Kulanu Blog

We invite you to join Kulanu in honoring Aaron Kintu Moses and Naume Sabano, an inspiring couple who have directed some of the most successful institutions of the Abayudaya Jewish community of Uganda. A brave leader who was instrumental in saving Judaism from Idi Amin’s repression of the 1970s, Aaron has been headmaster of the Abayudaya Elementary School since 2001. Naume, founder and president of the Abayudaya Women’s Association for a decade, is manager of the nutrition program at the Abayudaya high school, an essential service that has alleviated hunger and has made a great impact on student learning.

Kulanu is creating a virtual on-line journal to honor this remarkable couple. The journal will look like a booklet you would receive at a dinner you attended in person, but in this case, you will see the pages on-line. The journal will display your sentiments and those of others, along with wonderful pictures of Naume and Aaron and the community to which they have given so much. By donating to express your good wishes, you will be helping the local Abayudaya elementary and high schools that are so dear to them.

Many of you had the chance to get to know Aaron during the fall Kulanu-Abayudaya speaking tours of 2006, 2007, and 2011. His school now educates and feeds 400 children from nursery through seventh grade, including many orphans. Aaron has been the community’s treasurer, a key member of the community’s executive committee, and he plays a leading role in welcoming visitors and volunteers to the community. His warmth, devotion, wisdom, and love of children are apparent to all who have had the good fortune to hear him speak and to meet him in Uganda.

As leader of the Abayudaya Women’s Association until last January, Naume has organized three conferences each year since 2005 where women from eight villages had, and still have, empowering opportunities to share successes and challenges and to implement ideas to better their lives. Among AWA’s achievements are a successful micro-credit program and a Torah study course for women. An eloquent speaker, Naume was elected to her regional government council last year, gaining the support of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim voters. In addition to her role as the effective manager of the high school nutrition program, she owns a small shop, helps to organize the production and sale of Abayudaya kippot, and farms vegetables and coffee with her husband Aaron. Together Aaron and Naume care for their five children ages 4 to 20 – Kokasi, Simcha, Devorah, Natan, and Rosh, and their nephew Esav.

Please join us in showing our appreciation for all the important work that Aaron and Naume continue to do.

You can send your message and donation by mail or online; the deadline for journal submissions is May 31, 2012. Please use the form below to donate by mail. To donate online, click here. See contribution levels below. In the comment field, please write “Aaron & Naume Tribute” followed by the text of your ad (limit 100 words for full-page ads, 50 words for smaller ads).

If you have any questions, or to let us know that you have a photo you would like to include with your ad, please go to www.kulanu.org/contact and select “Make a Donation” from the contact form drop-down list

____________________________________

You may donate by mail or online.

Donate online

Donate by mail

Class of young Jewish boys in Armenia, El Salvador. Photo by Aaron Rehberg, 2011

Rabbi Aaron Rehberg is heading home after six weeks, including Purim, in El Salvador. While there, Rav Rehberg of Israel continued his Jewish education and other work with the Armenia community, and also reached out to two nearby communities. Thanks to the Good People Fund for their generous $3,000 contribution toward this work!

Kulanu needs to raise about $7,000 more to cover costs for this project; costs include the rabbi’s trip, books, stipends for students, and an oven for challah- and matza-baking and for pizza-making for youth activities (a fun way to teach and to bring the community together!). Click here to read Rabbi Rehberg’s “Purim Project” proposal, which outlines his goals, teaching schedule, and other activities. If you can help in any way, please donate to Kulanu’s El Salvador fund – no gift is too small to make a difference!

You can support the emerging Jewish community in El Salvador through this fundraising page – or, create your own Personal Fundraising Page (PFP) and inspire your friends and family to get involved!

