We’re delighted to welcome RABBI GERSHOM SIZOMU, the first Chief Rabbi of Uganda, to A Tree with Roots to discuss Jewish life among the Abayudaya Jews.
Rabbi Sizomu serves his Jewish community in eastern Uganda near the town of Mbale. He is the first Jewish member of the Ugandan parliament (elected in 2016) and lives near the Moses in Synagogue in the village of Nabagogye, which he and others from the community’s early 1980s “Kibbutz movement” built up with their own hands, rebuilding Ugandan Jewish life after the devastating reign of Idi Amin.
A visionary leader, Rabbi Sizomu was awarded a Be’chol Lashon Fellowship in 2003 to attend the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, where he received rabbinic ordination in 2008. Rabbi Sizomu maintains, “The relationship between God and the Jews in the Torah resonates for many spiritual seekers. It is important that Africans and others know that they can choose Judaism as a spiritual path and that we are open to them.”
And we’re particularly thrilled Rabbi Sizomu will be in conversation with RABBI MICHAEL CHERNICK, Professor Emeritus of Rabbinic Literature at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Chernick is the chief mover behind Achvah: The Partnership for Abayudaya Rights, which is working to attain the right of the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda to recognition as full members of the world Jewish community.
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There is no charge for this special event. If you’d like to invest in more programs like this with A Tree with Roots, we’d welcome it gratefully: