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The Lemba. A lost tribe of Israel in Southern Africa?

Book · January 2003

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 m HF m m
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Open Rubric
 1 lie L e m ! in

A IA).<( T u 'l )C (>( L<rm kJ in

S o u t h e r n A fiic.iiV
 To my family and friends, to the Lemba people
and to the memory of the honourable
Prof M E R Mathivha

‘WE CAME BY BOAT TO AFRICA...’ (A LEMBA TRADITION)

'Solomon sent his ships to get gold from Ophii:..
Some of the Jews who went on those boats stayed in Africa.
That is the origin of the Lemba'
 Magdel le Roux

University o f South Africa, Pretoria

© 2003 University of South Africa
First edition, first impression
First edition Second impression 2005

ISBN 1-86888-283-7

Published by Unisa Press

University of South Africa
PO Box 392, Unisa 0003

Printed and bound by ABC Press

Editor: Chari Schutte
Typeset, cover design and layout: Doris Hyman, Unisa Press

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any
means - mechanical or electronic, including recordings or tape recording and photocopying -
without the prior permission of the publisher, excluding fair quotations for purposes of research
or review.
CONTENTS
MAPS...................................................................................................................................................... X
PREFACE ......................................................................................................................... xiii

C H A P T E R ONE
Introduction 1
The structure of the book .............................................................................................. 10

CHAPTER T W O
Some w a y s in w h ic h the
Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A fr ic a 13

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 13
Ostensible reasons for ‘religious shifts’ world-wide 16
‘Judaising’ movements in Africa ...................... .............................................. 18
The Khoikhoi ....................................................................................................................... 20
The Zulus ................. 21
The Sotho-Tswana and the laws of the Old Testament 22
The Xhosa: an ancient priesthood 22
The Dutch Boers - ancient Jews 23
The Lemba and their ‘Jewish ’ identity 24
Conclusion ................................................................................................ 28

C H A P T E R THREE
C o n f l ic t i n g a c c o u n t s of the po ss ib le
Se mi tic hi sto ry and origins of the L e m b a 31

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 31
Anthropological, archaeological and other accounts
of the history and origins of the Lemba 32
Maritime undertakings between the Semitic world
and East Africa and references to possible ‘Semitic ’ groups in Southeast Africa 32
Accounts of the history' of the Lemba north of the Limpopo 38
Accounts of the history of the Lemba south of the Limpopo 44
Theories of origin 60
A pre-Islamic-Judaic-Arabic origin 61
Relating oral traditions and historical facts to genetic data 63
Criticism of the pre-Islamic-Judaic-Arabic theory 67
An Islamic-Arabic origin .............................................. 67
Criticism of the Islamic-Arabic theory 69
A Falasha-Abyssinian origin 70
Criticism of the Falasha-A byssin ian theory............. 71
Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 73

v
 C H A P T E R FOUR
Social p r a c t i c e s of
the L e m b a and e a r ly Israel 79
Food rituals and taboos 80
The Lemba ......................................................................................................... 80
Early Israel............................................................... g6
Evaluation and comparison 87
Marital customs............................................................................................ 88
The Lemba ................................................................................... 88
Early Israel ............. 92
Evaluation and comparison 95
Burial customs ..................................................................... 95
The Lemba ........................................................................................ 95
Early Israel ......................................................................... 97
Evaluation and comparison 98
Skilled professions...................................................................................... 99
The Lemba ....................................................................................................................... 99
Early Israel................................................................................. 102
Evaluation and comparison ................................... 104
Social organisation..................... 105
The Lemba ............................................................................................................... 105
Twelve clans/lineages 105
Praises and praise-songs ...................................................................................... 106
A segmented society with a loose social organisation ...... 109
Early Israel ......................................................................................................................... 110
Twelve clans .................................................................................................................. HO
Praises and sayings 110
A segmented society with a loose social organisation 112
Evaluation and comparison ............................................................................................. 114

C H A P T E R FIVE
Re lig io us e x p e r i e n c e
am ong the L e m b a and in e a r l y Israel 117
Religious experience among the Lemba 119
Conceptions o f God/gods.................................................................................. .. 119
Covenant-making with men 123
Ngoma lungundu ( ‘the drum that thunders) .............. 123
Mountains, rivers and other sacred places 126
The cult of the ancestors.................................................................................................... 129
Annunciations and other encounters 133
Religious experience in early Israel 134
Conceptions of God/gods................................................................................................... 134
Covenant-making with men 135
The Ark of the Covenant.................................................................................... .136
Mountains, rivers and other holy places 137
The cult of the ancestors 138
Annunciations and other encounters 140

