More Than 250 Igbo Jewish Youth Gather For Leadership Training
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Aiden Pink September 5, 2019
More than 250 youths from the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria were brought together last month for a week of Jewish activities, classes and leadership seminars.
The youths, along with 20 adults, came together in Onithsa, Nigeria between August 18-25 thanks to Shavei Israel, an organization that does outreach to far-flung Jewish communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The activities included Hebrew and Torah lessons and Shabbat activities.
The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups, and many believe that they are descended from ancient Israelites. A few thousand of them have started practicing Judaism in cities throughout Nigeria. A Christian missionary group claimed to have conducted DNA tests that showed no Jewish genetic markers in Igbo subjects, but the results were disputed by leaders in the Igbo Jewish community.
“In recent years, a growing number of Igbo in Nigeria have chosen to embrace Judaism and seek to learn more about the culture, faith and heritage of Israel and the Jewish people,” Shavei Israel founder and chairman Michael Freund said in a statement. “We decided to answer their call and we’re working closely with the growing numbers of Igbo Jewish communities that are now flourishing in places such as Lagos, Abuja and Anambra state.”
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Shavei Israel’s gathering was in Israel. In fact, it took place in Onithsa, Nigeria.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
