Abayudaya

The Abayudaya's population is estimated to number between 2,000 and 3,000; like their neighbors, they are subsistence farmers. Most Abayudaya are of Bagwere origin. Some, from Namutumba, are Basoga. They speak Luganda, Soga, or Gwere, and some have learned Hebrew as well.

History

19th century

The group owes its origin to Muganda military leader Semei Kakungulu. Originally, Kakungulu was converted to Christianity by British missionaries around 1880. He believed that the British would allow him to be king of the territories Bukedi and Bugisu, which he had conquered in a battle for them. However, when the British limited his territory to a significantly smaller size and refused to recognize him as king as they had promised, Kakungulu began to distance himself from them.

20th century

In 1913, Semei Kakungulu became a member of the Bamalaki sect, which followed a belief system that combined elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Christian Science, most notably, a refusal to use western medicine (based on a few sentences taken from the Old Testament). This led to conflict with the British when the Bamalaki refused to vaccinate their cattle. However, upon further study of the Bible, Kakungulu came to believe that the customs and laws described in the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) were really true. When, in 1919, Kakungulu insisted on circumcision as prescribed in the Hebrew Bible, the Bamalaki refused and told him that if he practiced circumcision he would be like the Jews. Kakungulu responded, "Then, I am a Jew!" He circumcised his sons and himself and declared that his community was Jewish. According to Henry Lubega, kakungulu fled to the foot of Mt. Elgon and settled in a place called Gangama where he started a separatist sect known as "Kibina Kya Bayudaya Abesiga Katonda" meaning, "the Community of Jews who trust in the Lord". The British were infuriated by this action and they effectively severed all ties with him and his followers.

The arrival of a foreign Jew known as "Yosef", presumably of Ashkenazi background, in 1920 contributed much towards the community's acquisition of knowledge about the seasons in which Jewish holidays, such as Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, take place. A source in the Abayudaya community confirms that the first Jew to visit the community was Yosef, who stayed with and taught the community for about six months, and would appear to have first brought the Jewish calendar to the Abayudaya community.

Furthermore, the laws concerning kashrut were first introduced to the community by Yosef. The community continues to practice kashrut today. Yosef's teachings influenced Semei Kakungulu to establish a school that acted as a type of Yeshiva, with the purpose of passing on and teaching the skills and knowledge first obtained from Yosef.

After Kakungulu's death from tetanus in 1928, Samson Mugombe Israeli, one of his disciples, became the spiritual leader of the community, which isolated itself for self-protection.

In 1962, Arye Oded, an Israeli studying at Makerere University, visited the Abayudaya and met Samson Mugombe. This was the first time the Abayudaya had ever met an Israeli, and the first time the community was meeting a foreign Jew since Yosef. Oded had many long interviews with Mugombe and other leaders and explained to them how Jews in Israel practised Judaism. Oded then wrote a book known as "Religion and Politics in Uganda" and numerous articles on the community and their customs which introduced them to world Jewry.

However, in the 1970s they were persecuted by Idi Amin, who outlawed Jewish rituals and destroyed synagogues. Some of the Abayudaya community converted to either Christianity or Islam in the face of religious persecution. A core group of roughly 300 members remained, however, committed to Judaism, worshipping secretly and fearful that they would be discovered by their neighbors and reported to the authorities. This group later named itself "She'erit Yisrael" — the Remnant of Israel — meaning the surviving (Ugandan) Jews.

The community underwent a revival in the 1980s.

21st century

Approximately 400 Abayudaya community members were formally converted by five rabbis of the Conservative branch of Judaism in February 2002, and conversions by Conservative rabbis continued during the following years. During the 1990s they were related to a Messianic Jewish congregation led by David Finkelstein.

In 2017, the community lives near the newly built Stern Synagogue on Nabugoye Hill outside Mbale and the nearby synagogue in the village of Namanyonyi; other community members live in Nasenyi, Nalubembe, Buseta, Nangolo and the sole Orthodox community, Putti, all in Pallisa District. An eighth village, Namutumba, with a synagogue, is in Magada Village, approximately 70 km south. Finally, a ninth village, Apac, is north of Mbale. A census was conducted in 2015 by village members, which showed the total population as 1067.

Namutumba, the largest village, is a thriving Jewish community with about 244 members with an active synagogue. The community has built an interfaith primary school - Tikkun Olam Primary School (TOPS) serving its greater community, has active young leadership in economic development and is seeking to improve the lives of all its community members. Yoash Mayende is the Director of TOPS, a completely solar campus. Rabbi Levi Shadrach Mugoya is their current spiritual leader. The elder Rabbi Eri appointed Shadrach to be his successor, “a great honor and a great responsibility.” Shadrach attended Uganda Christian University and graduated with a degree in Project Planning and Entrepreneurship in 2013. He studied in the yeshiva of the chief Abayudaya Rabbi, Gershom Sizomu. Shadrach is now pursuing his studies with ALEPH (Alliance for Jewish Renewal) so that he can lead his people well as their rabbi. The Conservative Yeshivah in Israel has accepted him to study for 2017–2018.

Gershom Sizomu, the spiritual leader of the Abayudaya and the Rosh Yeshiva, was enrolled in the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies five-year graduate program at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, California where he studied Hebrew, rabbinic literature, the Bible, Jewish philosophy, and other subjects. Upon completion of this program, Sizomu received his ordination as a rabbi under the auspices of the Conservative movement on May 19, 2008, and returned to Uganda to lead its Jewish community. He is the first native-born black rabbi in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also the first chief rabbi of Uganda, and the first member of the Abayudaya to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States. In February 2016 he was elected as a Member of Parliament in Uganda representing Bungokho North outside of Mbale.

A new synagogue, Stern Synagogue, named after Ralph and Sue Stern, Jewish Americans who contributed $100,000, now has replaced the small Moses Synagogue on Nabugoye Hill as of 2017. Other key donors are Eyal, Yael, Leya and Aely Aronoff. Julius and Ray Charlstein Foundation. Naty and Debbie Saidoff. The synagogue is, according to Rabbi Sizomu, the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2024 Shoshana Nambi became the second member and first female member of the Abayudaya to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States, with the first being Sizomu.

Another development is the possible recognition of the Putti Abayudaya by Israel and the Orthodox Jewish world, thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, founding Chief Rabbi of Efrat and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone institute, in coordination with Putti Village Assistance Organization (PVAO). This plan received a setback in 2018 when the Israel Ministry of the Interior ruled that the Putti Abayudaya were not a recognised Jewish community and so their conversion is "not recognized for the purpose of receiving status in Israel". The community is governed by an elected board, currently chaired by Tarphon Kamya. Putti village receives outside support from PVAO.