Published: 5 February 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
AT A CONFERENCE in New York on Jewish life in Africa, Magda Haroun spoke of being only one of a handful of Jews left in Egypt, a country that was once home to a Jewish community of 80,000.
Abere Endeshaw Kerehu shared the struggles faced by the approximately 8,000 Jews still living in Ethiopia who face anti-Semitism at home but have not yet been allowed to immigrate to Israel.
But others offered a more optimistic picture. Rabbi Levi Banon said Casablanca, Morocco is home to “a small but very vibrant” Jewish community that operates 22 active synagogues, while Remy Ilona urged acceptance of a growing community of Nigerian Igbo people who he says are practicing rabbinic Judaism.
The conference, hosted by the American Sephardi Federation and the Morocco-based Association Mimouna from January 27-29 was noteworthy not only because of the range of perspectives it offered but also because it included speakers from emerging Jewish communities in Africa, such as Ilona’s group, alongside those from established communities in countries like Egypt and Morocco.
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Photo: Rabbi Capers Funnye, left, and Martha Leah Williams, at the Jewish Africa Conference in New York, January 29, 2019. (Josefin Dolsten)