You can learn more about Rabbi Rehberg’s visits to Armenia, the progress of the Jewish education programs he has put in motion there, as well as the proposal for this latest trip, on the Kulanu web site at www.kulanu.org/elsalvador

Site designated for synagogue in Mapakhomhere, Zimbabwe. Photo by Ari Witkin, 2011

Sandy Leeder, Kulanu’s Lemba Coordinator, will be helping to run a Pesach Seder with the Lemba community in Mapakhomhere, Zimbabwe this Passover – “G-d willing” as Sandy said. Mapakhomhere is the same village where Kulanu is helping to build the Great Zimbabwe Synagogue, and Sandy, along with Kulanu President Emeritus Jack Zeller, has been working hard with this fascinating group in southern Africa.

We need to raise $4500 to support this history-making Lemba seder. Click here to contribute to this project! Be sure to include “Zimbabwe Lemba” in the memo of your check or the comments section of your online donation. Thank you for helping this dedicated, yet isolated group hold a seder this Pesach!

More background on the Lemba of Zimbabwe is available at www.kulanu.org/lemba - and the next issue of the Kulanu newsletter will contain even more in-depth information about Zimbabwe Lemba culture and the exciting developments in this community.

As many of you are aware, Kulanu brought Serge Etele – a leader of the Beth Yeshourun community of Cameroon – to the United States for a six-week speaking tour to inform audiences about this emerging group of dedicated Jews in central Africa. This is a groundbreaking tour representing a new Jewish community, and Serge’s first visit to the U.S. has been a life-changing experience for him – and, we think, for many of us who have been fortunate enough to meet him and hear his story.

Serge Etele playing guitar in Buffalo, NY. Photo by Enid Bloch, 2012.

It has been a great joy to host Serge these past weeks and to see things through his eyes. He approached America and the Jewish community with an open heart and deep appreciation. I can report that his time here is filled with many memorable experiences and a number of firsts. Most importantly, on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, Serge Etele formally converted to Judaism, presenting himself before a three judge Beit Din (Jewish court) and submerging himself in a mikveh (ritual bath). Mazal Tov Serge!

The last event of this year’s speaking tour was in New York City on Thursday; Serge will be flying home in time to celebrate Pesach with his family and community. His time in the U.S. was full of rich experiences: in addition to all of his formal speaking engagements, Serge took his first airplane flight, saw a Torah for the first time, saw some major U.S. cities, met Sofer Neil Yerman to learn about how Torahs are repaired, prayed at the world Chabad headquarters, visited two Jewish museums, had coaching sessions on guitar-playing and public speaking, attended classes at several rabbinical schools and met with rabbinical and university students to tell about his community and Kulanu. In addition, he has been hosted by Jewish families in several states, prayed at Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues and visited Jewish religious schools and community centers. Needless to say, Serge is returning to Cameroon with more knowledge, greater determination, wider support, and even some lovely gifts to share with his community.

This is what Kulanu aims to acheive – connecting isolated and emerging Jewish communities such as Beth Yeshourun with other Jewish communities around the world, and supporting Jewish life in places one may not expect to find it – such as the heart of Africa. By connecting Serge with each of us and our communities, the Jewish lives of “all of us” are impacted.

Thank you to all of the tour sponsors, hosts, organizers, volunteers, and audiences, for introducing yourselves to the emerging, and inspiring, Beth Yeshourun Jewish community in Cameroon.

The Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour ran from February 23-March 31, 2012. To see where Serge spoke and to find out more about Serge’s tour, check out this post on the Kulanu Blog (www.kulanu.org/blog). For more about Beth Yeshourun, please visit www.kulanu.org/cameroon

- Harriet

Harriet Bograd, President

Kulanu, Inc

Todah Rabah (Thank you!) to our donors for supporting Kulanu and our work with isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world!

These lists reflect gifts received between Nov 1 2011 and Feb 29 2012 – if we missed anyone, please let us know by sending a message at www.kulanu.org/contact

In addition to regular donations, below this list we also include donations in honor of and in memory of someone, Kulanu Mitzvah Project leaders, and the sponsors of our two most recent speaking tours.

