Ethiopia's Kechene Jewish Community

“All of Us”

Supporting Isolated and Emerging Jewish Communities Around the Globe

Volume 17, Number 1 SPRING, 2010

Ethiopia’s Kechene Jewish Community

A History Lesson and Challenge

by Judy Manelis

I had always wanted to visit Ethiopia and meet members of the Jewish community there. The closest I came, however, was in the 80’s when I met Ethiopians in Israel during the airlift and greeted them at an absorption center in Ashkelon right after they landed on Israeli soil. One of the perks, you might say, of being at the time executive director of Hadassah. However, a visit to Ethiopia itself never materialized. That fact changed in January of this year when several Kulanu board members, myself included, traveled to Addis

Kechene potter

Photo by Laura Alter Klapman

When I ﬁrst heard of the Kechene Jewish community,

which calls itself Beit Avraham, I was intrigued. First there was Amy Cohen’s excellent article “The Long Road Home” in the Spring, 2009, issue of the Kulanu newsletter. Then, there was “The Kechene Jews of Ethiopia,” prepared last summer by members of the community who are now living in the United States.
Ababa, Ethiopia, to visit the newly emerging Jewish community living in the Kechene neighborhood of the city.

in th i s is s u e

(See www.kulanu.org/ethiopia for both articles.) have excerpted some paragraphs from the latter as a way to introduce them:
I

Et h i o p i a ’s KE c h E n E .....................................1

ab a y u d a y a dE v E l o p m E n t ............................2

su r i n a m E ’s ra b b i ......................................10 Zi m b a b w E ’s lE m b a .....................................12 so u t h af r i c a ’s lE m b a ...............................14

fa r fr o m Zi o n b o o K r E v i E w ......................15 bl a c K JE w s b o o K r E v i E w ...........................16

di s t a n t co m m u n i t i E s ................................18 pr E s i d E n t ’s mE s s a g E ................................22

The Kechene Jews share ancestral origins with the Beta Israel and, like those Ethiopian Jews, most of whom are now in Israel, they observe pre-Talmudic Jewish practices. Separation of the Kechene Jews from the Beta Israel, however, began around 1855...” (when the community moved from its traditional village homes in the Gondar region of Ethiopia south to the Northern Shewa region).

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Kulanu Newsletter: 165 West End Avenue, 3R, New York, NY 10023

(212) 877-8082

http://www.kulanu.org [email protected]

From tHE Ground up

Kulanu-Abayudaya Education and Economic development

by Laura Wetzler, Coordinator

Uganda

dear Friends,

ration and the cooperative’s strong productivity are a win-win for US policy goals in the region. Working with Kulanu, USAID LEAD Program Director Susan Corning, Delicious Peace Chairman JJ Keki, and the Thanks-
As always, this year’s trip to Uganda focused on evaluating on-going projects and developing initiatives that

strengthen self-sufﬁciency and reduce poverty in the

Abayudaya Jewish community.

Community meetings

Our visit with the Abayudaya this January was particularly productive due to the presence of Kulanu President Harriet Bograd. Harriet is a great multi-tasker and a strong leader whose wisdom and pragmatism inspired us all. Meetings focused on Abayudaya community oversight of budgets, the evaluation of 20 different ongoing projects, as well as long term planning. Harriet and I met with Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, the elected Abayudaya community board, farmers, crafts people, health educators, youth, school nutritionists,

and micro-ﬁnance project leaders, as well as with

school headmasters and their staffs.

giving Coffee Company, the farmer’s cooperative has been awarded several business development grants.
In addition, Harriet worked with Abayudaya leaders on tourism ideas and helped create a website and informational materials for the Abayudaya Guest House (kulanu.org/abayudaya/guesthouse). She also worked with members on improvements to the Kulanu-Abuyadaya craft project, and consulted on marketing at the craft shop in the village of Nabagoye Hill. Last but not least, we conducted sustainable development planning workshops with Rabbi Gershom
Last year the cooperative built the USAID- supported coffee pulping station, and this year, the cooperative is constructing a USAID- supported 3-story building for a warehouse and

ofﬁces. Even while in

construction, the new building is already housing the

cooperative’s ﬁrst forays into

Delicious Peace Vanilla Project

and community leaders, including work on a new anti-poverty pilot project for the poorest farm village, discussed below.