VI
Influences from different religions on the religious
experience of the Lemba and early Israel 140
Influences from other religions on the religious experience of the Lemba 141
African traditional religions........................................................................................ 141
Christianity....................................... ........................................................... 141
Church affiliations ....................................................................................................... 141
The influence of some Lemba practices on the Christian church .. .................................... 142
Islam ............................................................................................................................. 143
Modern Judaism 144
The influence of other religions on the religious experience of early Israel 146
The religion of the Canaanites...................................................................................... 146
Egyptian monotheism and other religions 147
Evaluation and comparison ....................................... 148

C H A P T E R SIX
Myth am ong the L e m b a and In e a r l y I s r a e l ............................. 151

Myth among the Lemba ............................... 152

Creation mythology ........................................ 152
From the ‘Promised Land' through the desert, by sea to Africa 152
Guided by a star and ngoma lungundu 155
Myth in early Israel 158
Creation mythology .............................................................................. 158
From Africa, through the sea and the desert to the ‘Promised Land' 159
Guided by a pillar of cloud and fire and the Ark of the Covenant 160
Evaluation and comparison 160

C H A P T E R SEVEN
Rites among the L e m b a and in e a r ly Israel 162
Rites among the Lemba ..................................................................... 162
Rituals of passage ................................. 162
Male circumcision (ngoma) 162
The initiation ritual for women ............. 169
The New Moon ceremony.................................. 172
Rituals of sacrifice ............................................................................................. 174
The Pesah .....................................................................................................................
174
Thevhula and unleavened food ... 174
First Fruit and Harvest Festival 177
Fasting .........................................................................................................................
178
Other sacrifices.............................................................................................................
178
Rites in early Israel ......................................................................... 179
Rituals of passage 179
Male circumcision..................... 179
The initiation ritual for women ................................................................ 181
The New Moon ceremony ............................................................................................. 182
Rituals of sacrifice 182
The Passover or Pesah .......... 183
The Festival of the Unleavened Bread ........................................................ 184

vii
 First Fruits or Harvest Festival ............................................................................... 185
The Day of Atonement................................................................................................. 185
Other sacrifices ............................. 186
E va lu a tio n and c o m p a ris o n 187

C H A P T E R EIGHT
Law and e th ic s am ong th e Lem ba and in e a r ly Is ra e l 191
Law and e th ic s am ong th e Lem ba 191
The Covenant ................................................................................................. 192
The la w
............................... 193
Case law.............................................................................................................. 194
Covenant obligations ............................... 194
Casuistic laws.............. 194
Monetary compensation ................................................................................... 194
Earning one’s own living ..................................................... 194
Offerings made at childbirth ........................................................................................ 196
Family ethics and women 196
Chief elders and a patriarchal family ......................... 196
Inheritance................................................................................................................. 197
Virginity of women ............................. 197
Women as items of chattel .................................. 197
Economic ethics .......................... 198
Dietary'laws, cleanliness and other codes 198
Enemies within .................................................................................................................. 198
No centralised authority to enforce these laws 198
Proverbs ............................................................................. 198
Law and e th ic s in e a rly Israel 200
The Covenant ..................................................................................................................... 201
Exodus 20 201
Joshua 24 201
The Ten Commandments (Ex 2 0 ) ..................................................................................... 202
Case law .................................................................................................................. 202
Casuistic laws ............................................................................................................... 202
Monetary compensation (Exodus 21; 22) 202
Slavery (Exodus 21:1-12) .............. 202
Widows, orphans, resident aliens and hospitality (Exodus 22:2Iff) 203
Offering for the first-born (Exodus 22:29-30) ........ 203
Family ethics and women .................................................. 203
Judges, elders and a patriarchal system 204
Inheritance .................................................................................................................... 204
Virginity of women ........................................................................................................ 204
Women as chattels ......................................................................................................... 204
Economic ethics ............................................................................................... 205
Priestly codes in Leviticus ................................................................................................. 205
Leviticus 11 ....... ........................................ 205
Sex taboos and prohibited marriages ...................................................... 2
Priestly groups .......................................................................................
Enemies from within ............................................................................

viii
 i\o centralised authority to enforce the Code of the Covenant 206
Proverbs .............................................................................................................................. 206
Evaluation and comparison ...................... ................................................... 207