$10,000
The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation; Leeder Family Philanthropic Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund; The Cherna Moskowitz Foundation

$5,000-9,999
The Ben & Esther Rosenbloom Foundation, Inc; The Stein Family Philanthropic Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund; Louis Weider; Otto and Marianne Wolman Foundation

$2,000-4,999
The Good People Fund; The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation; Dr Gary Katzman

$1,000-1,999
The Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York – B’nai Mitzvah Program; Number Ten Foundation; Hope and Matthew Feldman; Forrest and Miriam Foss; Kanter Family Gift Fund, a Fidelity Charitable donor-advised fund; Lois K Levy; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation (Rochester NY); Angela and Carl Milner; Aron and Karen Primack; Gail B. and Mel Werbach; Ronnie Williams and Suzanne Arnopolin; Marvin Wolf; The Gess Donor Fund, a Donor Advised Fund of Combined Jewish Philanthropies

$500-999
Anonymous; Werner and Phoebe Frank Family Foundation; The Enablement Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney GIFT program; Temple Beth-El (Rabbi Scott L. Glass’s Discretionary Fund – Ithaca NY); David Holtz and Diane Glatt; Yvonne Huntley; Marcia Kaplan; Rabbi Alan Katz; Lewis and Monica Fried Kornberg; Living Stones Temple (Reverend Al B. Sutton, Jr. – Birmingham AL); The Schonfeld Family Trust, managed by the Bessemer Trust; Marcy Stein; The JDS Fund, a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

$125-499
Judy and Harold Abroms; Susan Agate; Diana Blum; Louis H Blumengarten; Kehila Chadasha (Rabbi David Shneyer, Washington DC); Henry Z. Kister and Susana Chang-Kister; Chizuk Amuno Congregation (Pikesville MD); David and Jane Cohen; Mark Cohen; Glen R. and Marci Koblenz Cornblath; Jill Crimmings; Leon Drogy; Aleksander Feuer; The Madav IX Foundation; The Gamzu Family Fund, a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund; Joe; and Mia Buchwald Gelles; Drs Roberta P Glick and Terry Gene Unterman; The Goldman Family Fund, a Fidelity; Charitable Gift Fund; The Irving and Blu Greenberg Family Foundation of the Jewish Communal Fund; Lawrence Gross; Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Gutt; Andrew H. Heiden and Rebecca Teichman; Temple Sinai; (Rabbi Alan Katz and Rabbi Amy Sapowith, Rochester NY); Adina Sue Kleiman; Dr. Andrew Kohen; The Bessie &; Max Kriesberg and Sarah & Max Munchick Foundation; Eli Kwartler; Lenore and Morris Levin; Iris Mars; Randal L. Mars; The Marshall and Laura Derby Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Boston Foundation; Grace Philippa Marshall; Edward and Debra Perkes; Ira and Marilyn Polon; Marshall Phillip and; Sabina Primack; Malcolm C. Rich and Dr. Lise Weisberger; Charles E. Scheidt; Judith M. Schlaeger; Temple Beth El Salinas Religious School (Rabbi Marcy Delbick, Salinas CA); Amy Schuman; Arlene; Silverstein, Norman Goldberg, and Ellen Serwer ; Mark W and Rhonna Shatz, MD; Dr. Holly K. Shaw; Jeffrey; M. Solotoroff; Barbara K. Birshtein and Howard M. Steinman; Adina Straus; Todd Clear and Dina Rose; Barbara H. Vinick; The Weiss Family Fund, a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund; Erica and Dr. Samuel Weisz; Paula Gorlitz and Steven Zuckerman

