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Abayudaya Pesach Campaign

Support Masorti Olami and Denver Jewish Day School's Abayudaya Pesach Campaign to help purchase matzah and wine for our Abayudaya communities in Uganda and Kenya!

The Abayudaya (Abayudaya is a Luganda word for people of Judah) community is comprised of over 2,500 members spread among 11 villages and centers across eastern Uganda and northern Kenya. The community was founded in the early 20th century by Semei Kakangulu, a Ugandan military leader who discovered Judaism after breaking away from Christianity following a falling out with the British colonial authorities. The Abayudaya community formally converted to Judaism in 2002 under the auspices of the Masorti/Conservative Movement, and live their daily lives committed to traditional Judaism, observing kashrut, celebrating Shabbat and holidays, and engaging in text study on a regular basis. The community is active, performs its own schitah, has their own health clinic, schools, NOAM youth groups and a Marom young adult center.

Current seniors at Denver Jewish Day School, Maya Friedlander, Mia Wexler, and Megan Coughlan are generously fundraising money for matzah, wine and other Passover essentials for the Abayudaya Jewish communities in Uganda, in collaboration with Masorti Olami. Maya Friedlander, who reached out to Masorti Olami to initiate this partnership, has been researching various Jewish communities throughout the world, and felt that for Passover her community in Colorado could contribute to the larger Jewish society- and donate money towards goods that would be used to buy Passover items for the Abayudaya communities across Uganda.

Through Masorti Olami, we have been able to secure a supplier for matzah and wine, among other products, but we need your help.

To provide the 11 Masorti/Conservative communities with wine and matzah for the week, including taxes and travel to and from Kenya to transport the cases, we need to raise approximately $5,000.

Please consider giving generously to this amazing initiative, and help our Abayudaya communities celebrate Passover to its fullest!

We are a registered non-profit charity in the United States (we are registered under our official name "World Council of Synagogues, Inc." and donations are tax-deductible for US taxpayers). We are also a registered non-profit (Amutah) in Israel with a certificate of good standing (Nihul Takin).

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