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Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora
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Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2023) | Viewed by 24855

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Rachel Sharaby

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Sociology, Ashkelon Academic College, Ben Zvi St.12, Ashkelon, Israel
Interests: immigration; religion; tradition and modernity; ethnic renewal, identity, rituals, gender and syncretism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Jewish communities in Africa have an ancient Jewish tradition and a rich cultural heritage. Their Judaism was integrated and gained a prominent position within the Jewish and general history of the New Age of this large continent. Research on African Jewry focused mainly on a few large Jewish communities in North Africa, in Ethiopia, and in South Africa. In the past, research was divided into separate fields according to geographical and international boundaries. This Special Issue intends to discuss the Jewish identity of communities all over the continent, in diverse fields and disciplinary approaches.

Identity is shaped and changes as a function of the manner in which we are represented in the social systems surrounding us (Hall, 1996). The dynamic picture of identities is realized in the construct “fluid identity” coined by Bauman Zygmunt (2000). The internal dimension of the identity motivates people, and is expressed in self-identification and identification with the values of the group (Ben-Rafael & Peres, 2000: 9-13; DellaPergola, 2016: 162-163). Immigrants find ways of including their diverse identity and using it wisely in changing social contexts (Hodzi, 2019; Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004).

Identity in general, and Jewish identity in particular, can be defined on two axes: a diachronic axis that indicates the relation between the present conformation and its past heritage, and a synchronic axis that indicates the broad diverse contexts that influence identity in the present (Sagi, 2016). This Special Issue of Religions will represent the encounter between these two axes. Scholars are invited to submit articles with a scope of up to 8000 words on current topics, as well as topics of historical value, using different methodologies. We hope that these articles will contribute to understanding the dynamic identity of the Jews as individuals and as a collective, in the communities in Africa and wherever they are dispersed, on issues of: tradition and modernity; Jewish education; holidays and customs; religious organizations and institutions; pilgrimage; religious and cultural syncretism; Jewish art; language; religious music; gender; immigration and religion; symbolic boundaries; rite and ritual.

Bibliography

Hall, Stuart. 1996. “Introduction: Who needs Identity?” In: Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay, eds. Questions of Cultural Identity, 1–17. London: Sage.

Bauman, Zygmunt. 2000. Liquid Modernity and Beyond. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Ben-Rafael, Eliezer, and Yochanan Peres. 2000. “Identity Nationalism and Multiculturalism.” In: Eliezer Ben Rafael and Yochanan Peres, eds. Is Israel One? Religion Nationalism and Multiculturalism Confounded, 3–26. Boston and Leiden: Brill.

DellaPergola, Sergio. 2016. “Thoughts about a Core Country and Jewish Identification.” Hagira 5: 159–186 [Hebrew].

Hodzi, Obert. 2019. “Chinese in Africa: “'Chineseness' and the Complexities of Identities.” Journal of Asian Ethnicity 20 (1):1–7.

Levitt, Peggy, and Nina Glick-Schiller. 2004. “Conceptualizing Simultaneity: A Transnational Social Field Perspective on Society.” International Migration Review, 38(3): 1002–1039.

Sagi, Avi (2016). "Primary Identity: The Jewish Case". Daat: A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah 82: 7-32.

Prof. Dr. Rachel Sharaby
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Africa
  • religious and cultural syncretism
  • religious practice
  • Jewish identity
  • immigration
  • tradition
  • symbolic boundaries

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 146 KiB  
Editorial
Dynamics of Identities: Jewish Communities in Africa and Their Diaspora
by Rachel Sharaby
Religions 2024, 15(4), 448; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040448 - 1 Apr 2024
Viewed by 806
Abstract
This Special Book deals with the study of Jewish communities in Africa and their Diaspora [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