C H A P T E R NINE
T he L e m b a and e a r l y Israel as oral c u l tu r e s 209
Orality among the Lemba ................................ 210
Transmission of tradition 210
General remarks .................................................................................................. 210
The tvle of the LCA Conferences................................................................................ 212
The functioning of oral traditions among the Lemba 215
Different and similar oral traditions within a group and between groups 215
Oral traditions, the expression of a world-view and the creation of identity 2 18
Inscripturation of oral traditions 219
Changes in oral traditions at different times .............................................................. 221
A fusion of traditions 222
Oral traditions, archaeology and genetics ........................... 222
Archaeology and other groups’ traditions ........................................................................ 222
Genetics .................................................................................................................... 224
Orality among early Israel ................................................................. 224
Transmitting traditions 225
General remarks 225
The influence of assemblies at the sanctuaries 225
The functioning of oral traditions 226
Different and similar oral traditions within a group and between groups 226
Oral traditions, the expression of a world-view and the creation of identity 227
Inscripturation of oral traditions .......................................... 228
Changing oral traditions at different times ........................... 230
A fusion of traditions .................................................................................................... 231
Oral traditions, archaeology and other sources ........................ 231
Archaeology .............................................................................................................. 231
Extra-biblical sources ................................................................................................... 232
Evaluation ........................................... 232

C H A P T E R TEN
C o n c l u s i o n ................................................................................................................... 235

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. 243

BIBLIOGRAPHY........ 246
ADDENDUM I .............................................................................................. 268
ADDENDUM II ......................................... 270
ADDENDUM III ...................................................................................................................... 276
INDEX 303

IX
MAPS

X
Map II Some Lemba territories in Southern Africa

XI
 Now at this lime the Jews held the following
cities of Syria. ..
(Antiquities 13:395)

(War 1: icfc)

1
Ut T a r ic h e a e
G a m o la c

/ r fw, Arbel*Hippus?
r h ilo le ria- rCovlD
VAsoch/s
P
Geba\Sepphoris m
^ * V"
zm
M l. Tab o r .y~ Abda
b D ora j • G ad ara Jxss

I ^ g a l a a d it is .1%
S tro to 's Tow er9 Scythopolis*

SAMARIA *Pe!!a

A Gerosa aj§
* 1
• Samaria
A pollon iaL. Shechem *..... A m m a lh us

. A le x a n d r iu m J i. •<"
/ P eg ae \ .. ST-. 1
,« v>^
wGedor
r*i P h ila d elp h ia
"Adida
0b. a i a r a J U D E A ^

J1e r u s a l1e m® - Esbu* * r ^

H y rc a n ia ® Medeba* ''
____/ #
’M a risa ..0Beth-zu lem b a,
Ib Mu *Sgt;
A d o r% 'H e b ro n ^ M acher 5

A risto fu f/a s* E ^ -g ed ,* §
Q
m o ^ 4 ^

<
Egiaim* ^
K#

.... Distrki border

(3 Fortress
• Greek city he d by Jen’'-

Map III The Kingdom o f Alexander Janneus 103 to 76 BCE

PREFACE

This publication is based on a period of extensive field research on the Lemba, the so-
called ‘Black Jews of Southern Africa’, who live in the southern parts of Zimbabwe
and in the Northern Transvaal in South Africa, i.e. in the former \fenda territory (Limpopo
Province) and Sekhukhuneland (Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province). The Lemba are
a very specific group of people in Southern Africa with unique claims about Israelite
origins. Their traditions, signalling an early departure from Israel and years of sojourn
in Yemen prior to moving southwards into the African continent, suggest remnants of
an ancient Israelite religion.
Sensing the significance of a comparative study between ancient Lemba religion and
that of early Israel, Dr Magdel le Roux set herself the task of probing Lemba tradition
of origin and all their religio-cultural practices resonating with the Old Testament. In
this quest Le Roux conducted numerous interviews in the Soutpansberg area, southern
Zimbabwe and elsewhere, observed Lemba ritual activities wherever possible and par­
ticipated regularly in the conferences of the Lemba Cultural Association. In the latter
context she developed close ties with the late president of the LCA, the influential Prof
M E R Mathivha, as well as other key figures in the movement - contacts which helped
her hone her emergent research insights. In addition, the contents of this study reflect
the benefits derived from interdisciplinary discussions at national and international
conferences and the responses of fellow academics to Le Roux’s published articles on
the Lemba over the past eight years.
There can be no doubt about the remarkable contents of this book. Prof Mathivha, in a
letter to Le Roux (dated 15-12-2000) commented on the original manuscript - then still
in doctoral thesis form - as follows: ‘The [Lemba] community is greatly interested in
the contents of the book and they say you have recorded the community matter of the
Lemba. This is an authentic record o f the Lemba (my italics). Such comment suggests
that this study will serve as a reference work to the Lemba community, to the Kulano
organisation which serves scattered Jews and to ‘Judaising groups’ world-wide.
Prof Knut Holter (School of Theology, Norway) in turn, lauded Le Roux’s attempt in
her doctoral thesis to compare early Israel and the Lemba as a background for Africanized
biblical scholarship. He underscored his support for the publication of a commercial
edition of her thesis as follows: ‘Le Roux’s material... is indeed unique, and her analy­
sis of this material is relevant and thorough. [The envisaged book] will gain interest
from two perspectives, which both are of relevance for the development of African
theology and an Africanized biblical scholarship. First, when the perspective is to let
the Old Testament interpret Africa, her analysis will provide material for an African

