Hi! Anon back who has the friend who is descended of Igbo Jews. I wanted to clarify that my friend is not looking to call himself Jewish. He's just looking for resources about his people's history & practices that are in English and not about DNA tests. (He's not able to ask his immediate family, unfortunately.) Thank you for pointing me to Kulanu!
Mod here. That’s fine that he doesn’t want to be recognized as Jewish. It might affect his relationship to the community, and therefore how motivated different groups and individuals (inside and outside the Igbo Jewish community) are to work with him, but (1) I don’t know his situation, and (2) it’s his decision no matter the situation. It is important for context though to recognize that his community’s Jewishness is under contention.
The best source on Igbo Jewish traditions will be Igbo Jews themselves (true for any group), and it’s quite possible that their main outside contact is focused on recognition. Recognition enables Jewish groups to get international resources. Not just monetary or political resources--though philanthropy and, if they can’t safely practice in their diasporic location, refugee status, can be significant--, but also networking with other communities, holy site access, Israeli education/ordination access, etc. The folks working on getting the Igbo community recognized very well may be the English-speaking people with the most knowledge of that community, and the most motivation to do outreach to anyone (your friend included). I rarely give responses as a mod, and if anyone can speak to anon’s friend’s options better, they’re welcome to chime in.
Original ask below the cut for context. https://ask-jumblr.tumblr.com/post/616505409004519424/one-of-my-friends-just-found-out-hes-descended-of
(anon’s ask:)
One of my friends just found out he's descended of Igbo Jews. So he's trying to learn more about Judaism & his ancestry. Every congregation in my state is ashke and white(ish), but I've invited him to mine (conservative/reform) regardless so he can learn a bit. Every article I can find about Igbo Jews is uh not complimentary, to say the least. Does anyone have resources to learn about Igbo Jews' *practices*? Bonus points if it can be understood without prior knowledge of Jewish stuff in general. Â
(ask-jumblr’s response:)       Â
Mod here. I’m sorry that this got stuck in the inbox for so long! Let’s limit to answers working with the FOR that anon’s friend is matrilineally descended or matrilineally+patrilineally descended and that those lines are Jewish. I know that won’t necessarily cover things from a Reform FOR, but it will from a Conservative or Orthodox FOR. Anon, if these assumptions are wrong, let us know.
For those who want to help, but are anxious as to whether they consider anon’s friend Jewish, I’m also going to drop some information from Kulanu here. Kulanu is a global Jewish organization that does a pretty good job of describing its member groups’ connection to Judaism (e.g. clarity of descent, parallels to or conversion through more recognized widely recognized Jewish groups). If relevant to your answer, note that CJLS, the Conservative rabbinic law committee, assumed individuals from communities that work on patrilineal descent and different marriage/divorce laws are Jewish in the case of Egyptian Karaites.
(ask-jumblr upon reblog:)
Anon, I had a reach-out from someone with information about an organization partnered with an Igbo Jewish community. They don’t want to jeopardize the work, but would be happy to talk to you. Reach out to me off anon (you can make a throw-away sideblog if you’re nervous, but I trust this jumblr 100%) and I can connect you two.
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