The Black Jews of Africa

Abstract

Over the last several decades, an astonishing phenomenon has developed: a Jewish rebirth of sorts occurring throughout Africa. Different ethnic groups proclaim that they are returning to long forgotten Jewish roots and African clans trace their lineage to the Lost Tribes of Israel. This book addresses the elaboration and the development of Jewish identities by Africans. Africans have encountered Jewish myths and traditions in multiple forms and under a number of situations. The context and circumstances of these encounters produced a series of influences that gradually led, within some African societies, to the elaboration of a new Jewish identity connected with that of the Diaspora. The book presents one by one the different groups of Black Jews from western central, eastern, and southern Africa, and the ways in which they have used and imagined their oral history and traditional customs to construct a distinct Jewish identity. The purpose of the book is to review the processes and immensely complex interactions which shaped these new religious identities. It explores the way in which Africans have interacted with the ancient mythological sub-strata of both western and Africans idea of Jews in order to create a distinct Jewish identity. It particularly seeks to identify and to assess colonial influences and their internalization by African societies in the shaping of new African religious identities. Along with these notions the book examines how, in the absence of recorded African history, the eminently malleable accounts of Jewish lineage developed by African groups inspired by Judaism co-exist with the possible historical traces of a Jewish presence in Africa.

Traditional African (the Igbo) Marriage Customs & the Influence of the Western Culture: Marxist Approach

“…This article is a qualitative research study and our approach for data collection is Bruder, (2008), begins by tracing the origin of the Igbo people as having migrated from the Jewish kingdom and are the descendants of Eri, the fifth son of Gad. Gad was one of the sons of Jacob, and Jacob the son of Abraham (Genesis 46: 15-18, & Numbers 26: 16-18).…”

“…They are one of the three main tribes in Nigeria with population numbering over 60 million. The Igbo people have been quoted as having migrated from the Jewish kingdom (Bruder, 2008). They are the descendants of Eri, the fifth son of Gad, Gad being the seventh son of Jacob, and Jacob being one of the sons of Abraham as indicated in the book of Genesis (Genesis 46: 15-18, & Numbers 26: 16-18).…”

India–Zimbabwe Relations: Recalibrating the Failing Engagement

“…This narrative has omissions. Instead, the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom had already established links, and for instance, there was an archaeological discovery of glass beads, copper and gold coins from India; there is evidence of Indian writings on hard surfaces such as stones or terracotta around Great Zimbabwe ruins (Bruder 2008). Great Zimbabwe was established in 950 AD and abandoned in 1500 AD, with Mutapa, an offshoot that developed between 1200 and 1450 (Summers 1971).…”

Les convertis noirs au Judaïsme en France

“…Et pourtant il y a environ trois décennies que le phénomène des Juifs noirs a pris de l'ampleur en Afrique, ainsi qu'il a été mis en évidence par les travaux de chercheurs d'horizons divers. On compte, parmi les plus significatifs, les travaux de Tudor Parfitt, d'Emanuela Trevisan-Semi (Parfitt et Trevisan-Semi 2002) et d'Edith Bruder sur les Juifs noirs d' Afrique (Bruder 2008(Bruder , 2014, de Magdel Le Roux sur les Juifs lembas d' Afrique du Sud (Le Roux 2015), de Daniel Lis sur les Juifs ibos du Nigéria (Lis 2015), ou encore de Daniel Friedmann (Friedmann et Santamaria 1994), Shalva Weil (Weil 2007) ou Lisa Anteby (Anteby-Yemini 2004) sur les Juifs éthiopiens en Israël, entre autres. Cependant les Juifs noirs ne restent pas seulement en Afrique ou en Israël; ils se déplacent à travers le monde et notamment en France, où, parallèlement au binaire ashkénaze/séfarade, ils viennent ajouter leur présence à celle des Africains et Antillais convertis au Judaïsme en France.…”