Shalom_Africa

INTRODUCTION

It started with a question. One of our brothers in Nigeria wrote me the following: “We were taught by one of our teachers that we should stop giving sermons during the Shabbat service. His reason: he said there is no Torah student among us. Please what can you say about this.”

I replied as follows. “In the Mishnah, Pirke Avot, Chapter 2, Mishnah 5, Hillel teaches us, "U'Vim'kom she-ayn anashim, hishtadel lihyot ish. In a place where there are no leaders, no one to take responsibility for the community (‘ayn anashim’ means, literally, ‘no men’), strive to be a leader (‘ish' means, literally, ‘a man’)." In other words, in the absence of a fully-trained rabbi or teacher, someone has to fill in the gap. Otherwise, the Jewish people will starve for lack of Torah.

“And yet, at the same time, I realize that many of you have been messianics until only very recently. Not only is the messianic interpretation of our Torah different from ours, for obvious philosophical reasons, but the style is different, too. There are many different approaches to teaching Torah – and there are ways of explaining Torah that are foreign to the spirit of Judaism.

“What shall we do?

“I will try to fill in the gap, in absentia, by sending you periodic emails -- Divre Torah written by others; short essays written by myself; and references to good sites on the Internet. Feel free to share these words with your congregations and friends. Be sure, though, to give proper attribution when quoting for others.”

Thus was born "Shalom Nigeria," a weekly email filled with resources and commentary, which quickly became "Shalom Africa" after fellow Jews in Uganda and Kenya were included in the distribution list. While I know that most of the recipients of this weekly letter can surf the Internet by themselves, I also know that connections to the Internet are slow and computer usage can be costly. "Shalom Africa" provides a compilation of resources, eliminating the need for extensive browsing.

It then occurred to me that other types of resources and information were needed as well. For example: To date, I know of no Jewish calendar that includes candle-lighting times in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya. In fact, I know of no Jewish calendar that is published in sub-Saharan Africa, and I also know that Jewish calendars published elsewhere are hard to obtain. That is how the list of available resources came to be expanded.

This service is still evolving and will continue to evolve in response to the needs and wishes of its intended recipients.

Please feel free to refer to this site anyone you know who is interested in Judaism, even if said person has yet to return all the way to authentic Judaism.

RESOURCES

A. LUAH: THE JEWISH CALENDAR. A calendar for the Jewish year is a must for every observant Jew. The luah featured here not only has the corresponding Hebrew date for every secular date. For every special day, it also contains links to sites that will explain the day's background: its history and significance and how it is to be observed.

B. TORAH: HOW TO TEACH AND HOW TO PREACH. You have been asked to teach Torah to members of your community or you have been asked to give a sermon at Shabbat services. You want to, but you feel uneasy. After all, you have heard Christians and messianics preach, but how many have heard how rabbis teach and preach? How can you be sure that what you do is authentically Jewish? These resources for commentaries and analyses on the weekly Torah reading will help guide you.

C. “SHALOM AFRICA” ARCHIVES. Here you will find all the issues of the “Shalom Africa” from its inception (August 2004) through September 2006.

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