Photos by Laura Wetzler

curing vanilla on its own site rather than sending it away for processing to a middleman. (Yes, as reported last year, the cooperative is venturing into other products in addition to coffee!) USAID is also sponsoring the attendance of JJ Keki at two international coffee conferences this year.

delicious peace Cooperative

It is truly gratifying to report that Kulanu’s years of advocacy at the US embassy in Uganda continue to bear fruit for the interfaith Delicious Peace Coffee project.

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The Jewish, Muslim and Christian farmer collabo-

Abayudaya,

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persistence of poverty is the enemy. Real change will

This Spring, USAID is supporting extensive ﬁeld school happen in this potentially rich agricultural area only

training on best practice farming for robusta coffee with more farmer training and business capital. cultivation in the village of Namutumba. The village,
In the case of Namutumba, farm families grow corn, whose lowland elevation cannot sustain Arabica cof-

cassava, millet, sorghum, robusta coffee and pineapfee, is learning to cultivate robusta instead. In keeping

ples. But farmers have no nearby warehouse to store with this goal, JJ and I met with potential robusta cof-

produce until prices rise, nor a mill to grind their grains

into value-added ﬂour. Community members have no

place to buy a bar of soap, charge an emergency cell phone or buy an aspirin or a cold drink. fee buyers in Uganda’s capital of Kampala. During my stay, I was also delighted to meet pioneering Delicious Peace Cooperative farmer Peter Mukone to learn about Peter’s groundbreaking introduction of cocoa farming to eastern Uganda. At the coop’s request, I was able
The new economic development project will create a to successfully connect leaders of our Delicious Peace small trading center, complete with electricity, to serve
Project to three major international cocoa bean buyers, the needs of over 3000-5000 people in the area, both

just in time for their ﬁrst cocoa bean harvest in May.

Jews and non-Jews. It will employ a minimum of sev-
Congratulations to all the farmers, to Margot Ellis and en Abayudaya members (and more in ancillary busi-
Susan Corning of USAID, to Kulanu supporters, to nesses), provide much needed farmer services as well
Mike and Herb Stein for keeping faith with the vanilla as on-site, in-village training in best practice agriculproject, to Thanksgiving Coffee and to JJ Keki for his ture, safe food storage, mill repair and maintenance, fearless leadership. and bookkeeping and accounting skills.

Abayudaya Grain mill

Proﬁts generated will go to the village synagogue

to help support social services for the most vulner-

Warehouse project

able members of this struggling rural Jewish community. These would include widows, orphaned children, the sick, the elderly and the disabled. It would also provide a small stipend for the village rabbi and pay for the
One of the most exciting new projects to emerge from Kulanu/Abayudaya farmer business development workshops is a proposal to create a small grain mill, ware-

house and ofﬁce/shop complex

to promote economic recovery in Namutumba, one of the poorest and most remote Abayudaya villages. The poverty of this par-

ticular community, located ﬁve

dusty miles off the main road, was exacerbated when dictator Idi Amin was persecuting the Abayudaya community some 25 years ago. During that period, Amin’s forces stole their land on the road and forced the synagogue and its community into

hiding in the remote ﬂatlands. To develop economi-

cally viable agricultural and business options to support Namutumba and lift the living standard of these

courageous people has been a difﬁcult challenge due

to the location of the village, 50 miles from the main Abayudaya center in Mbale.

Children awaiting lunch at Abayudaya elementary school

Some help has come. Water tanks, two wells, and a low power solar electric battery have been installed in

the village. Kulanu has initiated a small micro-ﬁnance

loan program and organized farmer workshops. Village children attend Kulanu-Abayudaya sponsored schools. Nevertheless, so much still needs to be done in Namutumba and in the other Abayudaya villages where the

Photos by Laura Wetzler

completion of the village’s synagogue (ﬂoors, windows,

etc.) We hope it can be a model for other economically challenged Abayudaya villages.

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Abayudaya,

A grant proposal, submitted to a well-known foundation, was crafted after weeks of business planning meetings with Abayudaya Chief Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, Namutumba Rabbi Eri Kaidiwha and other village community leaders, on every aspect of the design, organization and operation of the mill, warehouse and shop. Together we did market research and took

ﬁeld trips to working mills, met with experienced mill mechanics, and acquired speciﬁcations and costs at

wholesale equipment supply distributors in Kampala. Community members worked with Kulanu’s ten-point business plan questionnaire to organize their business structure, plan for their expenses, cost their services, and determine how to distinguish themselves in the marketplace. The community has already sent a young man to begin training in operation and repair at a town mill business in preparation for running the village’s small mill.

