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The Automobile
The Telephone
The Silk Route
Iron Working
Juan Robles
Glassmaking I
Glassmaking II
Glassmaking III
Glassmaking IV
Glassmaking V
Photography
Music
Navigation
Egypt and the
Semites I
Egypt and the
Semites II
Jews in Africa
Part II - Ancient BlackAfrican Relations
Fact Paper 19-II
Samuel Kurinsky, all rights reserved
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Egypt and the
Semites III
Medicine
Artisanship and
Literacy
Craftsmanship I
Craftsmanship II
Craftsmanship III
Nomadic Jews? Never!
Silkmaking
Origin of GreekScience
Gold and Silver I
Gold and Silver II
Jews and Carpets
Jews in Africa I
Jews in Africa II
Jews in Africa III
Jews in Africa IV
Beads
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Dyemaking
Jews as Slave
Liberators
The Khazars
Casale Montferrato
The Glassmakers of
Altare
Jews, Arabs and Eretz
Israel
Emile Berliner I
Emile Berliner II
The Jews of Aquileia
Venetian Glass; Part I
Venetian Glass; Part
II
Gomez House
Iraq
Siegfried Marcus I
Siegfried Marcus II
Odyssey of a Jewish
Glassmaker
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The Jews of Brescia
Leonardo da Vinci
Jewish Women
The Jews of St.
Eustatius
Florence and Cremona
I
Florence and Cremona
II
Birth of the Israelite
Nation I
Birth of the Israelite
Nation II
Islam, the Koran, and
the Jews
The da Costas
Jewish Traders I
The Arabs and the
Jews I
Nobel Prize Winners I
Nobel Prize Winners II
Nobel Prize Winners
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IIIA
Nobel Prize Winners
IIIB
Abe Silverstein
Four members of the Ganda tribe of Uganda, a typic al c entral Afric an musical
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company. Some African i nstruments evidence the peac eful penetration deep into
Afric a by Juda ic tradesmen and artisans long before the European invasion. The fi rst
musician plays a kihembe ngoma, a p ercussion i nstrument common to all cul tures. The
third musici an is playing a kissar, a pluc ked l yre (Hebrew kinnor- King David's
instrument). The lyre was introduced into Africa from the Near East [FP 8: Jews and
Music]. The bowed lyres, tube fiddles, played by the second and fourth musicians are
also of Near Eastern origin. Trumpets made of animal horns are likewise African
instruments reminiscent of the Judaic shofar, used in Judaic religious rites.
Photo from the International Library of African Music
Judaic Presence in Darkest AfricaMr. George E Lichtblau, while on duty as labor attache and political officer at the
American Embassy in Tel Aviv, came across intriguing references to the Judaic
presence in ancient Black Africa. Piqued by titillating allusions to an undocumented
aspect of Judaic history, Lichtblau gathered information about this hidden history while
carrying out assignments as a Foreign Service Officer for the U. S. Department of
State to francophone West Africa. During his travels and meetings with African
dignitaries privy to surviving evidence and credible folk-lore of the region, he gathered
much information, lectured on the subject, and submitted the information he had
gathered to the HHF.
Albeit the tribal memories Lichtblau culled from a variety of sources are not definitive,
they are consistent enough to manifest that a significant Judaic involvement took
place in Black Africa at a time when Europeans were ignorant of the vast continent
beyond the Mediterranean shore. Documentat ion of Judaic pioneering in the "Dark
Continent" is sparse but supportive of the existence of substantial intercourse.
Mr. Lichtblau refers first to the two northern African areas where a Judaic communal
presence on the continent is acknowledged as part of Judaic history and experience.He refers to the relatively well-known history in the Maghreb extending from
Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria to Libya past Cyrenaica, Namibia, Egypt, the
Kingdom of Kush as well as in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia (Discussed in Fact Paper
19-1).
There are biblical references to Judaic sojourns in Egypt and in the Kingdom of Kush in
the Book of Exodus. Also, as far back as the 10th century BCE, in alliance with the
sea-faring Canaanites of Tyre and Sidon, kings David and Solomon sought to expand
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Judaic trade throughout the Mediterranean including North Africa, Egypt, the Arab
Peninsula and the Horn of Africa as well as Persia.
The Judaic association with the Toureg tribes who dominated the trade routes across
the Sahara, led to contacts with black tribes to the south and down the West African
coast. Documentation of this penetration is found in Judaic, Arab, and Christian
accounts. They describe Jewish rulers of certain tribal groups and clans who identi-fy
themselves as Jews scattered throughout Mauritania, Senegal, the Western Soudan,
Nigeria and Ghana.
Evidence of Judaic presence extends as far as an association with the Bantu tribes of
southern Africa. Mr. Lichtblau found that some 40,000 members of the Lemba tribe still
claim Judaic roots! The association of Jews with such tribes is evident from the names
of old Judaic communities south of the Atlas mountains in documents recovered from
the Geniza of the Ben Ezra Synagogue of Fustat (Cairo). The names of many of these
ancient Judaic communities survived through the Renaissance.
There are other Judaic, Arab and Christian accounts citing the existence of Judaicrulers of certain tribal groups identifying themselves as Jews scattered throughout
Mauritania, Senegal and Western Soudan.
For example, among the notable Arab chroniclers citing the existence of these Judaic
communities is the 12th c entury geographer al-Idrisi. Born in Ceuta, Spain, he wrote
about Jewish Negroes in the western Sudan.
There was also the 13th century Ibn Khaldun, a respected historian of the Berber
tribes. He refers to the Judaic association with the Touregs for trade beyond the
Sahara, a commerce facilitated by the Touregs.
