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Dec. 23, 2005
A Jewish community in Africa
Rabbi speaks fondly of Bulawayo, but admits its future is bleak.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Originally from Vancouver, Rabbi Nathan Asmoucha has been serving
as the spiritual leader of the Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation of Zimbabwe
for two and a half years. Back in town for a family visit, he took
the time to speak about his experiences in Africa at Beth Hamidrash
Synagogue last Friday night and with the Jewish Independent
earlier this week.
In the years leading up to his going to Bulawayo, Asmoucha and his
wife, Katalin, spent time in Debrecen, Hungary, as shilichim
(emissaries) of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).
Katalin Asmoucha is from Eger, Hungary. The couple met at a Shabbaton
in Israel, where they both were studying at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. Approximately a year later, in February 1993, they
married.
"At some point in my life, I decided I wanted ... to dedicate
myself to working with Jewish communities in a spiritual role,"
Asmoucha told the Independent.
"Before that, I finished university in Israel, and we decided
we wanted to contribute to a Diaspora community." This common
goal led to the move to Debrecen, where the Asmouchas spent just
over two years. They were involved with the youth there; he helping
also with synagogue activities, including reading Torah and other
ritual tasks.
"It was then that I felt that I could make a [difference],"
said Asmoucha. "I started to see my potential and that's where
I had an idea to go into the rabbinate. That was the first time
that I really considered it."
Asmoucha had attended yeshivah in Israel after high school and was
still in contact with his rosh yeshivah (head of school).
The rosh, on a visit to Hungary, suggested that Asmoucha undertake
rabbinal studies. With this encouragement, Asmoucha enrolled at
Midrash Sephardi (also known as the Shehebar Sephardic Centre) in
Israel, starting in May 2000. It took him only three and a half
years to complete the program because of his previous experience
and education.
When Asmoucha was nearing the end of his studies, the rosh yeshivah
approached him with a job opportunity.
"He was very nonchalant," said Asmoucha. "He just
said, 'I have a position that's right for you in Africa. Give this
guy a call.' "
When Asmoucha took the idea of moving to Zimbabwe to his wife, he
thought that she would say no to the prospect.
"But she liked that," he said, adding jokingly that, perhaps,
she had seen "too many Humphrey Bogart movies in her youth
or something."
On Sept. 3, 2003, the Asmouchas arrived in Bulawayo, the second
largest city in Zimbabwe, after the country's capital, Harare.
Jews have had a presence in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) for more
than a century – the Bulawayo community was established in
the mid-1890s. Most of the pioneers came from Eastern Europe –
mainly Lithuania and Russia – and, at its peak in the 1960s,
the community in Zimbabwe numbered some 8,000 Jews, with more than
2,800 living in Bulawayo, according to the Zimbabwe Jewish community
(ZJC) website (www.zjc.org.
il/showpage.php).
Currently, the total Zimbabwe Jewish community is approximately
300 people. However, this estimate does not include the Black Hebrews,
said Asmoucha.
The "Rusape Jews" are self-proclaimed Jews who are centred
in Rusape, which is about two hours from Harare. They claim to be
descendants of the "Lost Tribe," explained Asmoucha, who
added that they seem to have come to Judaism through Christianity.
In Bulawayo, there are about 100 Jews, a third of whom reside in
Savyon Lodge, the only old-age home for Jewish residents in Zimbabwe.
According to Asmoucha, another third of the community should also
be living at the lodge, meaning that the majority of Bulawayo's
Jewish population is elderly.
By the time Asmoucha arrived, the community had been without a rabbi
for a couple of years; the previous rabbi having left because his
kids were at an age where they needed a more rigorous Jewish education.
The Asmouchas have three children: Yoel, 7, Dubi, 4, and Rafi, 3.
The elder two are home-schooled, with the youngest just being introduced
to scholastic education.
On Oct. 4, 2003 – barely a month after the Asmouchas took up
their post in the city – the Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation's
synagogue burned down. At his Friday talk, Asmoucha told the story
of how brave congregants went into the burning building to save
the shul's sefer Torah. According to the ZJC website, the four Torah
scrolls were saved, as well as the ark curtains and cloths and the
silver ornaments used on the scrolls: one of the curtains dates
back to 1725.
The community now holds weekday services at Savyon Lodge and celebrates
Shabbat and festivals at a synagogue-turned-dining hall in the suburb
of Khumalo.
There used to be a progressive congregation, which broke away from
the Orthodox in the 1950s, explained Asmoucha. It had a synagogue
in Khumalo that had to be sold after the community began to fall
apart in the 1970s; many of its members leaving because of civil
strife in the country. The building was bought by the city's Orthodox
community and turned into a dining hall.