15 pages, 1383 KiB  
Article
African Jewish Communities in the Diaspora and the Homeland: The Case of South Africa
by Rebeca Raijman
Religions 2024, 15(2), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020200 - 6 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1648
Abstract
As part of this Special Issue devoted to research on the Jewish communities in Africa and their diaspora, we focus on the case of South African Jews who emigrated to Israel. First, we analyze the socio-religious and cultural context in which a Jewish [...] Read more.
As part of this Special Issue devoted to research on the Jewish communities in Africa and their diaspora, we focus on the case of South African Jews who emigrated to Israel. First, we analyze the socio-religious and cultural context in which a Jewish diaspora developed and marked the ethno-religious identity of South African Jews both as individuals and as a collective. Second, we examine the role of ethno-religious identification as the main motive for migrating to Israel, and third, we show the role of ethno-religious identity in the integration of South African Jews into Israeli life. This study relies on data from a survey of South Africans and their descendants living in Israel in 2008, and in-depth interviews. The findings provide evidence for a strong Jewish community in South Africa that created a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people and a strong attachment to Israel. As expected, two of the key reasons for the decision to move to Israel were ideology and religion. The immigrants wanted to live in a place where they could feel part of the majority that was culturally and religiously Jewish. Finally, ethno-religious identities (Jewish and Zionist) influenced not only the decision making of potential immigrants but also their process of integration into Israeli life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
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16 pages, 250 KiB  
Article
Jewish Education in Algerian Jewish Communities—Multiple Identities in an Era of Change (1830–1939)
by Yossef Charvit
Religions 2024, 15(2), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020163 - 29 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1165
Abstract
Our discussion of the Algerian Jewish community’s Jewish education during the French period (1830–1939) sheds light on the community’s multiplicity of identities viewed through the prism of the Spanish diaspora and French colonialism and sociology. Algerian Jewry’s multiple identities during the French period [...] Read more.
Our discussion of the Algerian Jewish community’s Jewish education during the French period (1830–1939) sheds light on the community’s multiplicity of identities viewed through the prism of the Spanish diaspora and French colonialism and sociology. Algerian Jewry’s multiple identities during the French period originate in the community’s education, both general and Jewish. The Jewish education in Algeria fueled loyalty to one’s Jewish identity and heritage and partially knit together the fissures that materialized in Jewish society ever more forcefully in this era of change. This article proposes a new methodological and historiographical approach based upon the examination of diverse sources—from communal and colonial sources to rabbinic, consular, and scholarly ones—using them to present a complete and multidimensional historical picture. Recognizing the many identities adopted by Algerian Jews during the French period is indispensable to conducting balanced and quality research into Algerian Jewry’s history. The complexity of Algerian Jews’ identity during the French period was the source of its richness and amplitude and a point of contention in the historiographical research of Algerian Jewish history. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
23 pages, 308 KiB  
Article
Laws of Succession Ordinances by the Religious Leadership of Sephardi and Moroccan Jewish Communities and Their Economic, Social and Gender Implications
by Pinhas Haliwa
Religions 2023, 14(7), 819; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070819 - 22 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1239
Abstract
This paper discusses the innovativeness of the Inheritance Ordinance introduced in Toledo during the 12th century and later reintroduced in Fez in Morocco following the expulsion of Jewish communities from Spain and Portugal. Community leaders in Toledo, and after the expulsion also in [...] Read more.
This paper discusses the innovativeness of the Inheritance Ordinance introduced in Toledo during the 12th century and later reintroduced in Fez in Morocco following the expulsion of Jewish communities from Spain and Portugal. Community leaders in Toledo, and after the expulsion also in Fes, transformed the laws of succession established in biblical times by granting women equal rights on matters of inheritance by marriage. The ordinance also granted unmarried daughters the right to inherit alongside their brothers despite the fact that, according to biblical law, daughters do not inherit when there are sons. Inheritance ordinances had significant social, financial and gendered implications on Jewish lives in many communities. The study will show that leaders of Sephardi Jewish communities were nothing less than advanced in their innovative and unprecedented ordinances related to women’s inheritance. Their innovativeness followed a number of preliminary conditions which enabled it. First and foremost was the authority vested in these Jewish