Looking to take a trip with a difference that reveals more about your Jewish culture? Just look up (to the rest of Africa).
Ilan Preskovsky
Though today, South Africa is home to the vast majority of Jews in Africa, there was once a variety of Jewish communities across the nearly 60 countries that make up our great continent – especially in North Africa. In the two decades after the establishment of the State of Israel, most Jews were either expelled or fled from these countries – or in exceptional cases like Morocco, emigrated to Israel voluntarily – but what they left behind was the rich legacy of often wildly different communities, many of which existed for thousands of years, reaching as far back as the Babylonian Exile of 597 BCE.
Some, like the Lemba people in southern Africa, even claim to be the offspring of the legendary Lost Tribes of Israel, while the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, for example, created a unique Jewish life that developed independently of the rabbinic Judaism that is considered “mainstream” for most of today’s Jews. Today, you are most likely to encounter actual members of these communities in Israel (North African and Middle Eastern Jews make up the majority of Israel’s Jewish population, in fact) but by the very nature of how most of them left their countries, Africa itself is positively littered with physical remnants of its Jewish past, much of which is still available for tourists to visit. There may even be some authentic Jewish cuisine to be sampled too.
Egypt
Despite the exodus from Egypt being the origin story of Jews as a people, Jews have returned repeatedly to the land, from Pharaonic times all the way through to the 1970s. Since the country was cleared of most of its Jews, many Jewish sites in Egypt have actually been closed to the public for decades, but some of the country’s centuries-old synagogues are available to visit, many of which having been refurbished over the last 150 years and are the primary must-see Jewish locales in Cairo. The biggie here is the Ben Ezra Synagogue, a 9th century building that was built on a spot of great significance to Jews reaching back into antiquity. It is believed to have been the place where Pharaoh’s daughter discovered baby Moses in his basket of reeds, and was a gathering place for Jews following the destruction of the First Temple, in Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar. For history buffs, though, this beautiful synagogue is home to the famous Cairo Geniza, wherein 250 000 documents were found around 100 years ago that offered a detailed look of Jewish life in Egypt – and much of the Middle East and North Africa – during the Middle Ages. Of the other synagogues in Egypt, the Maimonides Synagogue is another incredible historical site. This synagogue was built back in the 10th century and was refurbished in the 19th.
It draws its name from arguably the most famous mediaeval Jewish scholar of them all, Rav Moshe ben Maimon or, as he is otherwise known, the Rambam or Maimonides; he spent much of his life in Cairo after being expelled from his native Spain. Like most Jewish communities, Egyptian Jews ate quite similarly to their non-Jewish neighbours, but the pasta dish known as Koshari (served with rice, lentils, chickpeas, caramelised onions
and a vinegary tomato sauce) has Jewish origins – its name may even be a derivative of the word “kosher”.
Morocco
Morocco, of course, is one of the most tourist-friendly countries in North Africa, but it also has a connection to its Jewish heritage that is unparalleled in the Muslim world. It is one of the few countries, for a start, that didn’t expel its Jewish population or encourage them to leave with the creation of the State of Israel, but allowed the extremely Zionist Moroccan Jews the choice to leave or stay in the country – most left and make up one of the largest Jewish communities in Israel – and maintains largely very good relationships with its Jewish expats to this day. As a result, it is home to the only Jewish museum in the entire Muslim world, the Museum of Moroccan Judaism, located in the heart of the country’s most popular and famous city, Casablanca.
The museum was opened in 2016 and uses a building that was originally built as a Jewish orphanage in 1948. Its exhibits, though, are far older, as Jews have had a sizable presence in Morocco since the sixth century BCE, and it collects all sorts of relics and items to reflect the country’s long and storied Jewish history.
Also worth visiting in Casablanca is Temple Beth-El, which is the majestic centrepiece of what was a large Jewish community and, since its refurbishment in 1997, still serves as that for the remaining Jews in the city, while also being known as one of Casablanca’s most beloved heritage sites. Morocco is also host to some of the best dining in the region, some of which was almost definitely influenced by Jews, but for the best authentic Jewish Moroccan cuisine, Israel is undoubtedly the place to be.
Africa itself is positively littered with physical remnants of its Jewish past, much of which is still available for tourists to visit.
Ethiopia
The story of the Ethiopian Jews themselves is incredibly fascinating, as they are one of the few Jewish communities in ,the region that isn’t largely made up of Sephardic Jews that fled the Spanish Inquisition, but are the direct descendants of the country’s original Jewish settlers and are believed by some to be the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
The Beta Israel lived in small groups in tiny villages, often on the outskirts of society, so Jewish landmarks in the country take on a different hue to other African countries. Take the Wolleka Falasha Jewish Village, located on the road out of the city of Gondar. The city and the village have no more Jews in it, but this small village that was home to a few hundred until the 1980s has been refashioned into a shopping mecca of and made crafts, and is also decked up as a tribute to the population that once lived there.
Unlike the obvious notable landmarks of other North African and Middle Eastern Jews, exploring the history and culture of the Beta Israel quite literally requires exploration of Ethiopia. Interestingly, because so many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, or at least seemed like they did (not least the smaller group of Ethiopian Jews known as the Falash Mura, who returned to Judaism from Christianity when they arrived in Israel), the best place to start is probably in Ethiopia’s worldrenowned rock-hewn churches.
Where to next?
Despite, or because of, their very different histories with their Jewish populations, Egypt, Morocco and Ethiopia are probably the best places to start if you want to tour the lost world of Jewish North Africa. But they are only a start. There is still plenty more to cover, which you can read about in the next issue, as I take a look at some more lesser-known Jewish tourist destinations in Africa.