Nadene Goldfoot
A group of 3 Israeli video-makers went to Nigeria to speak with a leader of the Igbo tribe about being Jewish. The 5 men were held in jail for months before the embassy could get them released. They were held in jails of deplorable conditions, a can was the toilet for the 3.
The Igbo are one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups. Among them is a minority of practicing Jews who believe they are descended from the "lost tribes" of Israel".
This news about being Jewish came out in 2013 My Jewish encyclopedia carries nothing about Nigeria or the Igbo/Ibo.
My records say that Gad and his tribe had settled in Gilead and Central Transjordan where they gained a warlike reputation. They flourished during the rule of King Saul and their position was consolidated under David. After the split in the kingdom, which happened after King Solomon died in 932 BCE, Gad belonged to the northern kingdom called Samaria and suffered severely from Syrian attacks. In 732, the region was devastated by Tiglath-Pileser III and most of its inhabitants were exiled. Later it was occupied by the Ammonites.
There are 162 million people in Nigeria and the Igbi people make up 20 to 50 million of them.
Rabbi Yisrael Uzan, a leader in the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States serves as the Chief Rabbi of Nigeria and the Chabad representative in Abuja, capital of Nigeria. Rabbi Mendel Sternbach serves as Rabbi of Lagos. They are involved in Humanitarian Aid, especially prior to Ramadan.
The groups claim that their religious practices result either from hundreds of years of continuous practice of Judaic or Judaic-like customs by their ethnic groups, customs inherited from the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan or by a more-recent departure from European Christianity to modern Judaism. Either way, Judaism in Nigeria has developed demographically with the interest of Jewish peoples in other countries, especially Israel and the United States.
Rabbi Yisrael Uzan, a leader in the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States serves as the Chief Rabbi of Nigeria and the Chabad representative in Abuja. Rabbi Mendel Sternbach serves as Rabbi of Lagos. They are involved in Humanitarian Aid, especially prior to Ramadan.
The Igbo Jews of Nigeria are one of the components of the Igbo ethnic group.
Certain Nigerian communities with Judaic practices have been receiving help from individual Israelis and American Jews who work in Nigeria, out-reach organizations like Kulanu, and African-American Jewish communities in America. Jews from outside Nigeria founded two synagogues in Nigeria, which are attended and maintained by Igbos. Because no formal census has been taken in the region, the number of Igbos in Nigeria who identify as either Israelites or Jews is not known. There are currently 26 synagogues of various sizes. An estimated 4,000 Igbos were practicing some form of Judaism in 2016. Some synagogues in Nigeria include: CHW known as Community of Hashem Worldwide with several synagogues around Nigeria and some part of Cameroon. Akwa Ibom and Cross River Jews--
The Annang, Efik, and Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States of Nigeria have had ancient religious practices that strongly resembled some of the Jewish Torah. These include their traditional sacrifice of animals (rituals) by the presiding male of each village, or of a group of villages, for purification, especially during times of sickness. They have active synagogues with majority of the synagogues in the eastern part of the country a vibrant one in Abuja supported and provided with many Jewish materials by different Rabbis. There are also key synagogues in Port Harcourt and Lagos. Yoruba Jews--
The Jewish community among the Yoruba are often referred to as the Bnai Ephraim (Children of Ephraim). Most of them around various communities in Ondo state since the 1930s, about 2000 people in all.
The Jewish Igbo are not yet recognized by Israel's rabbinate, but Miles says that does not matter to them. "They are happy to be acting, practicing, worshipping as Jews," he says.
1 Chronicles 5:11-16Helpful? Yes No
The sons of Gad lived over against them in the land of Bashan (Bashan, country frequently cited in the Old Testament and later important in the Roman Empire; it is located in what is now Syria. Bashan was the northernmost of the three ancient divisions of eastern Palestine, and in the Old Testament it was proverbial for its rich pastures and thick forests. ) as far as Salecah: Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan. And their kinsmen according to their fathers' houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven. These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz. Ahi the son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their fathers' houses,
Numbers 1:24-25Helpful? Yes No
Of the people of Gad, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: those listed of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.
Gad had a population of 40,500 at the end of the Exodus in the 2nd census. They suffered a loss of 5,150.
Genesis 49:19Helpful? Yes No
“Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.
Update: 7/31/21: DNA should show some results as to their claim. Ilona is an Igbo Nigerian. Ilona’s test shows “1.2% Middle Eastern,” according to a screenshot from the website MyHeritage.com. Ilona says other take-home tests, like one also posted online by a Nigerian-born attorney named Emeka Maduewesi, similarly show genetic markers from the region.
But a recent genetic test carried out by an American missionary group searching for “Jewish roots” came back negative — prompting fierce backlash from activists who called the project faulty and irresponsible.
It does depend on the DNA company. Each has their own specialites. Many that people are taking are from ancestry.com.
Earlier this year Jewish Voice Ministries International, an evangelical missionary group from Arizona, collected saliva samples from some 124 Igbo men in the state of Nnewi. They used kits from Family Tree DNA, a Texas-based company that sells genealogical analyses, including a focus on Jewish heritage. The test was done in collaboration with a local religious group and with the assistance of a well-known Igbo doctor.
Family Tree DNA’s repository of Jewish genetic samples includes the datasets of Michael Hammer, from the University of Arizona’s Anthropology department, and the sample collection of Doron Behar, from Israel. “After a careful comparison, the lab was not able to find any connection to the samples we collected,” Bernis wrote in an email to the Forward.
This is the company I use and feel it is the best, but I find they set the scales to only show a connection using 7cMs, and on GedMatch.com, one can set the scales at 3cMs, to see a connection to people. I would go with what these 2 companies say.
Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQC7xWN_Rto
https://www.wewereneverlost.com/- We Were Never Lost
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Nigeria
https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/world/africa/nigeria-jews-igbo/index.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-Gad
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israeli-filmmakers-arrested-in-nigeria-over-rumored-igbo-separatist-ties-673710
https://www.npr.org/2012/12/14/167180589/nigerias-jews-celebrate-hanukkah
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk0140NQL9Hkdto8utCS_MBpeWwGtbg:1627761876745&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=pictures+of+Igbo+Jews,+pictures&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWucTDjY7yAhVCrZ4KHVH6BFYQ7Al6BAgHEFc&biw=1920&bih=880-dozens of pictures
https://www.openbible.info/labs/cross-references/search?q=Genesis+46%3A16
Update: https://forward.com/news/380398/irresponsible-jewish-dna-test-sparks-backlash-in-nigeria/
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