Support Abayudaya Communities in Uganda and Kenya

The Abayudaya (Abayudaya is a Luganda word for "People of Judah") community is comprised of over 3,000 members spread among ten villages and centers across eastern Uganda and northern Kenya. All ten communities and centers are recognized by the Jewish Agency for Israel and Masorti Olami (the Masorti/Conservative Movement around the world). The Abayudaya communities owe their origin to Semei Kakungulu, a Ugandan military agent for the British missionaries who decided to practice Judaism upon his study and meditation of the Bible, believing only the Old Testament to be true. He adopted the observance of all Moses' commandments, including the circumcision of himself and his sons, and suggested this observance for all his followers. In 1919, he declared that his community was Jewish. Over the next century, this African community became better acquainted with Jewish practice and the community grew, but it was nearly destroyed during the reign of Idi Amin when Judaism was outlawed in Uganda. However, the few Jews who maintained their secret practices during those dark years rebuilt the community after Idi Amin’s fall and they made contact with Jewish communities outside Uganda as well. In 2002, the Masorti/Conservative Movement’s Beit Din visited the community and converted 300 members, recognizing them as officially Jewish.

The Abayudaya live their daily lives committed to traditional Judaism, observing kashrut and celebrating Shabbat and holidays, reading Torah on Mondays and Thursdays, and engaging in text study on a regular basis. During worship, the community uses a blend of languages, Luganda, the local tongue, English, and Hebrew. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu is the Chief Rabbi of the Abayudaya communities in Uganda and Kenya. He was ordained in 2008 after completing his five years of rabbinic studies at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In July 2008, following his ordination, Rabbi Sizomu returned to Uganda so that he could assume the official role of Spiritual Leader of the Abayudaya.

Masorti Olami has been supporting the Abayudaya communities for over 20 years, and together with our partners across the Masorti/Conservative movement, we have been focusing on providing the communities with spiritual and financial support to strengthen their communities. This support includes providing ritual objects before holidays; providing the communities with talitot, siddurim, and hummashim; developing leadership programs; providing hebrew lessons and workbooks; supporting agricultural projects and new business initiatives; youth and young adult programming; grants for university students; and much more. Read more about our Abayudaya Communities here.

Despite their flourishing religious life, the Abayudaya communities still face innumerable struggles. Most members of the community are subsistence farmers and have been hit badly by famine and the pandemic in recent years. Electricity, water, and internet are not accessible to most villagers, and poverty is rampant.

The Abayudaya communities depend on subsistence farming for their livelihoods. Many families have less than 2 acres of land where they grow a combination of maize, cassava, beans, ground nuts (all food crops), coffee, and watermelon (cash crops), however, none of these families produce enough food to eat and sell at the market. However, they often sell the little they do produce to meet their basic needs such as food and medicine, and to pay school fees. Our Abayudaya communities are often struck with serious famine and drought due to weather changes that affect the seasons and lead to little to no food production which results in serious famine, health problems and serious diseases, affecting almost all of the families in the community.

Please consider donating below to help us continue our support of the Abayudaya Masorti/Conservative communities!