$100-124
Kim D Ainis; Elaine B. Brichta; Andree Brooks; Lisa Burnstein; Todd Clear and Dina Rose; The Cohen-Konig Family Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, Los Angeles; Sherman L Cohn; Kalelah C.; Steven Corn; Marguerite C. and Raymond J. Cross, Jr; Congregation B’nai Israel (Rabbi Barry Leff and Lauri Donahue, Lakewood CO); Mel and Margery Elfin; Mr and Mrs Erlitz; Dr. Elizabeth Feldman and Jay Shefsky; James Feldman and Natalie Wexler; Orit Frenkel and Claude Fontheim; Frida K. Furman; Dr. Peter N Galgut; Anonymous; Harold Goldberg and Alisa Israel Goldberg; Elizabeth and Ron Goodman; David and Zelda Greenstein; Mr and Mrs Ira Gutt; Mr and Mrs Jacob J Gutt; Dr. Eugene H. and Esther C. Herman; Harriette Hirsch; Jo Ellen Hirsch; Elissa Horowitz; Anne Katz Jacobson and Robert Jacobson; Rachel and Sol Kasimer; the Khafif Family; Laura Alter Klapman; Margi and Mark Koral; Tzivia Kramer; Lidia Kriger; Elihu I. and Sheila L. Leifer; Barbara Lockhart; Leonard S. and Maxine Lyons; Anonymous; Richard and Elizabeth Mason; Jacob E Meier; Jacob Melamed; Rebecca Mellor; Burton and Susan Migdal; Lawrence D. and Judith Teibloom Mishkin; Marvin and Beth Najberg; Judith Neri; Rabbi Daniel Nussbaum and Dr. Jacki Goldstein; Martin Okun; Jennifer and Andrew Peltz; Anonymous; Dr. Karen Pierce; MP & RP; Janet and Sidney Quint; Naomi Bograd Robbins; Mordecai and Paula Rosenfeld; Dr. Arnold and Leah Rotter; Laz and Ellen Schneider; Charlotte Schwartz; Dr. Claudine Schweber; Rachel and William Segal; Barbara and Julius Shair; Eileen R. and Benjamin M. Shieber; Shoshana S. Cardin School (Rabbi Stuart A. Seltzer, Baltimore MD); Mel Siegel; Peter and Betty Silverglate; Miriam K and Lawrence M Slifkin; Aleene Smith; Herman and Cecilia Storick; Mark Sugarman and Lenore Myers; Rabbi Peter Tarlow; Carol Wolkove; Violet and Richard Zeitlin

Donations in Honor of and in Memory of . . .
These were entered between November 2011 and February 2012. Please let us know if we have missed anyone, and we’ll list them in the next newsletter — let us know at www.kulanu.org/contact

Donations in honor of someone. Donors are in italics.
Jeanne Bodin – Arlene Silverstein, Norman Goldberg, and Ellen Serwer, Riva and Jerry Edelman
Harriet Bograd – Lawrence Gross, Jeremy Ronkin and Rabbi Margie Klein
Harriet Bograd and Ken Klein – Susan Merewitz
Matthew Feldman – Beverly Feldman, Gail Margulies
Robert and Shirley Goldman – The Goldman Family Fund, a Fidelity Charitable Gift fund
Rabbi Amy Katz (Temple Beth El, Springfield MA) – Linda A. Weiss
Phyllis and Don Keith – Lincoln and Marian P. Hallen
Rabbi Allan Kensky of Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah (Wilmette, IL) – Rabbi Michael Cohen
Avi and Hili Kister – Henry Z. Kister and Susana Chang-Kister
Suzanne Silk Klein – Myra Schiff
Linda Kornberg – Lewis and Monica Fried Kornberg
Aaron Kintu Moses – Violet and Richard Zeitlin
Dr. Brian Primack and family – Marcia Kaplan
Karen and Aron Primack – Rabbi David Shneyer and Kehila Chadasha (Washington DC), Jonina Duker and Alan Lichtman
Shulamit Reinharz – Barbara H. Vinick
Natanya Rosen – Anne Katz Jacobson and Robert Jacobson
Robert L. Schneider – Alberta Schneider
Rabbis Gerald and Boni Sussman of Temple Emanu-el (Staten Island NY) – Burt and Susan Migdal
Al and Sherrie Weiss – Erica and Dr. Samuel Weisz
Laura Wetzler – Angela and Carl Milner
David Wise – Steven M Zellman
Barbara Vinick – Harriet and Daniel W. Tolpin

