Opening remarks were delivered by Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, David E.R. Dangoor, President of the American Sephardi Federation and Yosef Abramowitz, President and CEO of Energiya Global Capital. The conference honored with the “Moses, The African: Jewish Leadership Awards”,Mr. Abramowitz, Dr. Ephraim Isaac, Institute of Semitic Studies, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, represented by Chaya Singer, SAJBD’s Diplomatic and Parliamentary Representative, Michael Landau (Lifemobile Uganda), and Carole Castiel, Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project. The Grammy-nominated Innov Gnawa, Ethiopian singer Habte Awalom, and AbayMengist with Eskista Dancers performed.
The Jewish Africa Film Festival sponsored by KULANU was held both evenings as a companion program to the Jewish Africa Conference. It featured film makers and leaders of the Jewish communities in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, and Nigeria.
Starting day two, lecturers covered the Beta Israel ofEthiopia and their identity until 1991 withfascinating insights by Dr.Shalva Weil from the Hebrew University into the first self-described “Falashmura” who trekked by foot from Ethiopia to Jerusalem in theearly 1900s. We also heard from a young student Abere Endeshaw Kerehu who lives in Addis Ababa today and seeks to enhance the lives of the Jews still living there whilst struggling with Israel’s slow response to bringing the remaining 8,000 members of the community to the Jewish State. Ethiopian-born Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom spoke with great insight and conviction about the challenges facing Ethiopian Jews in Israelin the context of preserving their culture, traditions and identify.
Dr. Jay Waronker, an architect by profession, displayed and spoke about his unique drawings and personal commitment over many years to record the synagogues of Africa. You can see the attention to detailand professionalism in his work at www.africansynagogues.org
Well known photographer Jono David presented a humorous and yet very impressively serious expose of his journey throughout Africa to visually record disparate Jewish communities – from Madagascar to the Cameroon and from the Cape to Morocco. He spoke about his visits and showed photographs of the Lemba of South Africa and Zimbabwe and the Djerba community on the island off the coast of North Africa where Jews have lived for over 2,500 years. He visited and photographed the Igbo Jews of Nigeria near Abuja. To get a sense of Jono’s work visit his site at www.jewishphotolibrary.com.
Ilona Remy gave an ardent speech expressing his frustrations of how the Igbos Jews with some 26 synagogues in Nigeria and approximately known 30,000 members are ignored by mainstream Jewish institutions, the Rabbinate and by Israel. Referring to the “Israelites of Biafra”, Mr. Remy estimated that the total community could be“50 million” people.
Maguy Kakon spoke eloquently about her experiences and challenges as the first Jewish woman to run for a seat in Moroccan parliamentary elections.
Carol Castiel gave a fascinating presentation on her work in preserving the story of the Jews of Cabo Verde.
Dr. Tudor Parfitt from Oxford University gave a spell-binding lecture on his research and published books about the Lemba tribe of South Africa and Zimbabwe who claim Jewish heritage. His work involved physically tracking the possible route the Lemba may have taken down the East Coast of Africa based on the oral history from their tribal elders. He reached the town of Sena in Yemen where the Lemba believe they came from. His studies involved a series of DNA tests which showed the male Lemba displayed a high proportion of paternal Semitic ancestry, DNA (called Cohen Modal Haplotype) that is common to both Arabs and Jews from the Middle East. You can see the attention to detailand professionalism in his work at www.africansynagogues.org
Dr. Tudor Parfitt from Oxford University gave a spell-binding lecture on his research and published books about the Lemba tribe of South Africa and Zimbabwe who claim Jewish heritage. His work involved physically tracking the possible route the Lemba may have taken down the East Coast of Africa based on the oral history from their tribal elders. He reached the town of Sena in Yemen where the Lemba believe they came from. His studies involved a series of DNA tests which showed the male Lemba displayed a high proportion of paternal Semitic ancestry, DNA (called Cohen Modal Haplotype) that is common to both Arabs and Jews from the Middle East.
