Yearning For An Orthodox Giur

The Abayudaya Youth Association was a youth movement that was proposed by two youth - Samson and Enosh - after observing that the involvement of many of the children with Judaism was very inert. The first time we went for prayers on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5756, there were only five children in the synagogue. This incident puzzled us and we were bothered by it. So we discussed possible solutions the whole night. The next day we went for prayers, after the shacharit services we discussed the issue with the rest of our fiends. Eventually we came up with a joint resolution that led to the formation and election of leaders of the above association. Our major aim was to mobilize the youth who had forsaken their own faith. By the end of 1995, we had achieved bringing back 58 children and some adults. As a treasurer and head of the education department in the association, I emphasized the learning of Hebrew and Judaica. We often held classes after Havdalah and on Yom Rishon (Sunday) but never the less, the youth were supposed to come to the hill for their studies the day before Shabbat, prepare their food and have prayers. In the same year, I taught them many Hebrew songs i.e. Alein, Vesham'ruu, Yom Zeh Michu'bad etc which inspired more youths and adults to join Nabugoye and study Hebrew. With the help of my frequent trips to the Nairobi synagogue, I learned how to conduct services and learned more Hebrew songs. Upon my return to my own community I taught what I had learned to the rest of the kehilla.

The current European songs sung in the current Jewish communities in Uganda, for instance Aleiynu, V'shamruu, Adon Olam, Eiyn K'Eloheiynu, Shalom Aleiychem, and Yiyk'dal Elohiym to mention but a few, are as a result of my trips to the Nairobi Hebrew Synagogue. By the year 1999, with all the interpretations and pieces of advice I had received from Rabbi Jonathan and Rabbi Zoar (who I shared my experience with while in Nairobi) about the procedure by which a safek (doubtful) Jew or gentile can become Jewish. As a result of these discussions we chose to embrace Orthodox Judaism and have been seeking an orthodox giur since. Currently two Abayudaya communities exist in Uganda; one comprised of members yearning for an Orthodox giur under their title "Kahal Kadosh She'erit Yisrael Jews In Uganda" and the other group consisting of members who joined the "Conservative Movement" of Judaism in America, and still go by the name and title of "Abayudaya."