Abayudaya Student

Photo by Laura Wetzler

The process described above demonstrates Kulanu’s philosophy of “development from the ground up.” The very exercise of creating the business plan has helped build skills. If Kulanu can secure funding, the project will be implemented in three stages, beginning with extensive training, followed by building construction and then small-scale mill and power source installation. We are also exploring the possibility of the village trading center, located far off the electricity grid, be-

ing powered by more efﬁcient solar technology from

Israel, as opposed to a diesel engine as is customary. If solar energy is technically feasible (and we don’t know

yet if it is), it would be the ﬁrst solar-powered small-

scale grain mill in Uganda and could become a model for other rural areas around the world. The cost of the entire project, training, construction and equipment, is relatively modest by US standards. A grant in the amount of $45,000 will enable Kulanu to continue its goal of sustainable development from the grassroots up. down to a full day of discussion on best practice farming, the counseling of adolescents, income generating

craft projects, microﬁnance and family health issues.

There were several inspiring Kulanu-Abayudaya mi-

croﬁnance success stories of women supporting their

families with the help of a small business loan to plant and sell their produce. Although this program has been

successful, it is still woefully underﬁnanced. Many are

turned away for lack of funds. The report on the Abayudaya-Kulanu Deaf Education Project was heartening. Last year, six Abayudaya

school children began receiving the ﬁrst appropriate education in their lives at a Ugandan school speciﬁcally

working with deaf children. Thanks to Rabbi Gershom, Dr. Wamani. Dr. Liz Feldman, Hedy Cohen and other Kulanu supporters. It is a pleasure to see how much better the children are doing now that they are connected to Ugandan Deaf culture, learning to read and

write for the ﬁrst time, and to speak in International

Sign Language.

Abayudaya Women’s Association

Conference, Micro-ﬁnance, and

Abayudaya-Kulanu deaf Education project the Abayudaya Schools

Most readers already know that Kulanu is helping the Abayudaya build and support two rural village schools, feeding and educating over 700 economically disadvantaged Jewish, Muslim and Christian children studying together in peace. The needs of the two schools (primary and high school) remain overwhelming. Headmasters Aaron Kintu Moses and Seth Jonadav and their staffs are doing a great job with limited resources. On-going support is needed to keep the schools run-

Mazel tov to Naume Sabano, Athalia Musenze, Ruth Nabaigwa, and Dinnah Samson and all the members of the Abayudaya Women’s Association. The Kulanusponsored Abayudaya Women’s Association Conference, made possible three times each year by Jeanne Bodin and Woodland Temple in Westchester, NY, was held this year in Namutumba. It was, as always, a highlight of our visit, as Abayudaya women from

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ﬁve villages greeted each other excitedly, and sat

Abayudaya,

Old Synagogue at Namutumba

Photo by Laura Wetzler

conjunction with Kulanu. This year, the event was sponsored by United Synagogue Youth under the inspired direction of Abayudaya Head Rabbi and Rosh Yeshivah Gershom Sizomu. Masorti Olami (world conservative movement) representative Judy Gray volunteered from Israel and was a huge help. Abayudaya youth from every village were in attendance for the three-day confer-

ence, as was a delegation of three terriﬁc

California high school students who had helped raise funds for the event: David
Weingarten, Elysse Weissberger and Jason Schreiber. Abayudaya teens organized and lead the conference and Shabbat services.

ning in these difﬁcult economic times. Right now, the

high school is forced to send students home each October to accommodate national testing. High school boys from remote villages have no dorm to live in and many of them must rent rooms in town, where they live unsupervised. A great many of these students are orphans struggling to attend the Abayudaya High School

speciﬁcally so they can take Hebrew and other Jewish

subjects.
The music and dancing, organized this year by Athalia Musenze and the Abayudaya board, was spectacular. Participants included new community groups from northern Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya, and featured students and adults of all ages keeping alive their rich cultural traditions. Exciting rural dances from six different tribal groups (Ugandan Bagwere, Bugisu, Buganda, Busoga, Acholi, and Kenyan Kikuyu) were balanced by contemporary Jewish African hip hop from Mbale city.
The schools continue to need additional classrooms, dorms, a library and for the high school, science laboratories. A place for the kids to eat protected from the torrential rains would also be a plus. Both schools also desperately need storage facilities so food for the children can be bought in bulk. This would save money and ensure a healthier diet for the children, as protein rich legumes and whole grains could be purchased when prices are most favorable rather than on a daily basis. The problem impacts the ability to feed the children who attend the two schools.
All the performances pulsed with the drum beat of