leaders by the monarchy in various parts of Spain and Portugal. The laws of the kingdom in these countries granted women equal rights in succession laws. So as to avoid significant differences and reduce legislative gaps, ordinances were issued to correspond with national realities. Spain had been the world’s center of Jewish Halacha following the period of the Geonim—the heads of the ancient Talmudic academies of Babylonia and its sages—, and the Sephardic sages felt that their position allowed them to make bold decisions. The most innovative Jewish ordinance issued in this regard back in the 12th century was the Tulitula ordinance, originating from the city of Toledo, home to one of the largest and most affluent Jewish communities of the time. The regulation granted wives rights over their husbands’ inheritance regarding property established during their joint lives, as well as property which she had brought with her to the marriage. Following the Expulsion of Jews from Spain, the expelled sages, arriving in Morocco, reinstated the Tulitula ordinance in the newly established community of the city of Fez, further improving women’s position beyond the provisions of the original regulation. The new circumstances following the expulsion resulted in many Jewish communities in Morocco adopting the new version of the regulation. As they had been forced to wander from place to place, the expelled communities encountered severe problems involving family law. The ordinances spread throughout nearly all Jewish communities in Morocco. In the 19th century, a number of changes were introduced to the Fez ordinances, which in practice diminished women’s inheritance rights. However, the essence of the original ordinance was ultimately assimilated into Rabbinical and Supreme Court rulings of the State of Israel, due to its suitability to Israel’s modern inheritance laws and to the legislation of the Women’s Equal Rights Law in 1951. The leadership of Spanish sages and community leaders in various countries and of rabbinical judges in Fez, Morocco, had been both charismatic and rational and included modern components for coping with social change and new realities under the Kingdoms of Spain as well as following the expulsion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
15 pages, 586 KiB  
Article
Empathy from the Margins: Observing Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) Events in a Reform Jewish Congregation
by Elazar Ben-Lulu
Religions 2023, 14(3), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030324 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2417
Abstract
The socialization of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel in Israeli society, is marked by performing cultural customs and rituals to establish its unique tradition and collective ethnic narrative. The Sigd is a holiday that is celebrated on the 29th of [...] Read more.
The socialization of the Ethiopian Jewish community, known as Beta Israel in Israeli society, is marked by performing cultural customs and rituals to establish its unique tradition and collective ethnic narrative. The Sigd is a holiday that is celebrated on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan, when the community marks its devotion to Zion by renewing the covenant between the Jewish people, God, and the Torah. This narrative of return to the homeland is also expressed and framed in a tragic context by observing a Memorial Day for the members of the Ethiopian Jewish community who perished during their journey to Israel from Sudan. These two commemorative dates support the narrative of Beta Israel and advance its public recognition. This ethnographic study examines why and how these practices were mentioned and performed in an Israeli Reform Jewish congregation, a community that does not include Ethiopians members, and has a religious and cultural character that is different from the traditions of Beta Israel. Both the Reform community and the Ethiopian community deal with stereotypes and institutional and public inequality in Israel. I argue that their solidarity is constructed and based on social perceptions and experiences of social alienation and immigration traumas. This political motivation to mark the narrative of the ‘other’, particularly as an excluded religious group that fights against the Orthodox Jewish monopoly in Israel, marks the Reform community as an egalitarian agent that gives voice to the marginalized. The fact that most Reform congregants are ‘sabras’ (native) Israelis sheds light on how their perception as a majority, and not only as a minority, produces a critical statement about Zionist immigration and acclimatization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
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15 pages, 707 KiB  
Article
Screening Out Their Own: Muslim Gatekeepers of Jewish Spaces in Morocco
by André Levy
Religions 2023, 14(2), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020182 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1885
Abstract
The literature on ethnic groups that were formed following migration reveals how symbolic and socioeconomic boundaries are manipulated by veteran groups to keep out the unwanted immigrants. It shows how these boundaries are to maintain and preserve the veterans’ dominant position. The case [...] Read more.
