By, Debbie Josefson
2 min read
ByDebbie Josefson, Debbie Josefson
June 3 marked the 76th anniversary of the Madagascar Plan. Conceived as an alternative means to achieving the Final Solution, the plan called for the mass-deportation of European Jewry to Vichy-controlled Madagascar, where those who did not die en route would be exterminated far from the prying eyes of the international community.
Now, a just over three quarters of a century later, Madagascar is once more in the news for Jews, this time as a place of rebirth rather than extermination.
Over the past five years, a novel Jewish community has taken root in Madagascar, the remote Indian Ocean Island better known for lemurs, chameleons, vanilla and a movie about escaped zoo animals.
The community emerged five and half years ago when members of various Christian Messianic sects splintered off and began to study the Torah and follow its precepts.
In relative isolation, they taught themselves to daven in Sephardic-accented Hebrew and keep strict observance of the Sabbath and Holidays. Most restrict their diet to fish, dairy and vegetables in an effort to keep kosher.
On May 13, this nascent community literally took the plunge and immersed themselves in the mikveh as the final step of converting to Judaism. Ashrey Dayves was the first of 121 Malagasy men, women and children to emerge from the cold river and formally convert in a halachic ceremony. In addition to the mikveh, the event involved the converts being grilled by a beit din; and undergoing hatafat dam brit, the ritual penile bloodletting that signifies an acceptance of the Torah by previously circumcised men.
The conversions were facilitated by Kulanu, a small, US-based NGO which specialises in supporting emerging and returning Jewish communities, but were initiated by the Malagasies themselves. Twelve of the newly converted couples also chose to reaffirm their vows with Jewish weddings, and the 10-day process culminated in a symposium on the ancestral connections between Madagascar and the Israelites. The conference featured a keynote address by Dr Tudor Parfitt, a scholar on the lost tribes of Israel, as well as a talk by a member of the royal family of Madagascar, Prince Ndriana Raboaroelina.
While many Malagasies converted as an evolution of faith, others chose to affiliate as a response to colonialism and a return to their roots. Many Malagasies believe that they are descendants of seafaring members of the lost tribes of Israel. They point to similarities in traditional dress, rituals of circumcision and harvest customs, as well as Hebraic place names, like Bet Silo, as evidence of an Israelite presence on the island. Even Prince Rabaoareoleina of the Merina monarchy asserts Jewish ancestry and claims that 80 per cent of his island nation also have Jewish roots. This belief persists despite considerable evidence that most Malagasies derive from migrations from Africa and Indonesia.
In his testimony on why he chose to convert, Mija Rasolo, 28, stated: "As you may know, Madagascar was colonised by the French, and then we had the communists and then the socialists... because of that I didn't have any roots, but now I found Judaism. Am Yisrael Chai!"
The Madagascar Jews are just the latest in a series of African communities to assert a Judaic background.
Other such groups include the Lemba of South Africa, the Ibo in Nigeria, the Falashas and Kechene Jews of Ethiopia, the Abudadyah of Uganda, and emerging communities in Cameroon and Ghana.
At a time when assimilation and intermarriage rates among Jews in Europe and the US approach 80 per cent, Africa and Madagascar may represent the demographic future of the Jewish people.