xiii
 inculturation of biblical concepts and an Africanization of Old Testament teaching and
research.... Secondly, when the perspective is to let Africa interpret the Old Testament,
Le Roux’s analysis - will also contribute more generally to Old Testament interpreta­
tion.' This high praise from a professional reflects the book’s multi-disciplinary rel­
evance and exploratory significance in a wide field of scholarship.
Finally, I wish to commend this publication on the following grounds: Le Roux suc­
ceeds in taking Lemba traditions seriously and engages in a convincing comparative
study between Lemba and early Israelite customs and beliefs, without verifying on
falsifying Lemba claims to Israelite origination. Her qualitative field research is a first
in Old Testament scholarship in so far as she attempts not only to indicate the points of
convergence between African and Old Testament customs - as surveyed in previous
studies - but also to determine the extent to which the culture of early Israel (1250-
1000 BCE) is similar to African cultures, more specifically to that of the Lemba. Sig­
nificant implications for the interpretation of the Old Testament customs in the African
context, moreover, derive from such comparisons. The way in which the Lemba recon­
ciled their Old Testament related customs and traditions with the Christian faith sug­
gests innovative models of teaching the Old Testament in the African context. Appar­
ently it is no coincidence that the Lemba, on the whole, did not leave the so-called
‘mainline’ churches after their conversion as many other African Christians did. As Le
Roux points out, most of the Lemba in southern Zimbabwe are members of the African
(Dutch) Reformed and Lutheran Churches. Missiologically, therefore, this study pro­
vides clues about the correlation between a Western-type missionary proclamation of
the biblical message and the incidence o f‘separation’ leading to African Initiated Church
(AIC) formation.
Due to the richly diversified tapestry of insights woven into the text of this publication
1 have no hesitation in recommending it as a valuable and in may respects seminal
contribution to the study of religions, theologies and cultures of the people of Africa.

IVf L Daneel
Professor Extraordinary: UNISA, Pretoria
Professor o f Missiology: Boston University, School o f Theology

xiv
 CHAPTER ONE
Introdu ction

My personal story hails from Africa and it began when my father bought a farm - high
up in the Soutpansberg.1There, for the first time, I heard the Lemba story ... and since
then, this African story has become my own.
It was in this Soutpansberg area that our family were introduced (in 1984) to a farmer,
Piet Wessels, who told us all he knew about a fascinating group of people with their
Semitic features and practices and who distinguished themselves from the surrounding
\fenda by their special way of living. Moreover, most of these Lemba people regarded
themselves as Jews or Israelites who have migrated southwards into Yemen and later as
traders into Africa.
My general interest in history and post-graduate specialisation in the Old Testament,
prompted me to collect as much information about this interesting group as possible.
The mere possibility of such a group in our midst, absolutely intrigued me. 1thought I
might just have ‘discovered’ a Tost tribe of Israel’ right on our doorstep, who might be
able to illuminate my concepts of pre-monarchic Israel.
But it was only after my father died and after the completion of my MA dissertation on
the pre-monarchic clans of Israel, that I first had an encounter with (the retired) Prof M
E R Mathivha, President2 of the Lemba Cultural Association (LCA). This took place in
August 1994, at his home in Shiyandima (Limpopo Province). After this interview I
attended a special LCA Conference in April, and thereafter the Annual Conferences in
October, at Sweet Waters, in the Limpopo Province, ever since.
I soon learnt that the Lemba people are scattered all over South Africa and the rest of
Southern Africa and that they are directly related to the \hremba in Zimbabwe and the
Mwenye in Mozambique and elsewhere. However, most of them are concentrated in the
former Venda (the Limpopo Province), Sekhukhuneland (present-day Mpumalanga and
Limpopo Province) as well as the southern parts of Zimbabwe. It was only in the early
sixties of the twentieth century, that some of the leaders of these different groups learnt
about each other.

