not historically been part of the international Jewish community, but who claim ancestry to ancient Israel or other connections to Judaism and who practice Jewish rituals or those bearing resemblance to Judaism. Of these, only the Beta Israel of Ethiopia are generally recognized as Jews by the international Jewish community. The Lemba have much stronger DNA evidence than the Beta Israel to link them to the main body of the Jewish people.
Sephardi Jews and Mizraḥi Jews living in North Africa, especially in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia although many of these have now emigrated, mostly to Israel and France, with substantial numbers also emigrating to Canada and the USA
The Jews of South Africa, who are mostly Ashkenazi Jews, descended from pre-Holocaust immigrant Lithuanian Jews.

Ancient Jewish communities

Ancient communities of African Jews, in one of the meanings above, would include the Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews of North Africa, as well as a number of Black African groups, specifically the Lemba of Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the South African region of Venda who claim descent from King Solomon, as well as the Beta Israel of Ethiopia claim descent from the Tribe of Dan, although their actual history is controversial. The Igbos a Maghrebi (West African) Jewish community in Nigeria also claim descent from Yemenite, Moroccan, and East African Jewish communities.

North Africa

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Remnants of longstanding Jewish communities remain in Morocco, Tunisia and the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, with a strong Jewish community remaining as Djerba in Tunisia. However, as in the rest of the Arab world since the founding of Israel, most have emigrated, mostly either to Israel, France or Spain.

Ethiopia

The Beta Israel of Ethiopia were recognized by the Israeli government as "official" Jews in 1975, and many of them were air-lifted to Israel during the time of Prime Minister Menahem Begin; significant immigration continues into the 21st century. Begin had obtained an official ruling from the Israeli Sephardi Chief Rabbi (or Rishon LeTzion) Ovadia Yosef that they were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes, probably from the Tribe of Dan, as there are rabbinical responsa that discussed issues concerning them going back hundreds of years; however, historical and DNA evidence suggest different origins. Rabbi Yosef ruled that upon arrival in Israel they must undergo a pro forma conversion to Judaism without the normal rigid requirements of gentile converts who have no concrete connection with Jews or Judaism; most other rabbinic authorities consider the conversions to be actual conversions, not pro forma. The practices of the Beta Israel differ significantly from those of other forms of Judaism. One significant difference is that they lack the festivals of Purim and Hanukkah. This is probably because they branched off from the main body of Judaism before these holy days were developed.

The Lemba

The Lemba or Lembaa are a group of people in southern Africa. Although they speak Bantu languages similar to their neighbours, they have specific religious practices similar to those in Judaism, and a tradition of being a migrant people with clues pointing to an origin in the Middle East or North Africa.

They have restrictions on intermarriage with non-Lemba, with it being particularly difficult for male non-Lemba to become part of the tribe. The presence of a disproportionate number of particular polymorphisms on the Y chromosome known as the Cohen modal haplotype suggests an ancestral link to the Kohanim or priests, a distinct subgroup of Jews.

Igbo (Ibo) Jews

The Igbo (Ibo) Jews of Nigeria, who some consider a community of "Yehudim Maghrebim" (North and West African Jews, note: Maghreb also means northern Africa, and is not exclusive to Ibos) are the Jewish component of the Igbo (Ibo) ethnic group who are said to be descended from the southern and westward migrations of both ancient Semitic and later Jewish peoples from the Middle East into West Africa. This migration, said to have started more than 1500 years ago, is believed to have taken deeper roots in the region during the reign of the Dja (Dia) rulers of several Songhai Empire regions.

According to the record Tarikh es Soudan recorded by Abderrahman ben Abdallah es-Sadi (trad. O. Houdas) one such community was formed by a group of Egyptian Jews, who traveled by way of the Sahel corridor through Chad into Mali. Another such community was that of the Dji (Dia) ruler of Koukiya (located near the Niger river), whose name is only known as Dialliaman (or Dia min al Yaman) also called Za-al-Ayaman (meaning “He comes from Yemen”). According to local legends Dialliaman (Za-al-Ayaman) was a member of one of the Jewish colonies transported from Yemen by the Abbysinians in the sixth century C.E. Dialliaman is said to have traveled into West Africa along with his brother, and eventually established a local Jewish community in Northern Nigeria.