Then there was the early 16th century historian and traveler Leon Africanus, a Moslem
from Spain, who was raised by a Jewish woman working in his father's household. She
taught him Hebrew, and migrated with the family to Marakesh, Morocco, in 1492.
Africanus thereafter converted to Catholicism, but remained interested in and reported
on the Judaic communities he encountered throughout his travels in West Africa.
Mr. Lichtblau met Bubu Hama while performing his job as an American Foreign Service
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Officer. Mr. Hama, then president of the national assembly in Niger, was also a prolific
writer on African history. Hama affirmed that the Touregs had a Jewish queen in early
medieval times; he was undoubtedly referring to Kahena, queen and military
commander of the Berbers, tribes that converted to Judaism in the seventh century.
Hama stated that some Judaic Toureg groups preserved their adherence to their faith
in defiance of both Islamic and Christian pressures until the 18th century. A
fascinating facet of his account is that the Touregs claim to have originated in
Yemen, and that the Judaic communities among them likewise originated from theArabian peninsula. The genealogies of Jewish Toureg rulers, as well as those of the
Hausa kingdom, are cited in several of Mr. Hama's books.
In 1976 or 1977, Shimon Peres, leader of the Israeli Labor party and a former Prime
Minister, told Mr. Lichtblau about surviving memories of Jewish roots in Black Africa.
Peres had just returned from a meeting of the Socialist International during which he
met with President Leopold Senghor of Senegal about the normalization of relations
between the two countries, Senghor told him that he too had Jewish ancestors!
Indeed, Mr. Lichtblau found records of small Senegalese Judaic kingdoms and tribal
groups known as the Beni Israel. They were part of the Wolof and Mandige
communities of Senegal until forced to convert to Islam in the 18th century. Members
of these groups claim to have been descendants of the tribe of Dan, i.e., the tribe of
artisans in gold and other metals. They were still carrying on that ancient, traditionally
Judaic occupation. Curiously, the sophisticated jewelry produced by Beni Israel
artisans strikingly resemble the exquisite Yemenite products.
Ethiopian Jews likewise trace their ancestry to the tribe of Dan. Some of these
transmigrants established communities in such renowned places as Gao, Timbuktu,
where UNESCO maintains notable archives. They contain records of the city's ancient
Judaic community as well as of the Jews in Banako, Agades, and Ibadan, "a few"
commented Lichtblau|, of numerous villages and towns throughout the area which
retain some record of Judaic presence. Notable also among the tribes converting to
Judaism were not only the Toureg, but tribes from the Peuhl and Ibadya groups. It can
be assumed that the metalworking arts were transmitted south and west by the
Jewish artisan/traders from Ethiopia as well as by those who had traversed North
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Africa from Arabia and Judah.
Gold also figures in historical accounts that report that Jewish travelers from Persia
had organized exchanges of silk fabrics for gold in the kingdom of Ghana. The tradition
of the production of "Kenti" cloth by the Ashantis of Ghana appears to trace back to
this intercourse. "To this day," comments Lichtblau, "it is said that the Ashanti words
for numbers relate to those in Farsi, a language employed by the Judaic/Persian
traders."
"Kenti" cloth designs have much in common with the Persian/Chinese designs on silk.
The information garnered by Lichtblau dovetails with the observation made by HHF
member Lois Rose Rose of Los Angeles. She reported on the curious use of the "Seal
of Solomon" as a standard pattern in ancient fabrics woven in West Africa.
The impact of Judaic influence led to the conversion to Judaism by a number of ruling
families in Ghana, notably among the Peuhl, Foulani, Mossi, Fanti and Soughay tribes.
Similar conversions had taken place among several Nigerian Yoruba and Hausa groups.
No studies of these con versions are extant, yet it is a matter of record that thekingdom of Ghana was ruled by Judaic kings for nearly two hundred years!
Senegalese goldsmiths, jewelers and smiths likewise carry on in a powerful tradition
introduced by Judaic artisans. The name of an old Senegalese province is still
"Juddala." The Judaic seminal influence on Black Africa is confirmed by surviving
accounts of Portuguese and other European visitors who first came to the area in the
14th and 15th centuries; they found that Judaic merchants and artisans had long
preceded them. These accounts confirm what was reported centuries earlier by North
African and Arab historical records.
"Most of these communities disappeared," notes Lichtblau. "Having existed largely in
isolation there was a good deal of intermarriage which for a while reinforced their
influence.... As a result they were increasingly viewed as a threat by Muslim rulers...
[they] were either forced to convert to Islam or were massacred, with those
remaining fleeing to North Africa, Egypt or the Sudan and a few also to Cameroon and
even Southern Africa."
A significant factor in the spread of Judaism is the influence of Karaite Jews. A
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Gardi refers to the research of Leo Frobenius, a German ethnologist, who visited the
Bida glassmakers in 1911, an earlier period in which the community's traditions were
less distorted by the Islamic and Christian prejudices of more recent times. Frobenius
found the glassmakers originally of the Jewish religion. The author also refers to an
article by Manfred Korfman, who observed that the workers of a Hebron glass factory
(no longer in existence), "produce their bracelets in the same fashion as the people of
Bida."
The glassmakers were formed into an autonomous commune. About twelve "huts"[families] were still in operation.. When Gardi was there, the chief was named
Daniyalu, "a man who commanded enormous respect." Note that the name appears to
be a combination of Daniel and Yahu, transcribed into Yalu. It is a peculiarly Judaic
name and construction!
The titillating references to a dimly apparent, symbiotic relationship of Jews with black
African tribes indicate that a rich mine of both Judaic and African history remains to
be researched.
Notes
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