The literature on ethnic groups that were formed following migration reveals how symbolic and socioeconomic boundaries are manipulated by veteran groups to keep out the unwanted immigrants. It shows how these boundaries are to maintain and preserve the veterans’ dominant position. The case of the tiny Jewish minority living nowadays in Morocco reveals a seemingly contradictory mechanism: Muslim gatekeepers, who are part of the huge majority in Morocco, screen out their coreligionists from Jewish spaces. This gatekeeping fortifies the Jewish notion of exclusive spaces within which they feel safe as a tiny and fragile community. A close ethnographic gaze reveals that screening out Muslims is enabled due to a shared “cultural intimacy” that permits the minority to control access to their spaces. This paper sheds light on a deep level of cultural understanding that allows Jews to maintain bearable life as a dwindling minority in Morocco—despite their motivations to be separated—by appointing Muslim gatekeepers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
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14 pages, 268 KiB  
Article
North-African Jewish People in Paris: Multiple Identities—Ethnic-Religious, National and Transnational
by Lilach Lev-Ari
Religions 2023, 14(1), 126; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010126 - 16 Jan 2023
Viewed by 2028
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to compare native-born and immigrant Jewish people from North African roots who reside in greater Paris regarding their multiple identities: ethnic-religious, as Jewish people; national, as French citizens; and transnational, as migrants and ‘citizens of the world’. [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study is to compare native-born and immigrant Jewish people from North African roots who reside in greater Paris regarding their multiple identities: ethnic-religious, as Jewish people; national, as French citizens; and transnational, as migrants and ‘citizens of the world’. This study employed the correlative quantitative method using survey questionnaires (N = 145) combined with qualitative semi-structured interviews. The main results indicate that both groups have strong Jewish and religious identities. However, while immigrants had fewer opportunities for upward mobility and were more committed to national integration, the younger second-generation have higher socio-economic status and more choices regarding their identities in contemporary France. In conclusion, even among people of the same North African origin, there are inter-generational differences in several dimensions of identity and identification which stem from being native-born or from their experience as immigrants. Different social and political circumstances offer different integration opportunities and thus, over the years, dynamically construct identities among North African Jewish people as minorities. Nonetheless, the Jewish community in Paris is not passive; it has its own strength, cohesiveness, vitality and resilience which are expressed not only in economic but also in social and religious prosperity of Jewish organizations shared by both the native-born and immigrants, who can be considered a ‘privileged’ minority. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
15 pages, 271 KiB  
Article
Transnationalism and Hybridity in Religious Practices during the Migration Process: The Zera Beta Israel in Ethiopia and Israel
by Ravit Talmi-Cohn
Religions 2023, 14(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010034 - 26 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2007
Abstract
This article examines the complexity of religious practices and beliefs among a group of Zera Beta Israel (Falash Mura) members before, during, and a decade after their immigration process to Israel. This community, with roots in Judaism, converted to Christianity in the 19th [...] Read more.
This article examines the complexity of religious practices and beliefs among a group of Zera Beta Israel (Falash Mura) members before, during, and a decade after their immigration process to Israel. This community, with roots in Judaism, converted to Christianity in the 19th century, complicating their request to immigrate to Israel along with Beta Israel members (Ethiopian Jews who had not converted to Christianity). Following an average 15-year wait in Ethiopian transit camps, they spent about two years in Israeli absorption centres and underwent conversion to rabbinic Judaism. This study aims to elucidate notions of religious, cultural, and oppositional transnationalism through life experiences described by Zera Beta Israel community members. Drawing on transnational theory and an interpretative qualitative approach, it develops and analyses 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and conversations conducted with members of the Zera Beta Israel community in Ethiopia and Israel. The findings challenge conventional binary perceptions and conceptual categories, such as Jewish–Christian or religious–secular and demonstrate the fluidity and complexity—the hybridity—that exists in the contexts of religion and immigration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
19 pages, 3461 KiB  
Article
Black Masculinities and Jewish Identity: Ethiopian-Israeli Men in Contemporary Art
by Tal Dekel
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1207; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121207 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3502
Abstract
The identity of Jewish-Israeli men of Ethiopian descent has undergone deep-seated changes in the last decade, as evident in visual representations created by contemporary black artists living in Israel. In recent years, a new generation of Ethiopian-Israeli artists has revitalized local art and [...] Read more.
