J.J., Part Deux

The second day of my Hadassah hiatus (music competition tomorrow!) brought some fun and exciting replacement activities.  In the morning, I spent some time with a group of Israeli women who came to visit and bake pita with the women of Nabugoye, and it was nice to get to flex my Hebrew muscles for the first time since the first-week Israeli girls left.  And the pita was delicious (accompanied by Nutella and honey--not your typical Nabugoye food!)

After spelling at SK, I made my way with another volunteer to the home of  J.J. Keki, community leader and co-op founder, to continue our conversation from several weeks back.  We went through a lot of the original story for the benefit of the other volunteer, with some fun added details along the way.  For instance during the conversation, J.J. showed us one of the original siddurim the Abayudaya had received before they learned Hebrew. One of the cool things about the siddur was the variation on the famed Friday night prayer Lecha Dodi which it includes, which now serves as the version that the Abayudaya sing every Friday night and can be found on their Grammy-nominated recording.  He also described in further detail his trip to Nairobi Hebrew Congregation in 1984, before the Abayudaya were really "discovered." The multi-day ordeal, which had J.J. in police stations and parks at night for lack of lodging fees, ended with the Nairobi rabbi refusing much help and suggesting they talk to the chief rabbi of England.  J.J., the rabbi and several others were eventually welcomed to the synagogue for some services (after several more years of trying) and it was there that two Americans, traveling in Nairobi, "discovered" them.  Their curiosity was peaked when they noticed Rabbi Gershom diligently reading the Hebrew at services, and when they found out his story, they brought it back to the U.S., where they contacted Jewish organizations left and right.  Kulanu, which still works with them today, was one of the few to respond positively to the call.  Another fascinating tidbit was the revelation that a copy of the book Semei Kakungulu (Abayudaya founding father) wrote, detailing the rules of his Judaism, still rested with the oldest living Abayudaya, who knew Kakungulu.  According to J.J., he's around 100 years old.  We're hoping to visit him sometime soon, and hear the stories only he can share and perhaps get an idea of what the Luganda book contains--and hopefully get a look at it as well!

After the fascinating talk, Maccabee, one of J.J.'s sons, led us the site of the "cave synagogue"--the first place of prayer established by Kakangulu in 1919.  The spot, which is essentially a very large rock overhang on a mountainside, had a few, barely-there, chalked magen david and minorot, but is otherwise unmarked.  It was there, and on top of the rock itself, that Kakungulu met, prayed and learned with his first followers.