TIKKUN OLAM NURSERY & PRIMARY SCHOOL IN UGANDA
Our Story
We are Abayudaya "People of Judah," Children of Israel, part of a proud century-old Jewish presence in eastern Uganda, stemming from the self-conversion to Judaism of our founder, Semei Kakungulu, in 1919. He found he could not agree with much of the doctrine of the New Testament, and chose to follow the Old Testament without, at first, realizing that he was actually practicing Biblical Judaism.
During the tyrannical reign (1971-1979) of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, practicing the Jewish religion was prohibited, but some intrepid Abayudaya were able to "keep the faith" only through extremely covert means. Secret Shabbat services had to be held in a remote cave known as Nangolo.
After Amin's departure from Uganda, our communities began to recover their former zeal, and, first in 2002 and then in 2006, we were visited by several rabbis from Israel and the United States who performed a formal "beit din" or conversion ceremony.
Devout in our practice, we keep kashrut (kosher), observe Shabbat and all the Jewish holidays. There are several different villages where the Ugandan Jews live. Our village is located in Namutumba district. In Namutumba, Jews, Muslims and Christians live side by side in a village of peace! We are all working together as partners in our community's transformation to create sustainable projects to help our most needy residents. We have an active synagogue, a brand new nursery and primary school, and new farming, craft and community projects. We are bristling with excitement and energy to transition our community
from poverty to prosperity.
Namutumba Jewish Community strives actively to promote the productivity, innovativeness and self-reliance of the most disadvantaged people within our already underserved community. We invite your participation - as volunteers, as donors, as creative partners. Come visit us! Please join our partnership!
Synagogue Project
The Synagogue Before
The Synagogue After
Jewish holidays and practice
Shabbat (Sabbath), our most important Jewish holiday in Uganda, begins on Friday evening before sunset and ends the following evening after seeing three stars. It begins with the lighting of Shabbat candles and ends with the lighting of havdalah candles. No work is permitted on Shabbat, only torah study and praising Adonai through Psalms and prayers.
Pesach is also one of the most important holidays we observe, commemorated with a festive meal, the Seder, and by singing and retelling the Biblical story of the Israelites' exodus from ancient Egypt. The Israelites were forced to leave Egypt in such a hurry that they could not wait for their leavened bread to rise, therefore no leavened bread is found in our houses or eaten for seven days. We call our unleavened bread matzo.
Shavuot which is the festival of weeks is highly celebrated. Seven weeks (days of Omer) from Pesach are counted, and afterwards comes Shavout which commemorates Moses' receiving the Torah from Mount Sinai.
On Sukkot we remember the the wonders and miracles in the wilderness during the exodus. We eat all our meals in the sukkah, a shed which every family has to construct and cover with leaves, and in which families relate these wonders to their children.
We celebrate many other holidays like Purim, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the day of atonement on which we fast), to mention but a few.
In keeping with Jewish law,Abayudaya families practice circumcision of male babies on the eighth day, and adhere strictly to the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher).