More than 7,000 miles away from Baltimore, there’s a group of Jews enjoying Shabbat under a mango tree, eating Matoke stew and learning from their rabbi.
Meet the Abayudaya, a Jewish community in eastern Uganda that numbers between 2,000 and 3,000.
This summer, Shamir Burg, a rising senior in the film and visual storytelling department at Baltimore School for the Arts, will travel to Uganda to employ his film skills to document the Abayudaya and their rituals.
The son of two rabbis, Shamir’s family connection with the Abayudaya goes back many years. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu — the first native-born Black rabbi in sub-Saharan Africa — serves as chief rabbi of the community. He attended rabbinical school with Shamir’s dad, Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg of Reservoir Hill’s Beth Am Synagogue.
“ We have pictures of Rabbi Gershom Sizomu holding me as a baby, and then us together now that I’m more grown up,” says Shamir, 17. “I’ve known him since before I can remember.”
Last summer, Shamir and his family traveled to Uganda to visit Rabbi Sizomu and the Abayudaya.
“I remember being on the plane and saying to the kids, ‘Our lives are about to be changed, we just don’t know how yet,’” says Shamir’s mom, Rabbi Miriam Cotzin Burg. “The opportunity to go there and weave ourselves into the fabric of the community for two Shabbatot was an unparalleled experience for all four of us.”
For Shamir, the experience was profound and memorable.
“ I was able to forge and bond relationships there with people I now consider friends,” he says. “I got to live with them for a little while and experience what it is like to be in the Abayudaya community, which is truly wonderful.”
The community has existed since 1919. They were persecuted and unable to practice Judaism in the 1970s, but a core group persisted. In recent years, community members were formally converted by rabbis of the Conservative branch of Judaism.
The Abayudaya maintain synagogues and a Jewish primary school and high school. The community consists mostly of subsistence farmers who live peacefully with their Christian and Muslim neighbors.
“There’s not a lot of wealth, but from our experience there it was one of the most spiritually rich and vibrant communities we’ve seen ever,” says Shamir. “They are so kind, welcoming, and open. They have really beautiful souls.”
Spending Shabbat with the community was particularly special, says Shamir.
“Shabbat was unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced here in the States,” he says. “They sing, drum, chant Torah. They have wonderful leadership within the space and a lot of young people leading services as well.”
The music is a unique blend of Jewish music with African drumbeats, containing Hebrew, Luganda and English. The Havdalah service even contained the music of American singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman.
“After services, everyone sits under two big mango trees in this big circle,” Shamir says. “Anyone in the circle can ask the rabbi any question they have about Judaism, about the sermon, about life. And they learn and eat together. It’s this long day of learning and spirituality and love and community that really is enriching to each and every person there, and anyone who is lucky enough to visit.”
The Burgs were recently instrumental in helping to start the nonprofit American Friends of the Abayudaya to centralize ways of giving to the community.
Shamir hopes his film project will raise awareness of the community to generate wider support.
“The first thing to know is there are Jews in Uganda,” he says. “They are amazing, beautiful and spiritually rich. And they also need support. They rely on the help of the wider Jewish world to survive and thrive.”
The Burgs are clear that the sharing and learning is reciprocal between the Abayudaya and other Jews.
“We have what to share with them and they have what to share with us,” says Rabbi Miriam Cotzin Burg. “Our support helps them grow and thrive. There are basic needs, but it’s not a community that needs saving.”
Shamir plans to combine his studies in school with his passion for this community by directing the documentary.
“As part of my film work, I was looking to do something big, fun, important,” he says.” The Abayudaya community is isolated. Not a ton of people know about them, and I want to change that. …
“ I’ve personally been working on a big docuseries for BSA, so I’m combining all that documentary skill and the other film skills I’ve been cultivating for years now with another thing that I’m very, very passionate about, and connect them in a way I think can hopefully help make a change and help support them.”
For his mom, Shamir’s effort leans into core tenets of Judaism.
“Always, but especially in this climate, we need to lean into what is beautiful and wonderful and meaningful in Judaism and Jewish life,” she says. “This project can be part of the journey of discovering the richness of who we are and delighting in what it means to be Jewish.”
For information, visit sites.google.com/view/tothebeatoftheirowndrums/home.
Anna Lippe is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer.
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