Donations in memory of someone. Donors are in italics.
Joan Lipnick Abelson – Forrest and Miriam Foss
Mordecai Armoza – Harriet and Jacob Armoza
Rose Baily – Francine Levy
Linda Bickert – Francine Levy
Rabbi Moshe Cotel – Cohen-Konig Family Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, Los Angeles
Myrna Ferguson – Francine Levy
JJ Greenberg – Irving and Blu Greenberg Family Foundation of the Jewish Communal Fund
Joe Hantman – Sonya M Okin, Dr. Lawrence and Madeline Tannenbaum
Shirley Hartstein – Patti Sheinman and Wellesley College Hillel
Hyman and Nettie Kaplan – George and Toby Wakstein
Golda Meyers – Francine Levy
Martin Ritvo – Keith and Karen Melaas
Mortimer S Smith – Aleene Smith

Campaigns and Mitzvah Projects – Mazal Tov and Todah Rabah to Kulanu Activists!

Dr Elizabeth Feldman (IL): raised close to $3,000 for the Abayudaya Deaf Education Fund, which supports six deaf Abayudaya children from Namatumba, Uganda.

David Uhlfelder (CO): sponsored the visit of Aaron Kintu Moses to his congregation in Aspen, CO, this past fall and also raised over $1800 for the Abayudaya Education Program as part of his Bar Mitzvah project. David became Bar Mitzvah on August 20, 2011.

Hayden Gutt (NY): raised nearly $1500 for the Abayudaya School Nutrition Fund through his online Personal Fundraising Page as his Bar Mitzvah project. Hayden became Bar Mitzvah on January 14, 2012.

Jeanne Bodin’s grand-daughter Emily (NY): collected many boxes of books for the Sarah Horowitz Memorial Library at the Abayudaya Elementary School in Uganda. Emily carefully selected appropriate ones, and her mother and grandmother shipped some and personally delivered others to the school. Jeanne and her daughter also helped children make their own books for the library.

Fall 2011 Kulanu-Abayudaya Speaking Tour Hosts – Thanks for getting involved and hosting Aaron Kintu Moses!
Temple Beth Shalom/JCC (Mahopac NY)
Yorktown Jewish Center (Yorktown Heights NY)
Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Elkins Park (Philadelphia PA)
Congregation Shaarai Shomayim (Lancaster PA)
Syracuse University (Syracuse NY)
Baobab Cultural Center (Rochester NY)
Temple Sinai (Rochester NY)
Hillel at Ithaca College (Ithaca NY)
United Synagogue of Hoboken (Hoboken NJ)
Louis D Brandeis Law Society (Philadelphia PA)
The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia (PA)
Hopkins Hillel (Baltimore MD)
Goucher College Hillel (Baltimore MD)
Temple Emanu-El (Birmingham AL)
Living Stones Temple (Birmingham AL)
Aspen Jewish Congregation and the Uhlfelder family (Aspen CO)
Congregation Rodef Shalom (Denver CO)
The Abrahamic Initiative at Saint John’s Cathedral (Denver CO)
BMH-BJ Congregation (Denver CO)
Suffolk Y JCC (Commack, Long Island NY)

Winter-Spring 2012 Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour Hosts -
Thanks for getting involved and hosting Serge Etele on his first U.S. tour!
The 92nd St Y (New York NY)
Temple Emanu-El (Staten Island NY)
Hebrew High School and Department of Jewish Education, Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey (Cherry Hill NJ)
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Wyncote PA)
Congregation Beth El (Voorhees NJ)
Temple Aliyah (Needham MA)
South Area Jewish Education Collaborative (Canton MA)
Shirat Hayam Congregation of the North Shore (Swampscott MA)
Wellesley College Hillel (Wellesley MA)
Northeastern University – various departments (Boston MA)
Congregation Tifereth Israel (Washington DC)
University of Virginia-Charlottesville (Charlottesville VA)
Congregation Beth Israel (Charlottesville VA)
Beth El Congregation (Harrisonburg VA)
Ahavath Achim Synagogue (Atlanta GA)
West End Synagogue (New York NY)

Thank you to ALL of our supporters.

