Cameroon

The Beth Yeshourun Community

New Discounted Rate on the Kulanu-Cameroon 2012 Speaking Tour!

As many of you know, Kulanu is bringing Serge Etele of the Beth Yeshourun community of Cameroon to the United States this February and March. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Stein Family Fund, we are able to offer a deep discount on the original speaking tour fee: instead of the original $1,450 to host Serge Etele, it is now only $650.00 per event! On this ground-breaking speaking tour, audiences will learn about this emerging community practicing Judaism in the heart of Africa. Click here to read more and sign up now!

image: Rabbi Gerald Sussman teaching the Mitzva of Teffilines in Cameroon (Photo: Serge Etele)

Rabbi Gerald Sussman teaching the Mitzva of Teffilines in Cameroon.
(Photo: Serge ETELE)

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A relatively "new" community, Beth Yeshourun was founded in 1998 when its leaders turned away from Christianity. Increasingly observant and deeply committed to Jewish rituals and practice, the 50-member community has made amazing progress, educating themselves through the Internet by downloading Jewish liturgies and prayers, and studying Judaism, Hebrew, and Torah on Jewish websites.

Isolated from mainstream Jewry, the community had its first visitors when Rabbi Bonita Sussman, a Kulanu board member, and her husband Rabbi Gerald Sussman went to Cameroon during the summer of 2010. These emissaries from Kulanu were welcomed warmly. Their reports reflect astonishment at the level of Jewish knowledge and practice they observed during their ten-day visit.

image: Serge Etele, the spiritual leader of Beth Yeshourun (Photo: Nama Nazer)

Serge Etele, the spiritual leader of Beth Yeshourun.
(Photo: Nama Nazer)

Kulanu has supported community Jewish education by funding a one-year Internet connection. Members will now have better access to online resources, opening doors to the wider Jewish world and enabling formal conversion in the future, a goal of the community. We are seeking online volunteer teachers so that a greater number of willing and sincere Beth Yeshourun students can learn Hebrew and chant Torah.

Kulanu is now organizing a speaking tour for Serge Etele, the brilliant and inspirational spiritual leader of Beth Yeshourun. This brand new Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour will kick off in New York City on Thursday, February 23rd, and introduce Serge and the Beth Yeshourun to other communities in the U.S. until the end of March. Click here for information about the speaking tour, and check out our work-in-progress tour calendar to find out if Serge will be visiting a town near you!