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.

The community has three main schools, the Hadassah Primary School, the Semei Kakungulu High School, and the Tikkun Olam Nursery and Primary School, all of which were established by the community itself to provide an educational framework in which its young people can study Judaism and learn Hebrew, alongside the regular government curriculum. In June 2010, thanks to a few major funders, the Tobin Heath Center was opened in the third largest city in Uganda, Mbale. The 4,000 sq. ft. facility has two stories with 20 rooms licensed by the Ministry of Health. The Tobin Health Center is making a significant contribution to the health and well-being of not only the Abayudaya but also the community at large. The Tobin Heath Center is also home to the Shifrah and Puah Maternity Center which was founded in July 2018. The center serves the women of the community, and all of the neighboring villages with a diverse clientele and staff of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

We continue to build and support the youth (NOAM) and young adult (Marom) movements in Uganda and Kenya. One of the most exciting events of the year is the NOAM AYA (Abayudaya Youth Association) convention which is typically held in Mbale each January during the school vacation. Abayudaya youth gather from all the villages in Uganda and Kenya for a week of Torah study, Jewish youth group activities, leadership training, and the chance to make friends, connecting with other Jewish young people in the community. Between conventions, AYA holds local NOAM Shabbatons for youth, each time at a different village in Uganda, bringing together anywhere from 40-120 youth from all across Uganda.

Marom Kampala offers Abayudaya students the opportunity to celebrate Shabbat and holidays, study Torah and Hebrew, and socialize with other Jews. Although the students in the Marom Center in Kampala are active, celebrating holidays and Shabbat together, the community is small and lacks professional guidance. Members of Marom Kampala are seeking a deeper knowledge of Judaism in general and specifically Masorti/Conservative Judaism, Israel, and practical experiences in Jewish tradition. They are looking for more ways to connect to Israel and the Jewish community inside and outside Israel.

While the community itself is deeply committed to Judaism and observes the Mitzvot fully, the State of Israel has yet to recognize their conversions, and as such refuses to open its doors for Abayudaya Jews to make Aliyah or even study in Israel. As such, the "shlichut" that we perform for the Abayudaya communities is of vital importance. Visiting educators and youth group members provide an invaluable resource for Jewish education as well as the organizational and movement skills that can help the community’s work become more focused and productive.

The Abayudaya communities have started a rabbinic coalition known as the Abayudaya Rabbinic Union bringing together all spiritual leaders including the two orthodox Communities of Putti and KKSY. They meet regularly to learn from each other and share Divrei Torah. They hope to hold workshops, seminars, and conferences where their spiritual leaders will be given an opportunity to learn and grow professionally. It will be a launch pad for those who would like to go to rabbinic school. Their other objective is to unite the Abayudaya communities despite their denominational differences by having a united presence on all their lifecycle events and hopefully on celebrations like Purim and Hanukkah that do not require halakhic strictness on travel and work. They would really like to motivate their spiritual leaders with a monthly stipend and a Shabbat lunch and learn kiddush.

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!