No, you did not read the title of this blog post wrong. On
May 13th, 2016, a group of over 100 devoutly observant Malagasies
converted to Orthodox Judaism. They had apparently been teaching themselves
about Judaism for five years without any outside instruction and finally
contacted an organization in New York, Kulanu, that helps isolated Jewish
communities. The Malagasy Jewish community was praying every Saturday in a
makeshift synagogue, and keeping Sabbath. They even decided to keep kosher,
which meant going vegetarian, since no kosher meet was available. The rabbinic
court of the conversions was lead by Moroccan French speaking Orthodox Rabbi, Achiya
Delouya, who lives in Montreal. Deborah Josefson of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency reports that the nascent Jews started studying Torah after they became “disillusioned”
with the messianic Christian sects they were a part of. For people reading this
who are not familiar with Judaism/Jewish conversion, note that it is incredibly
difficult, quite frankly almost impossible, to convert to Orthodox Judaism. The
process takes days, includes intensive Torah study, interviews, etc. The three articles that I read about this discuss the unexpected prevalence of Jewish
lore in Madagascar. Apparently, some Malagasies believe that they are descended
from seafaring members of the Lost Tribes of Israel and claim Jewish ancestry,
although they do not practice the faith. Malagasies also assert that Madagascar
is the wealthy biblical nation of Ophir, from which king Solomon received incredible
riches every three years.
Religious studies professor Tudor
Parfitt recently traveled to Madagascar to investigate oral traditions/legend that
connects the Malagasies to the Jews. Parafitt discusses 18th and 19th
century Malagasy tombstones inscribed with Hebrew letters, and posits that “there
is good reason to believe that Portuguese Anousim (Jews forcibly converted
during the inquisition) settled in Madagascar.” Northeastern political science
professor, William F.S. Miles, also recently voyaged to Madagascar to
investigate the then yet to be converted population of devout Malagasy Jews. In
his article, he cites another theory about how Jews could have landed on
Madagascar: during the 10th century, Muslim merchants who may have
been forcibly converted from Judiasm settled on eastern Madagascar. Miles
visited the village of Vatumasina in Vohipeno (Southeastern Madagascar) to meet
with locals who claim: “Our ancestor was Alitawarat, he was originally from
Jerusalem, and his first language was Hebrew. Romans attacked Jerusalem ‒ with
dogs, even ‒ and so he fled to Mecca, where he began to speak Arabic. It is
there that he also learned the Koran, which he brought to Madagascar. But
Alitawarat still used the Torat Moshe – the teaching of Moses.” What to make of
this? Rabbi Sussman reported to Breaking Israel News that many of the May 13th
Malagasy converts discussed freedom and anti-colonialism in relation to their newly
official Judaism. Christianity was indeed the religion of Madagascar’s colonial
oppressors, and Judaism is not associated with colonialism. Sussman describes
that, during the conversions, “there was definitely a feeling that they were
going back to their roots and overcoming colonialism.” For a non-proselytizing religious
group, in fact a group that historically did not allow conversion of any sort
whatsoever, self-taught “Jewish” populations like the Malagasy pose a bit of a
puzzle, if not an outright problem. For some. Others see them as the salvation
of the Jews.
Recent converts preparing for Jewish wedding ceremonies
Recent converts preparing for Jewish wedding ceremonies hold
Challah covers
Rabbis with the conversion and marriage documents of the Malagasy
Jews
Sources