Other sources say that other Jewish communities in the region from Morocco, Egypt, Portugal, and possibly even Gojjam Ethiopia made their way into West Africa by way of the Niger. Some communities are said to connected to the Jewish Berber population like a group of Kal Tamasheq known as Iddao Ishaak of Niger that traveled from North Africa into West Africa for trade, as well as those escaping the Islamic invasions into North Africa and Mali.

According to Igbo lore of the Eri, Nri, and Ozubulu families the Jewish Igbo ethnic groups are comprised of the following 3 lineage types:

Benei Gath: Igbos said to have descended from tribe of Gath ben-Ya`aqov, who was the 8th son of the Israeli patriarch Ya`aqov (Jacob). This lineage is traced though Gath's son Eri ben-Gath. The clans said to come from this lineage comprise of the Aguleri, Umuleri, Oreri, Enugwu Ikwu, Ogbunike, Awkuzu, Nteje, and Igbariam.

Benei Zevulun: Igbos said to have descended from the tribe of Zevulun ben-Ya`aqov, who was the 5th son of Ya`aqov (Jacob). This lineage comprises of the Ubulu Okiti, Ubulu Ukwu, in Delta State, who settled in Ubulu Ihejiofor. According to tradition, it is said that a descendant of the tribe of Zevulun named Zevulunu, on the advice of a certain Levite, married a woman from Oji, whom descended from the tribe of Judah, and from this union was born Ozubulu ben-Zebulunu. It is said that Ozubulu then went on to have 4 sons of his own who settled into other parts of the region. These sons being: Amakwa, from whom a clan in Neni, Anambra State descended, and Egbema, from whom the Egbema Ugwuta clan in Imo State and the Ohaji Egbema clan in Rivers State descended.

Benei Menash: Igbos whom it is theorized may be descendants of the tribe of Meneshsheh ben-Yoseph, who was one of the grandsons of Ya`aqov (Jacob) through his 11th son Yoseph (Joseph). According to the Torah Jacob claimed both Menashsheh and his brother Ephrayim as his own sons. It is theorized by some that this is the possible lineage of the Amichi, Ichi, Nnewi-Ichi clans.

It is also more than possible that certain Nigerian Jews in the Nri families may be descendants of Levitical (Levite Priests) migrants from Djerba, Tunisia whom were said to have left Judea and settled in North Africa before and after the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples in Jerusalem. The most likely scenario is that the ancestors of the Igbos were made up of familiar clans of Israelis and Judaens whom, for various reasons, left Israel before and during the Assyrian and Babylonian sieges. This would explain how their oral tradition contains the specific tribes these clans originated from.

Groups called Godians and Ibrim maintained much of the Jewish traditions of the Igbo Jews. These groups maintained the Jewish traditions that the majority of the communities lost over time due to their isolation from the rest of Nigerian society. Certain Nigerian Jewish communities have been making connections with Jews around the world with the help of Israelis who work in Nigeria, out-reach organizations like Kulanu [1], and members of the Igbo Jewish community outside Nigeria who underwent Giyyur Khelqi (Orthodox Return conversion to Judaism). Two synagogues in Nigeria were formed by Jews outside Nigeria, and are maintained by Jews in Nigeria.

Because no formal census has been taken in the region, it is unknown how many native Jews reside in Nigeria. There are currently 26 synagogues of various sizes and estimates of possibly as many as 30,000 Igbos practicing Judaism.

Bnai Ephraim

The Bnai Ephraim are different from other Nigerian Jewish groups in that they live among the Yoruba instead of the Igbo people.

Medieval arrivals

The largest influx of Jews to Africa came after the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of the Jews in Spain in 1492, and Portugal and Sicily soon afterwards. Many of these Sephardic Jews settled in North Africa. Additionally, King Manuel I of Portugal exiled about 2,000 Jewish children to São Tomé and Príncipe around 1500. Most died, but in the early 1600s "the local bishop noted with disgust that there were still Jewish observances on the island and returned to Portugal because of his frustration with them." [2] Although Jewish practices faded over subsequent centuries, there are people in São Tomé and Príncipe who are aware of partial descent from this population. Similarly, a number of Portuguese ethnic Jews were exiled to Sao Tome after forced conversions to Roman Catholicism.

