| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Bitam, Oyem | |
| Languages | |
| French, Hebrew | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism |
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| Jews and Judaism |
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The history of the Jews in Gabon dates back to at least the 17th century, when Black Jewish communities existed along the Gabonese coastline. The contemporary Jewish community in Gabon is mostly composed of converts and foreign-born residents.
In the seventeenth century a Black Jewish community existed on the Loango coast in the Kingdom of Loango in what is now Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and the Cabinda Province of Angola. This community was first mentioned in 1777 and a more thorough description was provided by the scientific works which were produced by the German Loango Expedition of 1873–76. This community had no links with Jewish communities elsewhere and has now disappeared. According to Tudor Parfitt, these communities were of considerable interest to race scientists during the period of the European Enlightenment. [1] The Jewish community in the region may have been of Iberian Sephardi origin. Some European maps from the 17th century designate the Loango coastline as the Gulf of the Jews, golfo do judeus or golfos dos judeos. According to the Moravian missionary Christian Georg Andreas Oldendorp, the Black Jewish community in the Loango region was established by Jews from São Tomé who had been expelled and that it was from this population of exiles that "the black Portuguese and the black Jews of Loango, who were despised even by the local black population, were descended." [2]
In 1994, an April Fool's Day broadcast on Israeli radio claimed that there was a tribe of Black Jews in Gabon who were descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. At the time, there was only a tiny Jewish community in Gabon composed mostly of Israeli expatriates. [3]
Small Jewish communities composed of former Christians have developed in the towns of Bitam and Oyem. These communities practice Jewish customs, but do not yet have synagogues. [4] These communities are located in northern Gabon near the border with Cameroon and are led by Pascal Meka Ngomo, a former Evangelical Christian leader who abandoned Christianity for Judaism. The community hung its first mezuzah in 2014. [5]
The Sena, Lemba, Remba, or Mwenye are an ethnic group which is native to South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe of mixed Bantu and Yemeni heritage. Within South Africa, they are particularly concentrated in the Limpopo province and the Mpumalanga province.
The Abayudaya are a Jewish community in eastern Uganda, near the town of Mbale. They are devout in their practice, keeping kashrut and observing Shabbat. There are several different villages where the Abayudaya live. A community that converted to Judaism in the 20th century, most community members are affiliated with the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism. In June 2016, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin led a Beit Din that performed an Orthodox conversion for the Putti community of Abayudaya.
African Jewish communities include:
The Bene EphraimBnei Ephraim, also called Telugu Jews because they speak Telugu, are a small community living primarily in Kotha Reddy Palem, a village outside Chebrolu, Guntur District, and in Machilipatnam, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India, near the delta of the River Krishna. They claim to be descendants of the Tribe of Ephraim, of the Ten Lost Tribes, and since the 1980s have learned to practice modern Judaism.
Oyem is the capital of Woleu-Ntem province in northern Gabon, lying on the N2 road and the River Ntem.
Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.
The House of Israel is a Jewish community located in southwestern Ghana, in the towns of Sefwi Wiawso and Sefwi Sui. This group of people, of the Sefwi tribe, built a synagogue in 1998. Many of the men and children read English, but no one knows Hebrew.
The Ten Lost Tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire c. 722 BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim---all but Judah, Benjamin, and some members of the priestly Tribe of Levi, which did not have its own territory. However, since the tribe of Simeon lived well within the territory of Judah, it is not clear why this tribe was never included in this list. Also, the tribes of Asher and Reuben were never mentioned as participating in anything after the conquest, living in either Phoenician (Asher) or Moabite (Reuben) controlled territory. By the middle 9th century BCE the territory of Gad was also (re)taken by the Moabites, so the Assyrians could at most have removed the other six tribes. Thus, the "10 tribes" appears to be a misnomer, meaning all of the Israelites that were living outside the Kingdom of Judah. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that "there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers".
The history of the Jews in Nigeria is a complex subject.
The history of the Jews of Ghana, previously known as the Gold Coast, dates back several centuries. The contemporary Jewish community is small and mostly composed of foreign residents. The House of Israel, a community of aspiring converts, has begun to emerge in recent decades.
Tudor Parfitt is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, traveller and adventurer. He specialises in the study of Jewish communities and Judaising communities around the world, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Americas and the development of issues about the construction of race.
Igbo Jews are members of the Igbo people of Nigeria who practice Judaism.
Accounts of Jews in Madagascar go back to the earliest ethnographic descriptions of the island, from the mid-17th century. Madagascar has a small Jewish population, including normative adherents as well as Judaic mystics, but the island has not historically been a significant center for Jewish settlement. Despite this, an enduring origin myth across Malagasy ethnic groups suggests that the island's inhabitants descended from ancient Jews, and thus that the modern Malagasy and Jewish peoples share a racial affinity. This belief, termed the "Malagasy secret", is so widespread that some Malagasy refer to the island's people as the Diaspora Jiosy Gasy. As a result, Jewish symbols, paraphernalia, and teachings have been integrated into the syncretic religious practices of some Malagasy populations. Similar notions of Madagascar's supposed Israelite roots persisted in European chronicles of the island until the early 20th century, and may have influenced a Nazi plan to relocate Europe's Jews to Madagascar. More recently, the possibility of Portuguese Jewish conversos making contact with Madagascar in the 15th century has been proposed.
The history of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be traced back to 1907, when the first Jewish immigrants began to arrive in the country. The current Jewish Congolese population is mostly of Sephardi background.
Black Judaism is Judaism that is practiced by communities of African descent, both within Africa and within the African diaspora, including North America, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere. Significant examples of Black Judaism include Judaism as it is practiced by Ethiopian Jews and African-American Jews. Jews who may be considered Black have existed for millennia, with Zipporah sometimes considered to be one of the first Black Jews who was mentioned within Jewish history.
The recorded history of the Jews in Angola stretches from the Middle Ages to modern times. A very small community of Jews lives in Angola mostly in the capital city of Luanda with a handful scattered elsewhere of mixed origins and backgrounds. There are also a number of transitory Israeli businesspeople living in Angola.
The history of the Jews in Cameroon is believed by some to date back over two thousand years. Today the Jewish community in Cameroon is small, with a handful of mostly Israeli Jews living in the capital city of Yaoundé.
The history of the Jews in Ivory Coast dates back at least 50 years. A small Jewish community has emerged in the capital city of Abidjan. Most Ivorian Jews are either local converts or foreign-born residents.
The history of the Jews in the Republic of the Congo dates back to at least the 17th century, when Black Jewish communities existed along the Congolese coastline. The contemporary Jewish community is small.
Kulanu is a Jewish non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish communal life among lost and dispersed communities, primarily in Africa and Central America.