The identity of Jewish-Israeli men of Ethiopian descent has undergone deep-seated changes in the last decade, as evident in visual representations created by contemporary black artists living in Israel. In recent years, a new generation of Ethiopian-Israeli artists has revitalized local art and engendered deep changes in discourse and public life. Ethiopian-Israelis, who comprise less than two percent of the total Jewish population in the country, suffers multiple forms of oppression, especially due to their religious status and given that their visibility—as black Jews—stands out in a society that is predominantly white. This article draws links between events of the past decade and the images of men produced by these artists. It argues that the political awareness of Jewish-Ethiopians artists, generated by long-term social activism as well as police violence against their community, has greatly impacted their artistic production, broadened its diversity, and contributed a wealth of artworks to Israeli culture as a whole. Using intersectional analysis and drawing on theories from gender, migration and cultural studies, the article aims to produce a nuanced understanding of black Jewish masculinity in the ethno-national context of the state of Israel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
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16 pages, 281 KiB  
Article
Creating Transformation: South African Jews in Australia
by Suzanne D. Rutland
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1192; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121192 - 6 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3172
Abstract
Since the 1960s Australian Jewry has doubled in size to 117,000. This increase has been due to migration rather than natural increase with the main migration groups being South Africans, Russians, and Israelis. Of the three, the South Africans have had the most [...] Read more.
Since the 1960s Australian Jewry has doubled in size to 117,000. This increase has been due to migration rather than natural increase with the main migration groups being South Africans, Russians, and Israelis. Of the three, the South Africans have had the most significant impact on Australian Jewry—one could argue that this has been transformative in Sydney and Perth. They have contributed to the religious and educational life of the communities as well as assuming significant community leadership roles in all the major Jewish Centres where they settled. This results from their strong Jewish identity. A comparative study undertaken by Rutland and Gariano in 2004–2005 demonstrated that each specific migrant group came from a different past with a different Jewish form of identification, the diachronic axis, which impacted on their integration into Jewish life in Australia, the synchronic axis as proposed by Sagi in 2016. The South Africans identified Jewishly in a traditional religious manner. This article will argue that this was an outcome of the South African context during the apartheid period, and that, with their stronger Jewish identity and support for the Jewish-day- school movement, they not only integrated into the new Australian-Jewish context; they also changed that context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
24 pages, 6978 KiB  
Article
Jewish–Christian Interaction in Ethiopia as Reflected in Sacred Geography: Expressing Affinity with Jerusalem and the Holy Land and Comemorating the Betä Ǝsraʾel–Solomonic Wars
by Bar Kribus
Religions 2022, 13(12), 1154; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121154 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2602
Abstract
Affinity with the Holy Land, and especially with Jerusalem, is a common theme in the sacred geography of Abrahamic religions, expressed in prayer houses and holy sites. This theme was especially prominent in Solomonic Ethiopia, both among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and among the [...] Read more.
Affinity with the Holy Land, and especially with Jerusalem, is a common theme in the sacred geography of Abrahamic religions, expressed in prayer houses and holy sites. This theme was especially prominent in Solomonic Ethiopia, both among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and among the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews). This article will examine expressions of affinity with Jerusalem and the Holy Land in Betä Ǝsraʾel holy sites and religious architecture, and shed light on the interreligious discourse related to such expressions, as well as other forms of interreligious discourse expressed by these two communities in sacred geography. This will demonstrate that in Solomonic Ethiopia, affinity with the Holy Land was a core element in expressing an Israelite identity. Both the Betä Ǝsraʾel and the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians saw themselves as the biological and spiritual heirs of the biblical Israelites, and this concept played a key role in shaping their sacred geography to allude to biblical sites and events. This will also demonstrate that, building upon a vocabulary with common features, the sacred geography and religious architecture of each community was a means to express its unique identity. As such, it provides insight regarding differences in religious concepts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research of Jewish Communities in Africa and in Their Diaspora)
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