Upcoming Jewish Life Events
The Story of the Abayudaya Jewish Community in Uganda
Monday, September 23
5:30 PM: Gallery Reception, 14Y Lobby
6:30 PM: Conversation and Short Film Screening, 14Y Theater
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What does it mean to be Jewish in Uganda today?
Discover the little-known story of the Abayudaya Ugandan Jewish community through a conversation, short films-in-progress, and gallery exhibit and reception.
Join us at 6:30 pm in the 14Y Theater for an insightful conversation and short film screening about the future of the Abayudaya and the current flourishing of Judaism across Eastern Uganda. Rabbi Heather Miller will moderate the conversation, featuring award-winning artist Peter Decherney, Rabbi Shoshana Nambi, and Dr. Sara Byala.
Prior to the conversation, you’re invited to attend a reception in the 14Y lobby at 5:30 pm in celebration of Decherney’s portraits of the Abayudaya community.
About the Abayudaya Jewish Community
In 1919, a local African leader Semei Kakungulu, disaffected with British colonial rule and Christian missionaries, converted to Judaism and founded the Abayudaya community (Abayudaya is Luganda for “People of Judah”). By the 1960s, the Abayudaya had grown to 10,000 members, but dwindled to a few hundred in the 1970s when Uganda’s dictatorial president, Idi Amin banned Judaism and other “minor religions.” Most Ugandan Jews converted to other religions and the Jewish community that remained was forced to pray in a secret cave synagogue at the bottom of a ravine. Over time, the community has grown and today, Eastern Uganda has over a dozen synagogues, with a combined membership of around 7,000 people practicing forms of Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism.
This event is sponsored by a Humanities New York Action Grant with additional support from Be’chol Lashon, Kulanu, and Penn Global Documentary Institute.
About the Speakers
Sara Byala is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Writing at the University of Pennsylvania and the Associate Director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute. South African born, Byala holds a PhD in History from Harvard University and a BA from Tufts University. Her research on the ways that capitalist systems intersect with social and cultural forces in Africa culminated in her book, Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African. Byala’s earlier work, A Place that Matters Yet: John Gubbins’s MuseumAfrica in the Postcolonial World, explored the import of colonial archives in post-apartheid South Africa through the biography of a cultural history museum. She is currently embarking on a new project relating to religion and migration on the African continent. Byala has taught a wide range of courses about Africa, including ones on Coca-Cola, soccer, truth commissions, and cocoa. She also regularly teaches global seminars, which include travel to countries in Africa.
Peter Decherney is an award-winning fine art photographer, filmmaker, and author. He holds the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Chair in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Professor of Cinema and Media Studies and Director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute. Decherney’s photographs of global Jewish communities have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and universities; in 2023, 14Y hosted his photography exhibit on the Ethiopian Jewish community.
Decherney’s book of photography, Endless Exodus: The Jewish Experience in Ethiopia, is forthcoming. His films include Is it Because I’m a Girl?, the virtual reality series, The Heart of Puerto Rico; and the Discovery+ Original, Dreaming of Jerusalem. Decherney has been an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scholar, a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, and a U.S. State Department Arts Envoy to Myanmar. He is also an award-winning teacher, whose open online course on the history of Hollywood has enrolled more than 80,000 learners.
Rabbi Heather Miller is the founder of the organization, The Multitudes. She is a professional educator passionate about creating supportive spaces for all intersected identities in both the religious and secular parts of her life. Rabbi Miller serves the Jewish community in several capacities: Board Member, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ); Co-Chair, Conservative/Masorti Movement’s Racial Justice Subcommittee; Councilmember, Repair the World Advisory Council; Member, UJA’s Brooklyn Advisory; and Board Chair, Ammud JOC Torah Academy. Her work, reaching over 43,000 people to date, was featured in the nationally syndicated PBS show Table for All with Buki Elegbede.
Rabbi Shoshana Nambi is currently the Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hill, California. She grew up in Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community. After graduating from Kampala International University, Rabbi Nambi worked as an HIV counselor and agricultural educator. She has toured with Kulanu, which supports emerging and returning Jewish communities, teaching about her community and focusing on women’s lives in Ugandan villages.
Rabbi Nambi worked three summers as a camp counselor, unit programmer, and Tefillah coordinator at URJ Camp Coleman in Cleveland, Georgia. Learning more about Judaism there paved the way for her dream of becoming a rabbi. For three years, she was a rabbinic intern at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. She is the author of The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda—the 2023 National Jewish Book Council Picture Book of the Year winner and the Association of Libraries—A Sydney Taylor Honor Book.