Spirituality

JEWISH UGANDA

from page 67

lived a Jewish life."
In 1995, the Abayudaya community
was visited by a delegation organized by
Kulanu, a Baltimore-based organization
involved in research, education and
donations to those in developing, but
unrecognized Jewish communities
around the world. Jerry and Sharon
Knoppow of West Bloomfield learned
about the Abayudaya from Kulanu's
Web site wwwkulanu.org and invited
J.J. and Rachel to Detroit to speak
about their community
"I learned about a world of non-
mainstream Jews who just did not fit the
Ashkenazi-Sephardi mold," said Jerry
Knoppow, who hopes to visit the
Abayudaya in their villages. "We con-
nected with them through Kulanu and
the Institute for Jewish and Community
Research (JCR) in San Francisco, which
is sponsoring their trip."
The pair is in the United States to
raise funds for their community,
Knoppow said.
"I personally hope our community
learns that we are `One People' and that
they support their causes."

What Would Help?

J.J., Rachel and Gershom are the only
ones from the Abayudaya villages to
travel to America to speak about their
community
This month-long trip marks J.J.'s
fourth time in the United States and
Rachel's second, but neither has been to
Detroit before. Each American visit has
been sponsored by the JCR
"We need to come to America to tell
people about our need for electricity
and running water for our six villages
and for our schools," J.J. said. "Right
now, only our major synagogue has
electricity and every day, we wait in line

To contact the Abayudaya, write:
The Abayudaya Community, P.O.
Box 225, Mbale, Uganda, or
e-mail: steno@swiftuganda.com
with the words, "For the
Abayudaya" in the subject line.
To make a donation, send a
check to: Abayudaya Fund, Institute
for Jewish and Community
Research, 3198 Fulton, San
Francisco, CA 94118; or Abayudaya
Jews of Uganda. Philanthropic Fund,
American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee, 711 3rd Avenue, New
York, NY 10017. Write: "For
Abayudaya Fund" on the check.
Information about the
Abayudaya is available at:
www.kulanu.org/abayudaya.

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2005

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Cover Story

Students learning Hebrew at Semei Kakungulu High School

communities around the world, hidden
or lost — and there are more. We have a
responsibility to help those in Africa
who want to return to their Jewish roots
or to become part of the Jewish people."
To that end, the JCR has sponsored
trips to the U.S. so J.J. and Rachel can
make others aware of their lives and
their needs. The JCR along with the
University of Judaism also has provided
a fellowship for Gershom to study and
for his family to live in California for
the five years of his schooling.
"We know he will go back with a
hope to open the first Pan-African
yeshivah to train rabbis in Africa," Dr.
Tobin said.
The JCR recently established a phil-
anthropic fund that is administered by
the American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee to fund-raise for a water
and electricity project for the
Abayudaya.

to pump water from a bore hole in the
ground to take back to our families. My
wife, Miriam, and I have nine children
and 15 adopted children. Rachel, who
is 23, is the oldest."
The Abayudaya community has one
high school, but it is too far from home
for many potential students to attend.
"We want to build a dormitory so
more students can come from other vil-
lages," J.J. said. "We have books that
have come from donations and are in
different synagogues, but we need a
library, to sit and study."
On this trip, they have visited
Washington, Baltimore, New York
and Los Angeles, where members of a
synagogue donated funds to help the
Abayudaya high school build a sci-
ence lab.
In Los Angeles, they also visited
Gershom, the spiritual leader of the
Abayudaya, who is a second-year stu-
dent at the University of Judaism's
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in
Los Angeles.
"Gershom is the first person from
our village to go to rabbinical school,"
said J.J., whose other brother, Aaron
Kintu Moses, is acting rabbi of the
community and head of Hadassah
Infant School, the Abayudaya elemen-
tary school.
"He did not go to rabbinical school,
but he is very educated," said J.J.,
whose father and grandfather also were
rabbis without formal rabbinic educa-
tion.
"After my ordination, I hope to serve
my community and other emerging
communities in Africa as a rabbi,"
Sizomu said. "I hope to start a yeshivah

After speaking in Detroit, the Kekis go
home to Mbale.
J.J. will return to his position as
mayor of his village. A former chair-
man of the Abayudaya community, he
is the first Jew to be elected to public
office in Uganda.
He and Rachel will return to a life
where most of the community of 714
Abayudaya work as subsistence farmers.
Without electricity, there is no refrigera-
tion, so they will continue their chore
of gathering fresh food daily.
Like the Kekis, most of the
Abayudaya keep kosher and each of the
community's five synagogues has some-
one trained to slaughter animals accord-
ing to Jewish law.
Shabbat is observed as it is in the
United States. Most attend Shabbat
services on both Friday evenings and
Shabbat mornings, with many walking
miles to avoid using transportation on
Shabbat. Services may be held in
Luganda alone or with Hebrew and
English added. In one synagogue, serv-
ices are solemn, with the congregation
removing their shoes once inside.
"They follow what the Torah said
that Moses was commanded to take off
his shoes at the burning bush," J.J.
said. "So they take off their shoes in
any holy place."
Another is an Orthodox synagogue
founded after an Orthodox American
rabbi came to Uganda sharing the
Orthodox observance of Judaism and
bringing Orthodox prayer books.
"But we don't think of them as being
separate," J.J. said. "We are all Jewish
together."

in Uganda that vvill'help prepare new
African Jewish religious leaders to cater
for the numerous congregations spring-
ing up on the continent."

Speaking And Singing

The Kekis came to America primarily
to speak at the third annual Bechol
Lashon conference in San Francisco, an
initiative of the JCR.
"Bechol Lashon [In Every Tongue] is
devoted to racial and ethnic diversity of
Jews throughout the world," said Dr.
Gary A. Tobin, president of the JCR,
which serves as an international think
tank providing policy research to the
Jewish and general communities.
"The conference brings together lead-
ers from Jewish communities around the
world," he said. "Our goal is to work
with the ancient and emerging Jewish
communities, some of which have his-
toric Jewish roots and some, like the
Abayudaya, who are relatively new"
Bechol Lashon is overseen by Diane
Tobin, JCR associate director.
In San Francisco, J.J. and Rachel also
performed African-Jewish music, as did
Gershom and his wife, Tziporah, at a
concert that celebrated Jewish diversity
and honored Black History Month.
Rabbi Baruch Yehuda, spiritual leader
of an all-black synagogue in New York,
also appeared.
"We believe in embracing diversity
and growth as a way of avoiding disap-
pearance," Dr. Tobin said. "What if
Gershom and J.J.'s father and grandfa-
ther were told, 'No, you can't be
Jewish?'
"We are eager for North American
Jews to understand emerging Jewish

Life Of The Abayudaya