The Variables of Jewishness:

  There have always been Jewish communities in Africa, but since the advent of the internet, groups that were quite isolated have become more widely known. These deeply rooted Jewish communities partake in religious practices which were previously outlawed by European colonizers (such as male circumcision, Saturday Sabbath, menstrual seclusion, etc.), as well as customs such as animal sacrifice, which are no longer practiced in Rabbinic Judaism. Many members of these groups have thought themselves to be descendants from the Lost Tribes – the Ten Tribes of Israel which were supposedly exiled from Israel in 722 BCE. European colonizers and missionaries also believed such African groups to be part of these tribes because, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, only Jews would perform such practices. 

Nathan Devir, associate professor of religious studies in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, has published a new book entitled “First-Century Christians in Twenty-First Century Africa: Between Law and Grace in Gabon and Madagascar” (Brill, 2022). The volume is the second part of a broader project that explores religious groups and identities, such as these, which are associated with Judaism and Old Testamentcentered inclinations within global Christianity.

Born in Oregon, Devir moved to Israel as a teenager, going on to complete his undergraduate degree at the University of Haifa. Devir says Haifa is a city with a rich “interfaith and intercommunal coexistence,” and that he loved how it was a “melting pot of different people and ideas.” After completing his army service as an education officer, Devir attended Penn State for his doctorate.

The dead aren't dead; they're among us, but you just can't see them.

His dissertation focused on three different Jewish authors, comparing how their ideas about “Jewishness” greatly differed according to each one’s specific ethnic, racial, or societal setting.

This subject of what “Jewishness” means led him to the subject of his recently-published book, which examines “the cultural variables of Jewishness as they are manifested in individuals and communities that have traditionally been ignored, even in the field of Jewish Studies.” This includes practicing Jews and professing Christians who claim ethnic Jewish heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The latter group, often termed “Messianic Jews”— sometimes equated with charismatic religious groups of the same name from North America— have regularly met with resistance because they consider themselves to be Jewish by ethnicity, but also believe in Jesus, much like the apostles of the first century. Both African and American Messianic Jews have no formal connection to any conventionally recognized Jewish community. Some consider Messianic Jews “fringe” or “not Jewish enough.” Devir says, “In an era in which there is much talk about topics such as representation, inclusion, and cultural appropriation, it’s interesting to see how the identities of people who self-define as Jewish but who reject Rabbinic Judaism are discussed, usually with regard to culturally specific presuppositions or preexisting theological notions.”

While researching these Messianic Jewish groups in Benin (West Africa), Devir encountered multiple emphases on healing, which led him to his manuscript-in-progress on that topic. In Benin, the process of healing is different than what Americans might expect. “In Benin, the state-sponsored religion is Vodoun [Voodoo], but a lot of Christian-professing people—including those with Jewish-leaning affinities—still practice a kind of syncretism, going to Vodoun priests for healing sessions.” Many people in the area still go to Western medical hospitals for serious illnesses such as AIDS or cancer, but for their basic medical needs, they prefer to go to traditional healers who use a combination of plant medicine and spiritual tactics to heal patients.