African Jewish Communities - Communities - Beth Yeshourun of Cameroon

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Communities - Beth Yeshourun of Cameroon

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The Beth Yeshourun Community

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

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. You can read about the Sussmans' visit in their article, below... Read more.

Source: Kulanu

Cameroon

There are some who believe that an ancient Jewish presence may have at one time existed in Cameroon via merchants who arrived from Egypt for trade. According to these accounts, the early communities in Cameroon observed rituals such as separation of dairy and meat products, as well as wearing tefillin.

There are also claims that Jews migrated into Cameroon much later, after being forced southward due to the Islamic conquests of North Africa... Read more .

Source: Shavei Israel

The New Jews of Cameroon

Serge Etele is a 31-year-old cocoa farmer and native African who lives in Sa'a, a small rural village in Cameroon, on the west coast of Africa. He and his family, as well as a thousand others in his village, were members of a Pentecostal Christian congregation. Today, though, Serge considers himself a Jew. He is the spiritual leader of the Beth Yeshourun Jewish Community of Cameroon.

What is most remarkable about Serge's transformation is that at the time of his self-proclaimed conversion he had not heard of any Jews in Cameroon (although there are reports of ancient connections to Judaism), and he never met or had any contact with Jews. How then did this unlikely and puzzling conversion take place 13 years ago when he was still a teenager?

In a talk at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Feb. 23... Read more .

Source: Hffington Post - By Bernard Starr

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Creation date : 25/08/2013 @ 23:25
Last update : 26/08/2013 @ 02:30
Category : Communities
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