The work of “all of us” could not be accomplished without all of YOU!

I recently returned from an inspiring visit to Uganda. My eleven days in the community were jam-packed with festive celebrations and intense meetings. We had two wonderful shabbatot (one entirely led by the youth of the community as part of their youth conference), a brit milah (circumcision) for the son of Israel and Tehilla Siriri, and the birth of a new daughter to Rabbi Gershom and Tzippora Sizomu. We got to see the outcome of these Kulanu-funded projects: the new food storage building, new classrooms and the new staff house at the Abayudaya Elementary School; we also joyously dedicated the new grain mill in Namutumba.

Kulanu volunteer Jeanne Bodin and her daughter Gail delivered two suitcases of carefully selected books that her granddaughter, Emily, had collected for her bat mitzvah project (they had already shipped five other boxes of books and still have more to send), and the children gleefully unpacked the books and started reading them. We met the librarians who staff the library thanks to funding from the South Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation in San Francisco, California.

To extend our library/literacy support project, Jeanne Bodin and her daughter volunteered at the year-old Sarah Horowitz Memorial Library at the Abayudaya Elementary School, brought hand-made books created and donated by sixth-graders at MJCBY in Morristown, New Jersey, and helped the Ugandan seventh-graders make their own books in return.

I led an intense workshop on computer maintenance and typing skills for about 15 eager and attentive students, Kulanu board member Judy Manelis led a creative writing workshop, Laura Wetzler and Steve Gray both led workshops for young people on business planning, and volunteer Tara Parks, an industrial engineer, led a workshop on careers in science and math. Judy Manelis also spent a day at the Kavule School for the Deaf, where Kulanu supports six deaf students from Namutumba with the help of Kulanu fundraising campaign leader Dr Elizabeth Feldman of Illinois, who has been tirelessly raising funds for the school for five years. Laura Wetzler did amazing work connecting the school for the deaf with resources for deaf-blind students.

Laura Wetzler and I met with the board and project directors of the Abayudaya community to report to them on our work in the past year (we had donated $135,000 to the community in 2011) and to hear their concerns and suggestions for our future work together.

Throughout these days, community members thanked “Kulanu” over and over — we accepted their thanks on behalf of all of you who have supported this work over the last 16 years. At the music and dance festival, villagers from many of the villages sang and danced their gratitude to Kulanu. At the women’s conference, all the women stood and lifted up imaginary baskets of flowers and tossed them to Laura and me. At the grain mill dedication, they made speeches about how different their lives were and how much more hopeful they were because of Kulanu’s support. At the youth-led service, Yosef Kalema, the outgoing chair of the Abayudaya Youth Association, talked about his memories of Kulanu’s first visit in 1995 when he was a child, of having been in the very first class at the Semei Kakungulu High School, having been part of the Higher Education program supported by Tufts University Hillel. Now he has graduated from university and is beginning a career in technology.  It was clear that our long-term commitment to this community is bearing fruit.

To learn more about the Abayudaya of Uganda and Kulanu’s work with this inspiring Jewish community in the heart of Africa, check out www.kulanu.org/abayudaya

I hope you’ll consider joining us on the next Jewish Life in Uganda Mitzvah Tour – so you and your family can share the joy of what “all of us” can achieve together. Visit www.kulanu.org/trip for details about this life-changing excursion!

Sincerely,

Harriet

Harriet Bograd, President

Photo Credits: Tara Parks, Jeanne Bodin, Harriet Bograd, Steve Gray, Irene Orleansky – January 2012

Serge Etele, a leader of the emerging Beth Yeshourun Jewish community of Cameroon, arrives in the United States this week! The first-ever Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour will kick off in New York City on Thursday, February 23rd at the 92nd Street Y, followed by events in cities up and down the East Coast through the end of March. See the list of scheduled presentations below, and click here to see our online tour calendar which has more info about each event. Be sure to check it again soon – more details are being added all the time. We hope you can make it to one of these events!

Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour Events

• Thursday 2/23 – 8:15pm at the 92nd Y* (New York, NY) *see Discount Codes on the Kulanu tour calendar!
• Sunday 2/26 – 10am at Temple Emanu-El (Staten Island, NY)
• Tuesday 2/28 – Community-wide Hebrew High School event, may be private (Voorhees, NJ – near Philadelphia)
• Friday 3/2-Sat 3/3 – Temple Aliyah (Needham, MA)
• Sunday 3/4 – 4pm at Temple Beth Abraham (Canton, MA)
• Friday 3/9-Sat 3/10 – Shabbaton at Congregation Shirat Hayam (Swampscott, MA)
• Sunday 3/11 – 11am at Wellesley College Hillel (Wellesley, MA)
• Wednesday 3/14 – 5pm at Northeastern University African-American Institute (Boston, MA)
• Sunday 3/18 – 2pm at Congregation Tifereth Israel (Washington, DC)
• Monday 3/19 – 3:30pm at University of Virginia, 7:30pm at Congregation Beth Israel (Charlottesville, VA)
• Tuesday 3/20 – 7:30pm at Beth El Congregation (Harrisonburg, VA)
• Saturday 3/24 – 9am at Ahavath Achim Synagogue (Atlanta, GA)
• Thursday 3/29 – 7:30pm at West End Synagogue (New York, NY)

On this ground-breaking speaking tour, audiences will learn about Beth Yeshourun, a community practicing Judaism in the heart of Africa. A relatively “new” community, Beth Yeshourun was founded in 1998 when its leaders rejected Christianity. Increasingly observant and deeply committed to Jewish rituals and practice, the 50-member community has made amazing progress, educating themselves through the Internet by downloading Jewish liturgies and prayers, and studying Judaism, Hebrew, and Torah on Jewish websites. They have also composed their own African-Jewish music, which Mr. Etele will perform as part of this inspiring presentation.

An educator, computer specialist, and farmer, Serge Etele is also the spiritual leader of the Beth Yeshourun community. He will share the amazing history of his community, which had no contact with the outside Jewish world until just a few years ago. They had not met a Jew in person until Kulanu volunteers, Rabbis Bonita and Gerald Sussman, visited them in 2010. The community’s embrace of Judaism and their success in learning and practicing Jewish rituals and observances on their own will hearten and inspire Jews everywhere.

This promises to be an exciting tour full of learning, music and prayer. Check the online calendar to see if Serge will be visiting your community, and forward the Cameroon Tour schedule to your friends or family members if there is an event in a town near them!

For more about the Beth Yeshourun community, Serge Etele, and the Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour, check out these links…

• Cameroon Community Page: www.kulanu.org/cameroon
• Speaking Tour Announcement: www.kulanu.org/cameroon/cameroontour2012.php
• Cameroon Tour Calendar: www.kulanu.org/cameroon/2012camerooncalendar.php

Thanks to a generous donation from the Stein Family Fund, Kulanu is now able to offer a deep discount (more than half the original fee!) on our upcoming speaking tour! The 2012 Kulanu-Cameroon Speaking Tour will bring Serge Etele of the Beth Yeshourun Jewish community of Cameroon to the US for the first time this February and March. To read the original speaking tour announcement, click here.

We are delighted to finally be meeting Serge in person. A talented individual, Serge has been helping Kulanu since the summer, doing great work on Kulanu’s web site, kulanu.org; in the fall he also took on the position of photo and layout editor of the Kulanu newsletter. Since 1998, he has been educating himself about Judaism and teaching his entire community about Jewish practices and observances from internet resources he found and studied on his own. Kulanu is thrilled to be working with this group that is so eager to learn about and embrace Judaism!

