Jewish Studies

Please note: This site has not been substantially updated since 2001. Thank you to everyone who has sent me information about other African-Jewish communities and/or observances. I plan to some day revise the site to add new information, especially about the Igbo of Nigeria.***

Did you know there are Jewish communities all over Africa?
Western Jews do not always imagine that people of different skin colors and from distant cultures could be Jewish, but the truth is that there are currently indigenous communities observing traditional Jewish rituals all over the continent of Africa. True, most Jewish communities in Africa bear little resemblance to Jewish communities in Europe or North America – they look different, speak different languages, embrace music and culture with which many Western Jews are unfamiliar – yet these communities have religious practices that everyone who is Jewish would recognize. Each community that practices Judaism in Africa has come to the religion in a different way. Some believe themselves to be descendents of the "lost Tribes of Israel," others are members of communities that have been Jewish for two millennia, while other groups have accepted Judaism in recent years because it is the religion that most resonates with their lives. The one factor that unifies these communities is that they are proud to call themselves Jewish, and would like the international Jewish community to accept them as Jews.

In the fall of 1999 journalist and musician Jay Sand visited the Jewish communities in Ghana and Uganda, and in 2000 he visited groups in Southern and Northern Africa. The Jews of Africa program will introduce you to the fascinating, complex and often eye-opening world of African Jewry through his multifaceted, multimedia "Jews of Africa" presentation.

This web site will give you a taste of what "The Jews of Africa" presentation will offer you and the members of your organization. The photos on this site are from the House of Israel Community in Ghana and the Abayudaya of Uganda (and a few of Timbuktu, Mali, an area with a rich Jewish history). By the end of this summer the site will also include Jay’s images from Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. (Click on each image for a description.)

What? African Jews?? -- the history of African Jewry

[Recently I (Jay) have been working with Bryan Schwartz of Scattered Among the Nations on a photography book project called Jews of Color: In Color!. Check out the Scattered Among the Nations web site for updates and more information.]


(would you like to listen to some african-jewish music as you're looking through the site? go here first.)

Contact Jay Sand at JayPSand@yahoo.com with any questions.