Igbo Jews

Igbo Jews

Regions with significant populations
Nigeria, Israel
Languages
Traditionally, Igbo Hebrew as a liturgical and common language
Religion
Judaism and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Igbos African Jews

The Igbo Jews, or Ibo Benei-Yisrael, are members of the Igbo people of Nigeria who practice the Jewish religion and are said to be descended from North African or Egyptian Hebraic and later Israelite migrations into West Africa. Oral legends amongst the Igbo state that this migration started around 1,500 years ago. This is in addition to those Igbo who consider themselves Messianic Jews, considered by most Jews to be not truly Jewish.

There are currently 26 synagogues across the country and the Jewish community is estimated at around 40,000 individuals, out of a total population of 140,000,000. Some of the larger communities include the Gihon Institute in Abuja, as well as communities in the south such as Port Harcourt. The Ibo Benei-Yisrael are currently led by the Conservative/Masorti Rabbi Howard Gorin, a 1976 graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

The Igbos are not the only Nigerian group claiming Jewish heritage; there are other communities practicing Judaism in Nigeria that are not of the Igbo tribe, such as those in Yorubaland. The Sefwi people of Ghana, too, believe they are descendants of Jews who made their way to West Africa. In addition, Messianic Jewish communities, claiming to be full Jews although they believe in Jesus, have sprung up in Nigeria.

History

Some sources assert that a Jewish presence existed in Nigeria as early as 638 BCE. It is thought that Jews fled to Africa after the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and established communities all across the African continent. The population came south into sub-Saharan Africa and west across North Africa, possibly following the path of the Arab conquests. Descendants could also have arisen from migrants from Djerba, Tunisia who had fled to North Africa after the destruction of the biblical Temples.

The Igbo Jews traditionally claim descent from three particular Israelite tribes: Gad, Zebulun, and Manasseh. Some hold that families amongst the community are descendants of Kohanim and Levites, the Jewish priests and their assistants who functioned in the Jerusalem Temple. The Nigerian Jewish community is said to be composed almost entirely of descendants of Kohanim.

Outreach

Outreach to Nigerian Jews by the wider Jewish world community gained official status in 1995–1997, when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent a team to Nigeria in search of the “Lost Tribes of Israel.” Western rabbis and educators such as Rabbi Gorin have visited the community at times and Jewish communities in the West support those in Nigeria by sending books, computers, and religious articles. However, the State of Israel has, to date, not recognized the Igbo as one of the Lost Tribes.

Religious practices

Religious practices of the Igbo Jews include circumcision eight days after the birth of a male child, observance of kosher dietary laws, separation of men and women during menstruation, wearing of the tallit and kippah, and the celebration of holidays such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. In recent times, the communities have also adopted holidays such as Hanukkah and Purim, which were instituted only after many of the tribes of Israel had already dispersed.

See also

• Jews and Judaism in Africa
• Lost Tribes of Israel
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)
• House of Israel - Jews of Ghana

External links

• Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria
• Jews of Nigeria and Uganda
• Kulanu
• Packing for Nigeria