After this journey among the black peoples, let us ask about the nature of the ties that bind the black people to the Jewish people and the elements on which the Africans rely when they discover themselves Jews. The Bible is the first mirror offered to them. The Bible does not designate blacks as such, it names the Ethiopians. Kouch country refers to Ethiopia and Africa by extension. Kush is the son of Ham, one of Noah’s three sons. Ethiopia is present in the history of ancient Israel. “Beyond the rivers of Kush” is an expression that is heard in Isaiah (18-1) and Zephaniah (3-10). The consideration for Kush is still expressed in the mouth of the prophet Amos “O son of Ethiopia, you are to me as the sons of Israel, says the Lord” (9-7). Kush symbolizes strength and also the thirst for spirituality. This idea is found in Psalm 68 verse 32: “Kush will reach out to God”, a verse often put forward by the Rastafarians.
Africans recognize themselves in the Bible. When they read it, they feel a sense of familiarity. Leon Askenazi, who was regularly called to Cameroon by President Paul Biya to introduce him to Jewish reading, said in speaking of Africans: “They are more biblical than us. It is in the Bible that we find the story of the meeting of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. According to an Ethiopian legend, they had a son, Menelik. The Ethiopian dynasty claims descendants.
Even though the Bible is not a history book, we learn about the destruction of the kingdom of Israel with the exiles and deportations that led to the disappearance of the ten tribes of Israel, a historical reality that gave birth to number of myths. According to a Talmudic comment, the lost tribes would be in Africa.
According to historian Nahum Slouchz, the first appearance of the great Jewish settlements on the African coast dates back to the year 320 BC, when Ptolemy Soter invaded Judea and transplanted more than a hundred thousand Jewish captives to Africa.
The Torah
