Transcript Kulanu: supporting isolated and emerging Jewish communities

Kulanu
Supporting isolated, emerging
and returning Jewish
communities
www.kulanu.org
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Agenda
• What is Kulanu?
• Where is Kulanu?
• What can you do to help?
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Agenda
• What is Kulanu?
• Where is Kulanu?
• What can you do to help?
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What is Kulanu?
KULANU ("All of Us" in Hebrew) is a non-profit organization
supporting isolated, emerging and returning Jewish communities
around the globe through:
• Jewish education
• Networking
• Recruiting rabbis and
Jewish educators to
teach in Kulanu
communities
• Arranging for young
people to participate in
Jewish leadership
programs
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Publications
Speaking tours
Research
Organizing Batei Din for
conversions when
appropriate
• Kulanu does not
proselytize
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Did You Know?
• Semei Kakungulu, Ugandan military leader, started
practicing Judaism in 1919
• Jews have been living in Kaifeng, China for about
1100 years
• Anousim, or Crypto-Jewish descendants, live today
throughout Latin America and Southwestern United
States
• DNA testing has revealed a Kohen, or priestly, gene
in an African tribe which has claimed Jewish descent
for decades
• The Gogodala tribe of Papua, New Guinea is
embracing Judaism
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Agenda
• What is Kulanu?
• Where is Kulanu?
• What can you do to help?
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Communities with a Kulanu
Connection
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Where Are These
Communities?
• Brazil – Navegantes, Goiania & Synagoga •
Bnei Avraham (Sao Paolo)
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• Cameroon - Beth Yeshourun at Sa’a &
Douala
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• China - Kaifeng
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• Colombia – Santa Marta
• Costa Rica - Alajuela
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• Ecuador – La Sinagoga Sefaradita
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• El Salvador - Armenia
• Ethiopia - Beta Avraham
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• Gabon - La Communautee des Juifs
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• Ghana - Sefwi Wiawso
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• Guatemala – Adat Israel
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• India - Bnei Menashe & Bene Ephraim
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• Ivory Coast - Beith Israel & Etz Chaim
• Kenya - Olkalou Kasuku
Madagascar - Antananarivo
Mexico – Mexico City, Puebla & Vera
Cruz
Nicaragua – Congregacion Israelita
Nigeria - Igbo: Tikvat Israel, Gihon,
Israel Heritage Synagogue & Plant
for the Growth of Israel
Peru - Huanuco
Poland - Beit Polska with 8 Havurot
throughout the country
Portugal – Southern Portugal (Al
garve)
Southern Italy - Calabria
Suriname - Neve Shalom
Uganda - Abayudaya
Zimbabwe - Lemba
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Jewish Communities
in India
(1) Manipur and
(2) Mizoram
Bnei Menashe
(3) Kolkata
Baghdadi
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(4) Andhra Pradesh
Bene Ephraim
(Telugu)
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(5) Mumbai
Bene Israel
Baghdadi
(6) Cochin
Cochini
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Kulanu’s Journey Began in 1994
Among the Bnei Menashe in India
• Descendants of the
tribe of Menashe
exiled in 722 B.C.E.
• In the 1800’s,
Christian missionaries
found Jews on the
Burmese border in
northern India
• Many now making
aliyah to Israel
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Kulanu Sent a Rabbinic Couple to Teach and
Study with the Bene Ephraim in India
The Bene Ephraim
community in
Andhra Pradesh
speak Telugu and
maintain Jewish
traditions
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Kulanu’s African Communities
(1) Ethiopia - Beta Avraham
(2) Zimbabwe - Lemba
(3) Ghana - Sefwi Wiawso
(4) Nigeria - Igbo (Ibo)
(5) Cameroon Beth Yeshourun Sa’a & Douala
(6) Uganda - Abayudaya
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(7) Kenya - Olkalou Kasuku
(8) Ivory Coast - Beith Israel &
Ets Chaim
(9) Gabon - La Communautee
des Juifs
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(10) Madagascar - Antananarivo
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Abayudaya of Uganda
• Embraced Judaism 1919
• Persisted despite
persecution
• United States-trained rabbi
returned in 2008
Bat Mitzvah at the Moses
Synagogue
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu
with mother and brother
welcomed home after
ordination
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How Kulanu Helps:
Abayudaya Education
• Support for elementary
and secondary schools
• Nutrition program
• Health education
• Women’s empowerment
Child hunger project
Volunteer teacher at primary school
Abayudaya Women's Association meeting
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How Kulanu Helps: Abayudaya
Economic Development
• Micro-credit projects
• Water and electricity
• Fair trade interfaith coffee
project
• Agricultural development
• Tourism program
• Grain mill in Namutumba
• Goat Project
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Cameroon’s
Beth Yeshourun Community
• Evolved from a Christian group
16 years ago
• Embraced Judaism and biblical
practices
• Had never met a Jew
• Community leaders
educated themselves
about Judaism
• Downloaded prayers,
music, Torah study, etc.
from the Web
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Kulanu’s Response in Cameroon
• Serge Etele contacted Kulanu in March, 2010
• Rabbis Bonita and Gerald Sussman visited four
months later
• Kulanu published article, photo album, and videos by
October
• Today, Beth Yeshourun has expanded to a second
community
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Ethiopia’s
Beta Avraham Community
• The Ethiopian Jewish community can trace its lineage to
biblical times
• Western travelers to Ethiopia discovered the community in
the 1800’s
• 75,000 Jews were airlifted to Israel during
Operation Moses in
1984, and Operation
Solomon in 1991
• Today many
thousands remain
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The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia
• The Beta Avraham share ancestral origins with the better-known
Beta Israel community and observe pre-Talmudic Jewish
practices.
