Zimbabwe

Black Jews Along The Niger

Black Jews Along The Niger

Source: Zakhor (Jewish Virtual Library) 2008 A.D. From the source, " ZAKHOR (Heb. "Remember"), black Judaizing movement in Mali comprising around 1,000 people. It was founded in Timbuktu in 1993 by the Malian historian Ismael Daidé Haïdara, whose followers claim to be the offspring of Saharan Jews. In a manifesto published in 1996, the members of Zakhor recognize themselves as Jews and declare themselves to be descendants of the Jews of Touat. The Touat, the region at the limit of the Sahara in western Algeria, was, up to 1492, inhabited by Jews involved in trans-Saharan trade. At that time, Sheikh Abd…
Read More
The Lemba are in Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe

The Lemba are in Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe

Source: Zimbabwe’s “Black Jews”: The Lemba People (Jewish Virtual Library) 2021 A.D. From the source, "Rusape is located in the northeast Zimbabwe, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from Harare. The community claims both an ancient and modern Jewish heritage. The Jews of Rusape believe to be the descendants of one of the lost tribes of Jacob. These people are believed to be offspring from the Bantu people who came from Northern Africa. Almost 2,500 years ago, after the destruction of the Temple, a group of Jews left Judea and settled in Yemen. When the economic situation in Yemen began to fail, the Jews left and moved to Africa; with…
Read More
Judaism Continues To Grow and Thrive In Africa

Judaism Continues To Grow and Thrive In Africa

Source: What’s Happening in Africa: Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe (Kulanu.org) 2013 Judaism continues to grow and thrive in Africa. In small villages, often with few amenities of the modern world (electricity, plumbing, running water) and far from major urban centers, Jewish communities are somehow taking root and flourishing. In Uganda, for example, where Kulanu has been actively involved in the community for 18 years, there are now seven villages with seven synagogues and close to 1500 Abayudaya Jews. The largest village of Nabagoya Hill sits a few miles outside of the town of Mbale, northeast of the capital city…
Read More
The Origins of The Lemba “Black Jews” of Southern Africa: Evidence From P12F2 and Other Y-Chromosome Markers.

The Origins of The Lemba “Black Jews” of Southern Africa: Evidence From P12F2 and Other Y-Chromosome Markers.

Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information The Lemba are a southern African Bantu-speaking population claiming Jewish ancestry. Allele frequencies at four different Y-specific polymorphic loci, as well as extended-haplotype frequencies that included data from several loci, were analyzed in an attempt to establish the genetic affinities and origins of the Lemba. The results suggest that > or = 50% of the Lemba Y chromosomes are Semitic in origin, approximately 40% are Negroid, and the ancestry of the remainder cannot be resolved. These Y-specific genetic findings are consistent with Lemba oral tradition, and analysis of the history of Jewish people and…
Read More
DNA Backs A Tribe’s Tradition Of Early Descent From the Jews

DNA Backs A Tribe’s Tradition Of Early Descent From the Jews

Source: New York Times The Lemba, a Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa, have a tradition that they were led out of Judea by a man named Buba. They practice circumcision, keep one day a week holy and avoid eating pork or piglike animals, such as the hippopotamus. Several groups around the world practice Judaic rites or claim to be descended from biblical tribes without having any ancestral Jewish connection. And there is no Buba in the records of Jewish history. But the remarkable thing about the Lemba tradition is that it may be exactly right. A team of geneticists has…
Read More

Download The BHITB App

Install App
×