Learn More about Uganda and The Abayudaya Community
I. Learn about Uganda: A good place to start is the Country Study prepared by the Library of Congress. Maps of Uganda can be found on many different websites. I like the ones from the Perry-Casteñeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas. BOOKS: Two oft-cited books on modern history are Uganda Since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes, by Phares Mutibwa, and Uganda: Tarnished Pearl of Africa, by Thomas P. Ofcansky. Three works of fiction deserve mentioning, only one written by a Ugandan. Don't be fooled by the title of Moses Isagawa's book, Abyssinian Chronicles. It refers at the abyss that was Uganda during Idi Amin's murderous regime. Rosa Shand's The Gravity of Sunlight is an account of an American woman and her family living in Uganda on the eve of Idi Amin's reign of terror. Giles Foden's The Last King of Scotland tells the story of an idealistic Scottish doctor, working in a distant outpost for the Ministry of Health in Uganda, who becomes Amin's personal physician. (A movie based on the book, made in 2006, won Forest Whitaker an Oscar for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.”) Ingrid Pasteur’s The Money Tree: Sketches of Life in Uganda at the Turn of the Millennium is a must read for anyone thinking about volunteering in Uganda or, for that matter, anywhere in Africa or the Developing World. The account of her experiences as a volunteer in a teachers college in rural Uganda is funny and poignant - and right on target in its descriptions of both the joys and frustrations of life there. This book is not readily available in the US, but it is worth the effort to acquire and read it. II. Learn about the Abayudaya: The best place to start “A History of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda,” by Arye Oded. Oded was Israel’s ambassador to Kenya when he visited the Abayudaya. This valuable resource, one of the many excellent articles on the Jewish Virtual Library, is based on Oded’s Religion and Politics in Uganda: A Study of Islam and Judaism, now out of print. Consult as well Jay Sands’ website, the Jews of Africa, as well as Bryan Schwartz’s Scattered Among the Nations. BOOKS: Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda, by Richard Sobol, features Sobol’s stunning photographs as well as an introduction to the community. Bonus: an audio CD of music compiled by Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, who is an accomplished ethnomusicologist as well as the Hillel rabbi at Tufts University. Fragile Branches: Travels through the Jewish Diaspora, by James. R. Roth, has a chapter about the Abayudaya. (Although Ken Blady’s Jewish Communities in Exotic Places does not have a chapter about the Abayudaya, it should be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about the diversity of the Jewish Diaspora.) CAVEAT LECTOR: I used to recommend the writings of Tudor Parfitt, but after reading his entry on the Abayudaya (Bayudaya) in the latest edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica I can no longer do so. Factual errors abound. Many articles have appeared in recent months, subsequent to the ordination of Gershom Sizomu (in May 2008). Read them with a grain of salt. MUSIC: Jeff Summit’s “Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda” is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings catalogue. Released in 2004, it received a 2005 Grammy nomination in the World Music category. To listen to an NPR interview with Rabbi Summit, click here. III. Learn about the Bet Din: Many articles appeared subsequent to our return from Uganda. Without question, the best article was written by Stacey Schultz, who accompanied us there. Her article appeared in Hadassah Magazine. Other well-written articles appeared in San Diego’s Jewish Journal; (You will need to scroll down to the article by Ed Samiljan. Ed was part of our delegation.) the Jewish Post; and the New York Jewish Week. | Contents Page | http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ugtoc.htmlhttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/uganda.htmlhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865433577/qid=1093141168/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-6017397-4060911?n=283155http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813337240/qid=1093141168/sr=ka-2/ref=pd_ka_2/102-6017397-4060911?n=283155http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375705775/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-6017397-4060911?s=books&st=%2A&v=glance&n=283155http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569472408/qid=1093141593/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6017397-4060911?s=books&v=glance&n=283155http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375703314/qid=1093141542/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-6017397-4060911?s=books&v=glance&n=283155http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455590/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001845/http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0954185803/026-9600386-9304411?v=glance&n=266239http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/uganda1.htmlhttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.htmlhttp://www.thejewsofafrica.com/http://home.earthlink.net/~jaypsand/scattered/pages/nations/africa/uganda.htmlhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789207761/qid=1093141168/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-6017397-4060911?s=books&v=glance&n=283155http://www.amazon.com/dp/1573228958/qid=1095851862/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6017397-4060911?v=glance&s=bookshttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765761122/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-6017397-4060911?s=books&st=%2A&v=glance&n=283155http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=3005http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1530608http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2002/JunJul_02/feature2.htmhttp://www.jewishjournal.org/archives/archiveMarch29_02.htmhttp://www.jewishpost.com/jp0804/jpn0804f.htmhttp://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5825Guide_to_Contents.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6shapeimage_3_link_7shapeimage_3_link_8shapeimage_3_link_9shapeimage_3_link_10shapeimage_3_link_11shapeimage_3_link_12shapeimage_3_link_13shapeimage_3_link_14shapeimage_3_link_15shapeimage_3_link_16shapeimage_3_link_17shapeimage_3_link_18shapeimage_3_link_19shapeimage_3_link_20shapeimage_3_link_21shapeimage_3_link_22shapeimage_3_link_23