Rabbi Gerald Sussman, who visited Cameroon on Kulanu’s behalf last year to get to know this emerging Jewish community, refers to Serge as “a young man who represents an astonishing new phenomenon in the history of the Jewish people and may one day emerge as a truly outstanding Jewish leader.” We think you will also find Serge Etele to be intelligent, warm, and deeply committed to connecting with the larger Jewish community.

Interested in hosting Serge Etele in your town? Fill out our online inquiry form to let us know what dates may work for you, and we will be in touch with you right away.

The story of the Beth Yeshourun community is an inspiring and encouraging one. Located in the African nation of Cameroon, they were Christians until they discovered and then embraced traditional Judaism. Rabbi Sussman says this group’s emergence is “part of a turning towards Judaism in many parts of the world which will have profound implications for the Jewish future.” Kulanu wants YOU and your community to be part of this historical development by meeting Serge Etele and hearing his story this winter!

That is why we are glad to offer a discounted booking fee: we want to share the story of the Jewish community of Cameroon with as wide an audience as possible. Because of the Stein Family Fund’s contribution – and because we are aware that many organizations have tight budgets right now – we are offering you a rate of $650 per event (compared to the $1,450 we originally required), which includes transportation to and from your area. This is an amazing offer that I hope you will take advantage of NOW.

For more details about the groundbreaking Kulanu-Cameroon 2012 Speaking Tour, which runs February 23 – March 31, 2012, please click here. To get to know the Beth Yeshourun community visit www.kulanu.org/cameroon and check out our Cameroon photo albums at kulanu.phanfare.com (or click here to go directly to the Cameroon section).

Please use the online inquiry form to let Katie Rosenthal and me know you’re interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to inform your community about the Jews of Cameroon. Or, email both of us directly at speakers@kulanu.org

Many of you had the chance to meet Aaron Kintu Moses of the Abayudaya when he toured the US this fall, and hear first-hand about the remarkable journey of this Jewish community in the heart of Africa. Aaron, headmaster of one of the two Abayudaya schools in Uganda, shared the challenges the community faces in educating students who do not have enough food to eat, and the difficulty of providing meals in an impoverished area of a country with an inflated and unstable economy.

Thanks to the powerful network of Kulanu supporters and activists who sustain the Kulanu-Abayudaya Nutrition Program, child hunger is being alleviated each day through the provision of breakfast and lunch to the 767 Jewish, Christian and Muslim students enrolled at the two Abayudaya schools in Uganda. “All of us” are deeply grateful for the support we have received for the Kulanu-Abayudaya School Nutrition fund. However, the need continues.

To contribute to the Abayudaya School Nutrition Program, please click here.

The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children who attend the primary and high school study and play together in peace, and enrollment continues to grow with the schools’ reputations. The school nutrition program has had a positive impact on this success: Naume Sabano, coordinator of the program at the high school, reported that absenteeism and dropout rates have been dramatically reduced since we introduced the nutrition program in the school, and that concentration, mental health, and discipline have improved “tremendously.”

It costs $40 a year to feed one student breakfast and lunch every schoolday in the Kulanu-Abayudaya School Nutrition Program. As 2011 comes to a close, we are determining our budget for the coming school year. By contributing to this program, YOU can make a difference in the life of a hungry Ugandan child.

Whatever amount you can donate for school nutrition will be highly appreciated: $40 for one child, $400 for 10, $4,000 for 100 students – or more!

To give, please mail a check payable to Kulanu in US dollars to 165 West End Ave, 3R, New York, NY 10023 – write “Uganda nutrition” in the memo field of your check. Or donate online through our new Abayudaya School Nutrition Fundraising Page!

If you have already contributed to this important cause, I thank you.

Another way you can help is to share this appeal with your friends, family, and other networks. Here’s a “tweet-length” message you can use on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter:

Help Kulanu feed hungry Jewish, Muslim & Christian kids at Abayudaya Schools in Uganda! tinyurl.com/UgandaNutrition

Thank you so much for your generosity.

Warm wishes for a joyous 2012

hoto credit: Aaron Kintu Moses