Dynamics of Identities: Jewish Communities in Africa and Their Diaspora

This Special Book deals with the study of Jewish communities in Africa and their Diaspora. The Jewish communities in Africa have an ancient Jewish tradition and a rich cultural heritage. Their Judaism was integrated and gained a prominent position within the Jewish and general history of the New Age of this large continent. Research on African Jewry focused mainly on a few large Jewish communities in North Africa, in Ethiopia, and in South Africa. In the past, research was divided into separate fields according to geographical and international boundaries. This Book focuses on discussing the Jewish identity of communities all over the continent and in diverse fields.

Identity is shaped and changes as a function of the manner in which we are represented in the social systems surrounding us (Hall 1996). The dynamic picture of identities is realized in the construct “fluid identity”, coined by Zygmunt Bauman (2000). The internal dimension of identity motivates people, and it is expressed in self-identification and identification with the values of the group (Ben-Rafael and Peres 2000, pp. 9–13; DellaPergola 2016, pp. 162–63). People who immigrate to different countries find ways of including their diverse identity and using it wisely in changing social contexts (Hodzi 2019; Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004; Sharaby 2022).

Identity (in general) and Jewish identity (in particular) can be defined on two axes: a diachronic axis that indicates the relation between the present conformation and its past heritage, and a synchronic axis that indicates the broad diverse contexts that influence identity in the present (Sagi 2016).

This Special Book represents the encounter between these two axes. The articles in this Book discuss on current topics, as well as topics of historical value, using multifaceted disciplinary approaches. These articles may contribute to understanding the dynamic identity of the Jews as individuals and as a collective—in the communities in Africa and wherever they are dispersed—on the issues of tradition and modernity; Jewish education; holidays and customs; religious organizations and institutions; pilgrimage; religious and cultural syncretism; multiple identities, Jewish art; language; leadership; community/ imagined community; religious music; gender; immigration and religion; symbolic boundaries; transnationalism; rituals; etc.

This Book includes 10 articles. The first articles focus mainly on the study of Jewish communities in Africa.

Bar Kribus, in his article titled “Jewish–Christian Interaction in Ethiopia as Reflected in Sacred Geography: Expressing Affinity with Jerusalem and the Holy Land and Comemorating the Betä Ǝsraʾel–Solomonic Wars”, examined the affinity with the Holy Land (especially with Jerusalem) in the holy sites and in the religious architecture among the Betä Ǝsraʾel (Ethiopian Jews) and among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in Solomonic Ethiopia. He concluded that the sacred geography and religious architecture of each community was a means to express its unique identity. Yossef Charvit, in the article “Jewish Education in Algerian Jewish Communities-Multiple Identities in an Era of Change (1830–1939)”, discussed the Algerian Jewish community’s Jewish education during the French period (1830–1939). He found that Jewish education fueled loyalty to one’s Jewish identity and heritage, and partially strengthened the Jewish society in this period of change. He also wrote that Algerian Jewry’s multiple identities during the French period originate in the community’s education, both general and Jewish.

André Levy, in the study “Screening Out Their Own: Muslim Gatekeepers of Jewish Spaces in Morocco”, showed how Muslim gatekeepers (who are part of the majority in Morocco) screen out their coreligionists from Jewish spaces. This gatekeeping fortifies the Jewish notion of exclusive spaces within which they feel safe as a small community that has a unique identity. Pinhas Haliwa, in his article “Laws of Succession Ordinances by the Religious Leadership of Sephardi and Moroccan Jewish Communities and Their Economic, Social and Gender Implications”, illuminated the status of women and the identity of Jewish communities by describing inheritance order incarnations following the wanderings of Jews. He showed that the leaders of Jewish communities in Spain were advanced in their innovative and unprecedented ordinances related to women’s inheritance After immigration of Jews from Spain to Morocco, further improving women’s position was created, and was ultimately assimilated into Rabbinical and Supreme Court rulings of Israel.

The following articles focus mainly on the study of the diaspora of Jewish communities from Africa.

Suzanne D. Rutland, in her article “Creating Transformation: South African Jews in Australia”, claimed that immigrants from South Africa from the 1960s had the most significant impact on Australian Jewry. With their stronger Jewish identity and support for the Jewish day school movement, they not only integrated into the new Australian–Jewish context but also changed this context. Rebeca Raijman also dealt with South African immigrants. In the article titled “African Jewish Communities in the Diaspora and the Homeland: The Case of South Africa”, she noted that immigrants wanted to live in a place where they could feel part of the majority that was culturally and religiously Jewish. Finally, ethno-religious identities—Jewish and Zionist—influenced not only the decision making of potential immigrants but also their process of integration in Israel.

Lilach Lev-Ari, in her article “North-African Jewish People in Paris: Multiple Identities-Ethnic-Religious, National and Transnational”, conducted a comparative study between native-born and immigrant Jewish people with North African roots who resided in Greater Paris regarding their multiple identities. Her results indicate that both groups have strong Jewish and religious identities. She also found that among people of the same North African origin, there are inter-generational differences in several dimensions of identity and identification. Elazar Ben-Lulu, in his article “Empathy from the Margins: Observing Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) Events in a Reform Jewish Congregation”, examines the absorption of Ethiopian immigrants into Israeli society by performing a traditional custom, called the Sigd holiday, within a Reform Jewish community. He argues that the solidarity between these communities with unique Jewish identities is based on social perceptions and experiences of social alienation, and on marking a narrative of the “other”, against the Orthodox Jewish monopoly in Israel.

Ravit Talmi-Cohn also dealt with Ethiopian immigrants in the article “Transnationalism and Hybridity in Religious Practices during the Migration Process: The Zera Beta Israel in Ethiopia and Israel”, in which she examined the complexity of religious practices and beliefs among a group of Zera Beta Israel (Falash Mura) members. Her findings challenge conventional binary perceptions and conceptual categories, such as Jewish–Christian or religious–secular ones, and demonstrate the fluidity and complexity identity (the hybridity) that exists in the contexts of religion and immigration. Tal Dekel, in her article “Black Masculinities and Jewish Identity: Ethiopian-Israeli Men in Contemporary Art”, focused on the identity of Ethiopian Jewish male artists in Israel. She argued that political activism awareness has greatly impacted their artistic production, broadened its diversity, and contributed a wealth of artworks to Israeli culture as a whole.