The Jews of Mali - There are several thousand people of undoubted Jewish ancestry in Timbuktu, Mali. In the 14th century many Moors and Jews, fleeing persecution in Spain, migrated south to the Timbuktu area, at that time part of the Songhai empire. Among them was the Kehath (Ka'ti) family, descended from Ismael Jan Kot Al-yahudi of Scheida, Morocco. Sons of this prominent family founded three villages that still exist near Timbuktu -- Kirshamba, Haybomo, and Kongougara. In 1492, Askia Muhammed came to power in the previously tolerant region of Timbuktu and decreed that Jews must convert to Islam or leave; Judaism became illegal in Mali, as it did in Catholic Spain that same year. As the historian Leo Africanus wrote in 1526: "The king (Askia) is a declared enemy of the Jews. He will not allow any to live in the city. If he hears it said that a Berber merchant frequents them or does business with them, he confiscates his goods." 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.[3]

Emergent modern communities

The Jews of Uganda - The Abayudaya of Uganda are a group who have enthusiastically embraced Judaism in relatively recent times—their practice of the religion dates only from 1917. [4]
The House of Israel community of Sefwi Wiawso and Sefwi Sui in Western Ghana claim that their Sefwi ancestors are descendants of Jews who migrated south through Côte d'Ivoire. The continuous practice of Judaism in this community, however, dates back to only the early 1970s.
The Jews of Zimbabwe - The Jews of Rusape, Zimbabwe claim ancient Jewish tribal connections—in fact, they claim that most Black Africans (especially the Bantu peoples) are actually of Jewish origin. Like the Abayudaya, however, the active practice of Judaism in the Rusape community dates back only to the early twentieth century; in this case, to 1903. (Despite the chronological proximity of the beginnings of observance in these two communities, a historical relationship between them should not be inferred: there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate the existence of any relationship between them, aside from their interest in Judaism.) This community, although they no longer believe in Jesus as Messiah as Christian people do, they do believe that Jesus was a prophet, however that all people on Earth are prophets as well and so Jesus had no high or special status. Currently the community is moving towards more mainstream Judaism.

Modern communities of European descent

There is a substantial, mostly Ashkenazic Jewish community in South Africa. These Jews arrived mostly from Lithuania prior to World War II, though others have origins in Britain, Germany, and Eastern Europe. Connected to them were the small European Jewish communities in Namibia (South West Africa), Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), Lesotho (Basutuland), Swaziland, Botswana (Bechuanaland), Zaire (Belgian Congo), Kenya, Malawi (Nyasaland), Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) all of which had synagogues and even formal Jewish schools usually based in the capitals of these countries. (See History of the Jews in South Africa.)
Historically, there was a Jewish community in Maputo, Mozambique but in the independence era nearly all left. The government has officially returned the Maputo synagogue to the Jewish community, but "little or no Jewish community remains to reclaim it." [5]

See also

Who is a Jew?
Law of Return
Ten Lost Tribes
Islam and Judaism
Judaism and Christianity
British Uganda Program, a British idea to create a Jewish homeland in East Africa
Beta Israel
Bnai Ephraim
Lemba

External links

General

Jay Sand's site about African Jews

Lemba

Nigeria and Uganda

Timbuktu

Timbuktu: City of Legends
Les manuscrits trouvés à Tombouctou, by Jean-Michel Djian

Northern Africa

Jews and Berbers, by Dr. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman

Resources

General

Wars of the Jews: A Military History from Biblical to Modern Times, Hipporcrene Books, New York, 1990, by Monroe Rosenthal and Isaac Mozeson
Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, Jason Aronson Inc., Jerusalem, by Ken Blady
Jews In Africa: Ancient Black African Relations, Fact Paper 19-II, By Samuel Kurinsky
Jews in Places You Never Thought of, Ktav Publishing, by Karen Primak
Hebrewisms of West Africa: From Nile to Niger With the Jews, The Dial Press, NY, 1931, by Joseph J. Williams

Northern Africa

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, December 30, 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

Nigeria

Igbos, Jews in Africa?, (Volume 1), Mega Press Limited, Abuja, Nigeria, 2004, by Remy Ilona and Ehav Eliyahu
Northern Tribes of Nigeria, Volume 1, Oxford, page 66, by C.K. Meek
Jews of Nigeria: The Aro Empire, by Eze Okafor-Ogbaji

Cape Verde and Guinea Coast

Jews in Cape Verde and on the Guinea Coast, Paper presented at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, February 11, 1996, by Richard Lobban

Ethiopia

Stigma "Gojjam": The Abbyssianian Pariah Orits, Guihon Books, University of Geneva, 1993, by Muse Tegegnehe:יהדות זימבבואה

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Categories: Ethnic groups in Africa | Jews by country | Jews

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