If you missed it, enjoy this informative and well-presented story of the historic Jewish community of Barbados, and if you attended, watch it again, share with friends.
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Sub-Saharan African Jewish Alliance formed in the aftermath of Kulanu conference
SAJA seeks to unite the continent’s emerging communities.
BY AVI KUMAR
(December 30, 2022 / JNS) – The Sub-Saharan African Jewish Alliance was founded this month, with the goal of facilitating ties among the continent’s Jewish groups. The organization will include representatives from Tanzania, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya and Cameroon.
The SAJA was established after representatives of Jewish communities across sub-Saharan Africa gathered for the first time in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, this month to discuss various aspects of Judaism and Jewish life in the region.
SAJA has a temporary board with Mordreck Maersara from Zimbabwe currently serving as acting president. The group aims to draft a constitution and hold elections for a permanent board in the next six months. It also has a vice president and treasurer, and intends to add more positions to the roster after the constitution is finalized.
Maersara told JNS, “Our goal is to help each other by discussing both shared successes and challenges to aid each other to grow in our Judaism across Africa.”
Click here to read the full article on the Jewish News Syndicate website.
VIDEO: Hannukah Celebrations on the island of Majorca in Spain
Watch the recent Hanukkah celebrations in Palma on the island of Majorca, in Spain.
The event was organized by Limud Mallorca (https://limudmallorca.com), in collaboration with The Jewish Community of the Balearic Islands (https://www.cjib.es/en/home), Jewish Majorca (https://jewishmajorca.com), and the Instituto de Relaciones Culturales Baleares-Israel (http://baleares-israel.blogspot.com).
Sub-Saharan Jewish communities meet in Abidjan
December 12, 2022
Representatives of Jewish communities in Sub-Saharan Africa gathered last weekend in Ivory Coast to create an umbrella religious organisation for the region.
During a week of activities in Abidjan, the attendees learnt about Jewish practices, such as “kosher” slaughter and burial practices.
“The purpose of this meeting is to bring together all of the emerging Jewish communities that are developing and growing throughout Africa. For example, Nigeria has over 80 orthodox synagogues and it’s growing. And we find this in many countries across Africa. They’ve never met each other. (…) We spent a week together learning and studying the Bible, the Torah, the Jewish traditions and the Jewish law”, explained Arieh Greenspan, co-organizer of the conference.
The event was organized by a Jewish non-profit organization, Kulanu, with the aim of reuniting emerging Jewish communities in Africa.
“They understand that Judaism in Sub-Saharan Africa is sometimes a new phenomenon. Though some believe they are descendants of lost tribes or Israelite tribes in the Bible. Some have found Judaism new. And this group of combined people are practising Judaism, living Jewish lives, and for the first time ever got together to create an alliance”, added Bonita Sussman, known as Rabbanit, president of Kulanu.
On the final day, ahead of the Hannukah celebrations, the group planned to consecrate a new synagogue with the laying of a cornerstone.