African-Hebrew tam and lyrics reﬂecting Jewish val-

ues. Fees from Kulanu’s Jewish Life in Uganda Mitzvah Tour make it possible for Abayudaya community members from every village to celebrate together in what has become an annual international event drawing visitors from around the world. Isaac Byaki, Dinnah Samson and Mama Rachel Wanyenya made us all feel welcome by serving fabulous meals at the Abayudaya Guest House (better than the hotel food in town!).
If you, or anyone you know, wants to do a mitzvah by building a classroom or dormitory, subsidizing the salaries of teachers or helping feed hungry students, the costs are but a small fraction of what it costs in the United States. Naming opportunities are also available. Please contact Harriet or me for information.
Thanks to everyone for their ongoing support of this extraordinary community! And if anyone is interested in helping as a contributor or as a volunteer, please get

in touch.

□

Youth Conference, music & dance Festival

Laura

[email protected] www.kulanu.org/abayudaya
The Abayudaya Jewish Music and Dance Festival coincided with a much expanded Abayudaya Youth Conference, begun three years ago by Abayudaya teens in

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et h i o p i a ’s Ke C h e n e Je w i s h Co m m u n i t y

Co n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1

The community played a pivotal role in the establishment of the capital, Addis Ababa, providing crafts and manual labor. But despite their economic importance, they were regarded with distrust, fear, and at times, even hatred because of their Jewish faith. Faced with extreme persecution from their Christian neighbors, who called them anti-Christ, they lived as strangers in the region and were denied basic rights such as the ownership of land, which was granted only to those who accepted the Christian faith and underwent baptism…

…To ensure the survival of the community and its continuity to the next generation, and to minimize persecution and gain access to burial grounds from the church, the elders instructed the community to abide by the following rules:

Young men of Kechene Jewish Community

Photos by Laura Alter Klapman

• Members of the community were encouraged to adapt out-

wardly to the environment in which they lived, including going to church.

true to the faith of the Jewish people. Again, as in Spain, Jews had contributed to the building (in this case literally) of the country and capital city, but, at the same time, they were a despised minority and rejected for their religious identity.

• Judaic practices would continue secretly…(In other words),

the mode of religious practice was changed from open to secret.

• Access was denied to outsiders in their quest to learn about

the community. Providing information about the community was strictly prohibited.

I had the good fortune years ago to hear a lecture on the Jews of Spain by the distinguished Jewish historian Professor Yosef Haim Yerushalmi, who held chairs

• Religious wisdom had to be passed orally from generation

to generation. It was strictly forbidden to produce any writ- in Jewish history at Harvard and later at Columbia ten document until “The Day” when God favors the community and their true identity and their religious practice can be made public without persecution.

University. Dr. Yerushalmi spoke about the Spanish Inquisition and the conversos experience. He admonished the audience not to romanticize the period and to think that “underground” Judaism was the same as the free, open embrace of Judaism, only transferred to the cellar. “It isn’t about Jews sitting in the cellar with Shabbat candlesticks and a white tablecloth,” he said. No, the Judaism of the cellar was compromised, rituals

and laws forgotten, observance difﬁcult if not impos-

sible to maintain.

_______________________

A large Jewish community felt forced to live underground.
________________

The Kulanu mission to Ethiopia was planned in response to these articles and to requests by some youthful members of the Kechene Jewish community to help them reconnect with the worldwide Jewish community. Kulanu’s coordinator for Ethiopia Sam Taddesse, an Ethiopian-born Jew, had recently retired from an illustrious 40-year international career working as an economist and had returned to Ethiopia to contribute to the economic growth and success of his homeland. Sam would plan and lead this important introduction to the community. For me personally, the trip represented a monumental history lesson and a challenge.
I couldn’t help but remember Yerushalmi’s words during my visit to the Beit Avraham. Here was a community of Jews that was so frightened of being exposed that it did not respond to overtures from its co-religionists in the Beta Israel community or attempt to join the ali- yah (return) to Israel. Here was a community that was still under suspicion even when it attempted to blend in with its Christian neighbors. To this day, many members of the community are fearful of exposure within the greater Ethiopian society and are unhappy that some of the younger members want to practice their Judaism in public. They say, “It isn’t the right time.”
Here was a large Jewish community (some say over 50,000), who felt forced to live underground like the conversos (crypto-Jews) of Spain. Outwardly, they