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The Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey

Posted by Moshe Ben YAH on October 4, 2012 at 7:15 AM

The Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey

Reviews

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“A fascinating, sensitive, and insightful addition to the rapidly developing field of studies of Jews and Judaism in Africa. A must-read . . .”

—Richard Hull, New York University

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“Metaphorically, the Igbo have often been regarded as ‘the Jews of Nigeria’ because of their entrepreneurial exceptionalism. This volume is about those Igbo who are literally of Jewish faith. Professor William Miles provides us with a fascinating report about Black Jews who have prospered in a country with the largest concentration of Muslims on the African continent.”

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—Ali A. Mazrui, Professor and Director of Global Cultural Studies, State University of New York, Binghamton

LI synagogue lends hand to Nigerian Jews

Newsweek, NYC & LI Sept 17, 2012

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” Members of a Plainview synagogue are extending support to a group of Nigerians, estimated to number in the thousands, who have discovered what they believe are their ancient Jewish roots. The decision by members of the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria to follow Judaism instead of Christianity is generating debate among rabbis and scholars about the authenticity of their Jewish roots and the converts’ assertions that Jews lived in Africa‘s most populous nation before the Christian missionaries arrived with European colonizers around 1800.But their little-known story is also stoking fascination and enthusiasm. A new documentary film is out and a book by a professor who grew up in West Hempstead goes on sale in November, while the Manetto Hill Jewish Center in Plainview is sending 700 High Holy Days prayer books to the Igbo Jews.” They’re an inspiring group of people,” said Marilyn Morris, who organized the book-donation project. “To do something for them was great.” She recently invited the maker of “Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria” to show the film at her synagogue.

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Cultural similarities: About two decades ago, some Igbo started practicing Judaism after discovering — partly through the Internet — parallels between their longtime cultural practices and the Jewish faith, said filmmaker Jeff Lieberman. The Igbo, for instance, circumcise their sons on the eighth day after their birth, slaughter animals in ritualistic ways and do not eat nonkosher types of meat such as pork, or fish without scales.” The coincidental cultural practices really are striking,” said William Miles, a political science professor at Northeastern University and author of the forthcoming “Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey.” He estimates there are several thousand Igbo Jews today and about 25 synagogues, mainly in the southern and eastern parts of Nigeria. The Igbos’ embrace of Judaism recalls similar phenomena by ethnic groups in Uganda and Ethiopia.

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Muslims are the largest religious group in Nigeria, and the Igbos, 30 million strong, have lived as Christians for centuries. The Jewish converts often are ostracized or cast off by their own families. Questions about ancestry One Igbo featured in the film, Shmuel Tikzah, 37, said in the film that his father has accepted his conversion from Catholicism to Judaism, but his mother cried and thinks he has joined a cult. “My father tried to convince her that Judaism is a pure religion,” he said, “but she couldn’t listen.” "It is an anguished and soul-wrenching discovery,” Lieberman said, for them to leave Christian religion that had been “a deep part of their lives.” Rabbi Howard Gorin of Rockville, Md., who has ministered to the Igbo Jews on three trips, said there are also tens of thousands of Igbos who fall into a more nebulous category, including those who practice Judaism but also still believe in Jesus Christ, and others who don’t practice Judaism but consider themselves “Jewish.”Gorin said he does not believe the Igbo had Jewish ancestors. “I don’t think they are re-emerging because I don’t believe there ever was an historic Jewish community in Nigeria,” he said. “There is totally no evidence for that.” He said they adopted customs that parallel Judaism simply by reading the Bibles brought by Christian missionaries. Lieberman said that while the jury is still out on whether Jews lived in Nigeria centuries ago, the fact is today many are proclaiming themselves Jewish.

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Matter of the heart: “In the final analysis,” said David Senter, rabbi of the Manetto Hill Jewish Center, “Judaism is a matter of the heart.” Morris said her synagogue recently replaced its High Holy Days prayer books with new ones, so the synagogue decided to send the old ones, still in good condition, to the Igbo Jews. The timing was also good because the holy days of Rosh Hashanah when Jews are encouraged to perform acts of charity were approaching. In late August she and her husband, Elliot, a pediatrician, drove the books to a shipping company in Maryland to send to Nigeria. “It’s nice to be able to pass down a piece of our heritage,” she said. “It was such a feel-good feeling when we drove down. We were just giddy almost.” Mitchell Nesenoff, a businessman from Dix Hills who travels often to Nigeria, said he will help distribute the books to synagogues there. Tikzah said in a phone interview that the Igbo Jews will be grateful for the books.” I’m very happy and excited about it,” said Tikzah, who dreams of studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan to become a rabbi if he can get a student visa.”

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4 Comments

Reply Remy Ilona; author of \The Igbos And Israel-An Inter-cultural Study Of The Oldest And Largest Jewish Diaspora'
8:56 AM on October 5, 2012 
Igbo customs via a vis Jewish customs.

Are many Jewish customs found in the Bible? Many are in the Bible, and many are not. The Bible does not have information about many things that the Jews are to do when they are bereaved; ie how to bury the dead, and how to mourn. The Bible presents only very scanty information about the relationships between kith and kin, and how it is to be managed. Also it did not tell us much about how the land of Israel was divided when Israel entered the land of promise. And so on and so forth. We saw what Jews did on most occasions in Jewish practice, and not in the Bible. And the Jewish practices parallel the Igbo equivalents, almost exactly. So we cannot say that the Igbos saw the 'Jewish practices' in the Bible and copied them. The missionaries who brought the Bible to the Igbos asw the Igbos performing those practices and 'educated' the Igbos that those practices are pagan. The Had gadya is not found in the Bible, yet the Igbos have an Igbo equivalent. No Igbo saw a Bible in Ivrit until a few years ago, yet the Igbo language contains many Hebrew words. There is very clear historical evidence that Jews lived in lands south of the Sahara not too many years ago.
Reply Remy Ilona; author of \The Igbos And Israel-An Inter-cultural Study Of The Oldest And Largest Jewish Diaspora'
9:08 AM on October 5, 2012 
Also very importantly there are Igbos who never became Christians, and have never read the Bible. They still practice the Igbo religion which is called Omenana. These Igbos practice those 'Jewish customs' which are found in Igbo practices. There are still Igbo communities in which the Igbo way of life is followed by many who have nothing to do with the church or the written Bible. Interestingly careful analysis of the term Omenana reveals that it is the idea of keeping the commandments in the Torah. And the Igbos have always called their culture Omenana ever before they saw any missionary or Bible.
Reply Remy Ilona; author of \The Igbos And Israel-An Inter-cultural Study Of The Oldest And Largest Jewish Diaspora'
9:16 AM on October 5, 2012 
Also very importantly there are Igbos who never became Christians, and have never read the Bible. They still practice the Igbo religion which is called Omenana. These Igbos practice those 'Jewish customs' which are found in Igbo practices. There are still Igbo communities in which the Igbo way of life is followed by many who have nothing to do with the church or the written Bible. Interestingly careful analysis of the term Omenana reveals that it is the idea of keeping the commandments in the Torah. And the Igbos have always called their culture Omenana ever before they saw any missionary or Bible.
Reply Moore Black Chi mmadike
4:09 PM on October 5, 2012 
Igbo people were egalitarians/republicans. Did the missionaries introduce democracy to them since the missionaries themselves were feudalistic. Did they teach my grandfather who was a high priest (non Christian) how to sacrifice animals? Rather, they were against such practice. Are Igbo people the only race that encountered the missionaries?