In the past year, Jews have grappled with ideas around race, diversity and inclusion like never before. The Bush Report on racial inclusivity in the Jewish community, published by the Board of Deputies in April 2021, highlighted the false assumption that all Jews are essentially white and European. Having heard from voices in the UK about their experiences of black Jewish life, we now widen the frame for rare insights into Jewish experience within African communities.

The Lemba are a Bantu tribe living in South Africa and Zimbabwe who have a folk memory of migrating from a region called Lemba on the Dead Sea around the time of the Babylonian captivity. Historian Tudor Parfitt took DNA samples from their priests and discovered they had the ‘Cohen gene’ that links Jewish communities round the world.

For thousands of years, Lemba have cherished legends of how their ancestors came from Israel, and many of their religious, cultural and social practices are semitic in origin. In recent years, however, many have also begun to adopt the practices of contemporary Judaism, and build a new kind of Jewish community.

In this session, we will be joined by Rabson Wuriga, who will share his insights into the burgeoning Judaism of the Lemba people.

You can book your place via our partners at Jewish Renaissance.

Dr Rabsom Wuriga Teaches philosophy at a Zimbabwe University. He is active in re-establishing the Lemba’s Jewish connection and preserving their unique heritage.

Dr Malka Shabtay is an Israeli anthropologist who has penetrated more than most into this secret world. Her film Finding the lost Jewish tribes of Ethiopia is part of a campaign to have the Bal Ej recognised by Israel as a Jewish community.

Full course details:

11th July: The Lemba in Southern Africa

18th July: The Hebrew Igbo of Nigeria

25th July: The Abayudaya of Ethiopia