• To minimize persecution:
 Members of the
community outwardly
adopted Christian
practices
 Judaism was observed in
secret synagogues
 Religious wisdom was
passed orally from
generation to generation
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Secret No More
• Younger members of community
rent space for synagogue in
Addis Ababa and embrace their
Jewish heritage
• Meet with elders living and
worshipping in secret
synagogues to ensure transmittal
of authentic Jewish customs and
rituals
• Invite Kulanu to visit emerging
community
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Kulanu’s Response in Ethiopia
• Kulanu board members visited the Beta Avraham in
January, 2010 to meet with leaders and learn about
the needs of the community
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Kulanu Grants to Beta Avraham
• Sent community leader to
Uganda yeshiva
• Renovating Addis Ababa
synagogue to house
visiting educators
• Supporting film on secret
synagogue
• Funding grain mill to
support large secret
synagogue
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Historic Partnership:
Kulanu Celebrates the Ingathering of the
Lemba of Zimbabwe
• Oral history of Jewish
origins
• Genetic evidence of
priestly gene
• Lemba worship one God, practice circumcision and
ritual slaughter, and observe kashrut, niddah and the
Sabbath
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Kulanu Supports Houses of
Worship in Zimbabwe
The Lemba, with help from Kulanu, are building a
synagogue in Mapakomhere, in the Lemba heartland,
and have organized a spiritual and religious center in the
capital of Harare
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Teaching is the Key
Teachers from Israel, Canada,
France and the United States are
engaged in cyber and on-site
teaching of Hebrew, Jewish
history, rituals and practice, songs
and prayers, and conducting a
discussion of the Torah portion of
the week
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Lemba Celebrate Our
Jewish Heritage
Kulanu works with Lemba to
preserve Jewish life and practice,
strengthen Jewish learning and
education
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Kulanu Helped the Jewish
Community in Ghana
Sefwi Wiawso community:
• Oral history: Community origin
from Ethiopia via Mali
• Kulanu sells their locally-made
challah covers and tallitot
• Kulanu has helped send Jewish
studies teachers to Ghana
• Kulanu sent Ghana leader to
study with Abayudaya
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Latin American Communities
with a Kulanu Connection
Kulanu communities in Latin
America are primarily
Anousim and descendants
of Jewish traders.
(1) Brazil
(7) El Salvador
(2) Mexico
(8) Guatemala
(3) Ecuador
(9) Nicaragua
(4) Peru
(10) Costa Rica
(5) Suriname
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(11) Colombia
(6) Dominican
Republic
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Anousim (Crypto-Jews)
Expulsions: Spain 1492
Portugal 1497
Bnei Anousim are descendants of
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
forcibly converted to Catholicism
600 years ago during the Spanish
Inquisition.
Based on genetic studies,
scholars suggest that 20% of
Spain’s and one-third of
Portugal’s population may
have Jewish heritage
Page from Barcelona Haggadah
(14th century)
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Anousim
• Many Jewish communities in Latin America have Anousim
roots
• In the past, some Jewish traders intermarried with local
settlers and assimilated into the general population
• Many communities have been out of touch with the
mainstream Jewish community for decades.
• Kulanu helps some of these.
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Armenia, El Salvador
Kulanu sent rabbi with
Anousim roots to work
with community several
times over three years
Kulanu helped set up
religious school for young
children and education
programs for adults
Kulanu donated computer to
access online Jewish
resources
Kulanu supplied books and
educational materials
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Huánuco, Peru
Descendants of Anousim, assimilated Ashkenazi traders
(19th C), and Jews by Choice
Kulanu sent volunteer to
serve as teacher, tutor and
cantor in “reformative
congregation”
– Taught Hebrew so
community could pray
together
– Prepared boy for first Bar
Mitzvah in over 100 years
– Taught introductory course
on Judaism including Jewish
law, traditions and holidays
– Led weekly services
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Communities in Ecuador
Congregations follow Orthodox and Conservative paths
toward spiritual fulfillment
• Summer 2013, volunteer visited two congregations
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Helped prepare congregants for future conversion
Taught Hebrew classes
Discussed Torah portion
Conducted Havdallah
Taught women how to
put on tefillin (conservative)
– Prepared youth for upcoming Bar Mitzvah
• August 2014, volunteer taught Hebrew writing,
reading, comprehension in Quito
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Paramaribo, Suriname
• Sent a volunteer/Jewish educator
to community
• Helped arrange for a three-month
visit of a rabbi
• Donated $10,500 towards travel
expenses for Birthright Israel trip
for 16 young adults
Community Seder
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Anousim in Mexico
Veracruz Synagogue
Pesach in Puebla
Havurah in Mexico City
Tefillin
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Anousim Communities in
Brazil and Colombia
• It is estimated that
10% of Brazil’s 170
million people are of
Jewish heritage
• To be continued…
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Agenda
• What is Kulanu?
• Where is Kulanu?
• What can you do to help?
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You Can Help
•Volunteer
•Visit Kulanu communities
•Donate
•Plan Bar/Bat Mitzvah projects
•Host speaker
•Follow us on Facebook
•Raise funds
•Read our blog
www.kulanu.org/getinvolved
www.kulanu.org/donate
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Contact Information
Kulanu
165 West End Ave., 3R
New York, NY 10023
(212) 877-8082
www.kulanu.org
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