“MEHODU VEAD KUSH”
The book of Esther becomes an essential historical document, when we speak of African Judaism. This book of the Bible, to which an annual feast is dedicated, is the only book except the 5 books of the Torah, to be handwritten by a scribe to the present day.
The Esther-Megilat Scroll Esther in Hebrew – repeatedly mentioned Jewish communities whose existence already stretched “from India to Africa”. Among these communities the book mentions many nations that “Judaized” at that time, communities also going “from India to Africa”. This essential document also addresses the term Yehudi, “Jew” for the first time, as a reference that goes beyond the strict definition of descendant of the Tribe of Judah, because the protagonist of the story in the Book of Esther, Mordekhay, is called “Yehudi”, Jew, as he comes down from the tribe of Benjamin and not from Judah. The Talmudic Masters, who lived in the same cultural bath as Esther centuries after her, said that the term “Yehudi” applies to anyone who refuses to bow to idols. The impact of the Hebrew monotheistic culture was already felt from India to Africa. These communities were already connected around common principles that led them to fast and pray together at the same time, from India to Africa. The influence of this world culture has even survived slavery as one can see living traces in the Gospel of Macon, Georgia in the United States. The Black Americans’ attachment to the Bible did not come from the Europeans. In Africa, with their Igbo or Yoruba or Haussa parents, they had already been immersed in a biblical and Hebrew culture since infancy because since the Book of Esther there were Jewish communities “from India to Africa”.
The FJN wishes a merry Purim to all Jews everywhere from India to Africa!
From India to Africa, what Purim teaches us about African Judaism.