"It's ironic," said Asmoucha, "because it's a shul
[again, albeit] make-shift, because it's not permanent."
The services are important to the community.
"It really is one of the hubs that brings people together,
even if they're not so conversant with the prayers," he said,
adding that he's trying to teach them.
In addition to congregational and educational duties, ministering
to the elderly and being a shochet (ritual slaughterer),
Asmoucha's responsibilities include public relations. In this vein,
he participates in a weekly interfaith television program.
In addition to teaching her own children, Katalin Asmoucha's work
includes being involved in the chevra kaddisha (burial society),
helping when services are held at their home and giving a monthly
Rosh Chodesh (Head of the Month) class to all the women in
the community.
"It's gotten the women more involved, I think," said the
rabbi. "What's good is they feel free to speak with my wife
on any issue, anything that's bothering them, because you'll often
find in communities that aren't so religious [that] they have a
certain resentment of certain elements of orthodoxy."
Asmoucha described the Bulawayo Jewish community as "very unified,"
with "a very strong Jewish identity." However, it faces
many challenges, most notably its aging population. Asmoucha said
that he had never before seen a country where so many of the elderly
were still working. They are surviving, he said, either because
they live at Savyon or they have children who no longer live in
the city, but who send them money.
"Even a hundred dollars is a tremendous amount when you convert
it," he said.
The economic situation in the country is dire. This means that places
like Savyon Lodge, which was established in 1967, are facing a financial
crisis. Because of the dwindling numbers of Jews living in Bulawayo,
there are fewer local people supporting the lodge, while its costs
are increasing. Savyon has come to rely more heavily on donations
made by overseas communities and it launched the Savyon Lodge Emergency
Appeal in September 2005, the text of which, as well as donation
forms and other information, can be found on the ZJC website.
Asmoucha was hesitant to say too much about the Jewish community's
political involvement,
given the current situation in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe
is considered a dictator by most countries and his government has
been criticized for its abuse of human rights, suppression of freedom
of expression and restrictions on other civil liberties. Asmoucha
did say that "the situation and the racism that's there has
been imposed by the regime; it's not a grassroots thing.
"People that I've met are very down-to-earth, very friendly.
I can walk in downtown Bulawayo with my kippah [on] and if people
approach me, they approach me with positive business."
He said there is mutual respect between the Jewish and general communities.
As examples, he said that many members of the Jewish community speak
the local language, which is a dialect of Zulu, and almost all of
the children attending the Jewish private school are not Jewish,
yet the parents and staff work to maintain the Jewish character,
or ethos, of the institution.
"They had a meeting before I came [to Bulawayo]," said
Asmoucha, "and the parents were unananimous about keeping the
school; having the name of it being a Jewish school and having the
symbols ... all of the kids have on their breast pocket the symbol
of the menorah."
But the fact remains that the Jewish community is dying.
"There could be a miraculous turnabout and maybe people will
start coming back, and that would be wonderful," said Asmoucha.
"Realistically speaking, the way things are now, I don't think
it's rock-bottom yet. [But] a lot of the elderly community, in another
five to 10 years, won't be around, and the younger people who are
really keeping it going, some of them may have left."
About the option of global outreach, which is practised by many
other Jewish communities, Asmoucha said, "I don't think it
would be responsible for us to try to bring people into Zimbabwe
now."
In the end, he said his main concern is what will happen to the
elderly when he, his family and most of the younger people have
left. The Bulawayo community will likely be ministered by the Johannesburg,
South Africa-based rabbi who is in charge of what are called the
country and southern Africa communities. Currently, because of Asmoucha's
presence there, this rabbi has had less contact with Bulawayo.
There was talk of transporting the residents of Savyon Lodge to
a home in Johannesburg, said Asmoucha, but the idea has been dismissed.
"I have heard people say they prefer to stay: 'Even if the
situation gets worse, don't evacuate us. Just let us die here. I
grew up here, this is our home and we've been through so much over
the years.' "
Asmoucha was also pessimistic about the future of the general community,
saying he doesn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if
Mugabe weren't in power anymore – but he did offer some hope.
"If there's going to be change, it comes from the way people
think," he said. "They speak of the Zimbabwe diaspora,
there's been a brain drain ... of people who are extremely talented
and, if they were to come back, this would be an incredible country."
Likely the Asmouchas will no longer be in Zimbabwe when, if ever,
such a regeneration takes place, but their leaving won't be because
of a lack of fondess for the Jewish community.
"There is so much richness of character in people there,"
he said of the Jews in Bulawayo. "I don't understand how rabbis
can be rabbis of congregations of a thousand families. Here I find
it difficult having the time to really spend quality time with everyone.
Everyone has so much potential and every time I sit with someone,
I find out something new about them."
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