• “Ethiopia’s Kechene Jewish Community: A History Lesson and Challenge” by Judy Manelis, p 1
• “From the Ground Up: Kulanu-Abayudaya Education and Economic Development” by Laura Wetzler, Uganda Coordinator, p 2
• “Suriname’s Jewish Community Welcomes First Rabbi in 40 Years” by Judy Manelis, p 10
• “Coming Out: A Visit to the Zimbabwe Lemba” by Tudor Parfitt, p 12
• “Rabbi Gershom Sizomu Visits the Lemba in South Africa” interview, p 14
• “A ‘Bucket List’ Visit to Distant Jewish Communities” by Rabbi Stephen Leon, p 18
• plus book reviews and more!

The Kulanu Newsletter may have a new face in 2010, but did you know this publication has been around since before “Kulanu” was founded as a non-profit organization in 1994? We have recently added the first four years of newsletters to our online archives, and now you can view issues as far back as Winter 1993-94! Check out www.kulanu.org/newsletters for seventeen years of news and insight into isolated and emerging Jewish communities.

On a warm January evening, I am seated in a synagogue with doors and windows open to the palm trees outside. Such a scene might take place in the US only in Hawaii or Florida, but it is even odder that my feet are resting on a sand-covered floor as we welcome Shabbat. It’s not the typical service which I am used to and it’s not just because of the tropical surroundings, nor is it because of the hazan’s place on a stepped-up platform in the middle. Neither is it simply because of the balcony above or because of some of the melodies and chants are unfamiliar to me. But behind the wooden doors on the bima, Torahs rest in the ark, and despite the tropical surroundings and the unusual atmosphere, at least to me, the Torahs are the clear reminder that though somewhat different from my perspective, this is a synagogue.

Among the many synagogues that may have existed at one time or another during the past 2,000 years, only a few disappeared due to earthquakes and hurricanes. Although this is the only remaining synagogue in Jamaica, where I came for a conference on Caribbean Jewry, and its cultural roots go back to the late 15th century, the present structure that houses the United Congregation of Israelites goes back only about a hundred years. Sha’are Shalom (Gates of Peace) was rebuilt in 1912 after the 1907 earthquake destroyed the 1888 building. The first synagogue in Jamaica was built in Port Royal in the 17th century, and in nearby Spanish Town a synagogue was built in 1704.

more

In the Kulanu-supported Abayudaya schools of Uganda, hungry students are commonplace.  That is why we are grateful to have received a matching grant offer of $7500 from The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation.  If our donors can match the Gervis gift, we will be able to support an urgently needed food program for hungry students in the Abayudaya community.

Semei Kakungulu High School was established in the late 1990’s as a haven for Abayudaya Jewish students to study peacefully along with their Christian and Muslim neighbors. Located in an impoverished area where most families are subsistence farmers, the high school, which currently has an enrollment of 380 students, has had a remarkable record of success.  Many of its graduates, some of whom are boarders from outlying areas, have passed Uganda’s national exams for college entrance, despite a variety of challenges. Hunger is foremost among those challenges.

Since 2006, thanks to the Gervis Foundation, high school students (many of whom often arrived at school without breakfast or lunch) have received a daily breakfast of protein-enriched porridge and bananas and a lunch snack of chapati flat bread three times a week. This has been hardly enough to satisfy hunger and alleviate the risk of exploitation for food. Now, due to economic necessity, even that is in jeopardy if we cannot provide matching funds.

Would you please consider this special request? For just $119 a day all the students could have two substantial meals a day.  The Gervis Foundation matching funds must be available by May 1st. Please give online at green.olm.net/~kulanu/donate or send a check, payable to Kulanu, to Kulanu, 165 West End Ave, 3R, New York, NY 10023, USA. Be sure to write “food program” in the online comments or in the memo on your check.

We would be grateful for any amount you can give. Kulanu and the students of Semei Kakungulu High School thank you in advance.

Please share this on email lists, Facebook, and Twitter! Here’s a “tweet-length” message you can use on Facebook and Twitter:

Help Kulanu feed hungry Jewish, Muslim & Christian kids at Abayudaya SK High School in Uganda! http://tinyurl.com/feedUgandankids

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,
Harriet Bograd, President
Kulanu, Inc
For more information:
green.olm.net/~kulanu/abayudaya
Abayudaya slideshow at www.kulanu.phanfare.com

Photo by Lorne Mallin

In 2006, Kulanu was contacted by a man known as Jorge Yoram Torres. He advised us of a group in the Dominican Republic, the “Comunidad Judia Sefardita,” who wanted to reconnect with their Jewish roots. After correspondence that indicated great effort on his part to energize a newly emerging Latin American community, Kulanu gave $4,400 dollars to help unleash the potential of this community, including money for a Chanukah celebration in Santo Domingo featuring construction of a huge menorah in a public square.

In 2008, Kulanu received emails telling us of a similar proto-Jewish community in El Salvador. These came from a person alternately calling himself Nathaniel ben Yossef and Jorge Torres Orellana. Disarmed by the apparent sincerity of these messages, we encouraged a young rabbi, an associate of Kulanu, to visit the community and assess the situation. Much to our dismay, he told us that Nathaniel and Jorge were none other than Yoram Torres of the Dominican Republic. At that point we cut off all connection to Mr. Torres and completely disassociated ourselves from him.

When we learned in 2009 of the accusations against Jorge/Yoram/Nathaniel and his wife for heinous crimes, we removed any references to the communities in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador from our website and online copies of our newsletter. Perhaps we should have issued a direct condemnation, but we lacked any first-hand evidence of his crimes. We stayed silent partly out of an ethical concern for not defaming someone without full facts. We regret this in light of what we have learned in the past week. We disavow in the strongest terms any endorsement of Mr. Torres based on our past association with him.

Harriet Bograd, President

Kulanu, Inc.

green.olm.net/~kulanu

video from Shavei Israel

• “French Black Jews” by Cynthia Weisfeld
• “Endings and Beginnings in Uganda” by Lorne Mallin
• “Kaifeng Descendent to Tour U.S.” (watch for an announcement very soon giving details of this upcoming Kulanu tour)
• “What I Did on my Summer Vacation” by Janis Colton (about Elderhostel trip in New Mexico on Converso/Crypto-Jewish story)!

Click here to read these and other articles, as well as “Publications of Note” and so much more