I arrived in the early afternoon of January 5, at the bus station of Tohoyandu, the capital of the Northern province of South Africa, near the border with Zimbabwe and I was welcomed by Mr. Mathivha, the Director of the School District of the entire region, who took me to his office and introduced me to his associates. We then drove to the residence of Prof. M.E.R. Mathivha, retired professor of African linguistics , who is the president of the Lemba Cultural Association. The professor graciously invited me to stay at his house for Shabbat.
We had a cordial conversation which lasted several hours, during which I learned a great deal about the situation and the aspirations of the Lemba community. In addition to the director of the school district, we were joined by Rabson, a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Natal, who had arrived from Zimbabwe on the preceding day.
I delivered the laptop computers which a devoted member of Amishav had sent me from San Francisco, to the professor and Rabson (another one was given to the director of the Lemba Burial Society of Soweto.) I also distributed the many books which I had brought with me, with the understanding that some of them would go to the library which is being created and which will become part of the Lemba Cultural Center and Synagogue in construction: copies of "What is a Jew" by Kerzer, "This is my God" by Herman Wouk, a copy of the new JPS Hebrew-English Bible and dozens of other books on Jewish Theology, several manuals of Jewish history, Hebrew text-books, over a hundred small Shabbat manuals, talitot and other educational material.
Around six, people started coming for the Sabbath eve service, which took place in the living room of the professor's house. The professor invited me to conduct the service but I declined and agreed to participate only after the professor had done his part of the service. He knelt in front of the fireplace on which stood a Hanukiah and pictures of his children's graduation from university. He said a long prayer in Venda invoking "Jehovah" and asking for His blessing. He then asked several participants to read some passages from the Torah, the Decalogue (Exodus, ch. 20) and Deuteronomy (ch. 20) from a Christian translation of the Bible in Venda, the only available in that language. Then, the professor asked several young people to sing several specific hymns - from a Lutheran hymnal - that did not contain any reference to Jesus or the Trinity. They were sung in perfect harmony as if the singers had been trained to sing in a choir (they probably were). When my turn came, I told the audience how glad I was to share this prayer service with my brethren of Venda, I gave a study-sermon on the Ten Commandments, told a couple of Hassidic stories and sung and taught a few Shabbat songs.
The same type of service took place on Shabbat morning, but then, something unexpected took place immediately after the service was over: several members of the group asked if I would answer questions about Jewish theology and a lively discussion followed. The questions they asked were the very same questions that would be asked in many religious circles in America: what is the position of Judaism on original sin, heaven and hell, forgiveness of sin, the devil, salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus, and virtually all the basic teachings that the Christian missionaries had tried to inculcate in them in their parochial schools. Indeed, one must bear in mind that when European missionaries came to this part of the country and opened schools in the 1880s, they required that all the children be baptized in order to be accepted as students. The Lemba were told in addition, that Christianity represented the "highest form of Judaism" and many went along, though reluctantly. Today, some hundred twenty years later, many are determined to re-affirm their Jewishness and their allegiance to Judaism.
I have been continuing this dialogue by e-mail ever since I came back. I correspond with several of them on a regular basis. I have just received a message last Thursday, asking me and all the friends of the Lemba, to pray for the recovery of one of the sons of Prof. Mathivha, the president of the Lemba Cultural Association, who is very ill. Another son of the professor, is Dr. Gedzu Mathivha who is a general practioner in Tohoyandu and a remarkably charming and intelligent man. The professor is also blessed with three daughters. Dr. Rudo (Ahavah) is an emergency physician at the Baraguana Hospital, the most important medical institution of Soweto, near Johannesburg. She is enrolled in an Introduction to Judaism class which is sponsored by the Orthodox rabbinate of the city. She is eager to learn about the religion of her ancestors. She has a good relationship with Rabbi Bernhard who has just retired from his post of rabbi of the prestigious Oxford Synagogue of Johannesburg. We invited her for dinner one evening and we discussed several topics of Jewish medical ethics. Another daughter is a cardiologist in Durban and a third one is a librarian. When the professor told me that three of his children were doctors, I spontaneously responded that this alone would surely qualify him as an authentic Jew
One of my most articulate correspondants is Rabson, a nice man in his early forties, rather shy and unassuming, who is studying philosophy today but who was studying Christian theology only a few years ago, and who might engage in the study of Jewish theology and philosophy as soon as we will be able to find him a scholarship. I spent an evening at the professor's with Mr. Moetti, who is the elected "governor" of the Tohoyandu area and is a former member of Parliament, discussing ways of creating jobs for the unemployed who are suffering from poverty and hunger, eventhough I am no economist or specialist in this field.
During my short stay in Venda, I also had the opportunity to spend two days with Ephrayim Selamelola, a Bubah (a priest-Cohen) who is a very successful businessman. He owns property, a shoping center and is in the process of finishing the building of two lodges (30 rooms and rondavels each) on very beautiful sites. The Bubah Lodge where I stayed, has lovely surroundings, with domesticated and wild animals roaming all over.
The Bubas (priests) are the only ones allowed to slaughter animals for human consumption. As do the Shokhetim (ritual slaughterers) in the rest of the world, they say a prayer before they proceed with the actual slaughtering of the animal. The Lemba never ate pork or any animal that resembles the pig like the hippopotamus. They practice the circumcision of their male children (and not on their female children as do some African tribes.)
What motivated the Lemba to re-affirm their Jewish origins at this time? you may ask. From various conversations I had with the Lemba, it would appear that the most important fact that profoundly stirred their feelings, was the extraordinary rescue of the Ethiopian Jews by the Israeli government (Operation Moses) and the integration of these African Jews in the Israeli society. A professor was telling me that when he went to Israel as a tourist, he was amazed and moved to see Falashas serving as officers and soldiers in the Isareli army, and nurses in the hospitals and young people studying in schools and yeshivot all over the country. That was like a great hope coming to realisation.
Their welcome was warm and kind; they were very pleased to have a European-born American rabbi visit them and accept them as members of the Jewish people. There was no need to discuss this matter. My presence and my participation in their community activities, were sufficient indications of my attitude toward them.
Now that I have presented my credentials and been accepted as a legitimate religious representative of the Jewish people, I will have to return with other volunteers, to teach their young and adults and to continue infusing Jewish ideas and traditions to the members of their families.
I am in the process of making plans to return in July and I will soon post an invitation to both volunteer-educators who will be willing to teach for a week and Jewish tourists anxious to participate in a great adventure.
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Jack Zeller, president of Kulanu, for all the help and advice he gave me and to Dr. Shmuel Wapnick, president of the New York chapter of Amishav, for providing me with many introductions and addresses, before I went to South Africa for without them, I could not have succeeded in my mission.
Rabbi Abrami visited the Lemba community in January 2001. This is
his preliminary report