An Intimate Look At Judaism In Nigeria — Thanks To A New Blog
Image by Tikvat Israel Synagogue
By Sam Kestenbaum September 6, 2017
A new website from Nigeria offers an intimate view into a little known Jewish community — despite decades of activity and its growing numbers.
Launched this summer, the blog is run by Tikvat Israel Synagogue, an influential Igbo congregation in Abuja that has longstanding ties to American and Israeli religious outreach groups.
A September post describes a tour through the country, during which members of the synagogue travelled with a Torah donated from a New York synagogue.
“Indeed, the journey to the east was a successful one, that gave us the chance to show our faith in the open, encouraging many others to follow this path of truth, and creating meaningful awareness of Judaism among the Igbo people,” a post sums up, going on to describe a bar mitzvah ceremony and a visit to an Igbo chief.
“The Torah visited the brethren there,” the blog goes on, “who expressed massive support to continue to strenghten [sic] the course of Judaism starting from their immediate surrounding, and spreading the word of truth to get more people involved.”
The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups and while most are Christian, there is widespread identification with Israel and the Jewish people — with many evoking an ancient genealogical connection to the people of the bible. In more recent decades, some Igbo have integrated Jewish practices into religious services.
Some have undergone religious conversions with the encouragement and assistance of American or Israeli Jews. Kulanu, an outreach group based in New York, has been involved in Nigeria since the early 2000s and donated hundreds of dollars this spring towards helping the Tikvat syngagogue get their own computer and internet connection.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