1
INTRODUCTION

Even during the special conference in April 1995, Chief Mpaketsane of Sekhukhuneland
invited me to pursue my research in their communities. I willingly accepted and decided
to conduct it from a qualitative research3 point of view, mainly in three geographical
areas, namely, Sekhukhuneland, \bnda and the southern parts of Zimbabwe. This study
remains, therefore, regionally and contextually restricted.
The Lemba’s enthusiasm for sacred hills, animal sacrifice, ritual slaughtering of ani­
mals, food taboos, their circumcision rites and endogamy - all seemed to suggest a
Semitic influence or resemblances, embedded in an African culture. Therefore, my focus
was on their customs, festivals, ceremonies, rites, holy places, religion and whatever
illuminates their culture as such. 1was further surprised to learn that most of the Lemba
are of Christian tradition and heritage as well and I was interested in their way of
interpreting the Bible from their ‘Semitic’ background.
Therefore, before I formally gave attention to archival (secondary) sources and any
other literature in 1997,1 decided first to conduct qualitative research. This turned out
to be a wise decision, since one could then weigh secondary material againstfirst-hand
information, gained from the Lemba themselves. Ultimately, however, this project is
based on both secondary sources (when and where available) and qualitative field
research. Due to the limited scholarly attention devoted to the Lemba, secondary mate­
rial alone would have been inadequate. Therefore, qualitative research methods were
used, which included participant observation, in-depth interviewing and falsification
(testing the validity of material by using false statements).
This project attempts to understand the motives and beliefs behind Lemba customs
and practices. According to this principle the Lemba are therefore not being studied
merely as Jews (or a tribe of Israel) per se, but rather as a manifestation of Judaism or
Jewishness as experienced by a specific group or individual. Anderson (1996:161)
stresses that ‘ascertaining the “truth” of a belief is less important than the realization
that the belief makes sense in relation to one’s overall world-view.' We live in a world of
fragmented identities, and in terms of postmodernism, we have learned that we all
construct our own (fragmented) identities. Thus we are not to search for some ‘ideal’
identity out there, neither are we to impose such an identity on others.
Each religious orientation has a different vision of ultimate reality. However, there is
always a common goal: To be in harmony with what is most important, what is eternal
and what is most powerful. Qualitative research methods, as well as anthropological
relativism, demand tolerance for other religious experiences, an awareness of a new
fairness and openness in the study of the other (whether it is another culture, colour,
religion or gender), and ultimately demand a more holistic approach. A new respect for
the wisdom of traditional societies and religions is imperative, when one realises that
some such societies may have endured many onslaughts and other adverse circum­
stances, for thousands of years, whereas modernist society may not even last for
another century.

2
 C H A P T E R ONE

In October 1995 I not only attended the annual LCA Conference (as mentioned above)
but started my field research in the former homeland of Venda, conducting numerous
interviews in the Soutpansberg area. During the period of February to October 1996 I
returned to the field, staying among the Lemba, observing as much as I could and
interviewing as many Lemba as possible in the northern and eastern parts of South
Africa and the southern parts of Zimbabwe (cf Photos 1; 2).

Photo 1 Group interview, Gutu, Zimbabwe

As far as I know the Lemba in Sekhukhuneland have never before been included in a
field study. In the end, this area produced very worthwhile information on their tradi­
tions.
During our stay - that of my husband, who was also the photographer, and m yself- in
Sekhukhuneland (March 1996), Chief Mpaketsane (cf Photo 5), organised a special
LCA Conference in his kraal in India Village (Sekhukhuneland), in order to assist me in
my research in the area. Dancers, drummers and speakers performed, demonstrated and
explained anything I asked for (cf Photo 4). This meeting also gave me the opportunity
to interview and observe many more people and situations than would otherwise have
been possible.
My field notes include descriptions of the settings, of my actions and comments, as
well as of the sequence and duration of events and conversations. Describing the

3
INTRODUCTION

setting provides a mental picture of the place and the activity where the interviews took
place. My comments include my awarenesses, feelings, hunches, preconceptions and
indicate future areas of enquiry. By way of metaphor, the 'flesh’ added to the bare
‘skeleton’, created by the field notes, was made up of my interview data.
In fact, the purpose of my field study was as far as possible to gather all existing oral
traditions with an Old Testament resonance, from amongst the above-mentioned Lemba
communities, in order to observe their ‘Jewish’ customs, religious pluralism and inter­
dependence - subjects which have thus far not yet received due scholarly attention.

Photo 2 Individual interview in Gutu, Zimbabwe (interpreter: Mr Chiwara, ZIRRCON)

4
 CHAPTER ONE

Photo 3 Chief Mpaketsane o f Sekhukhuneland, addressing his people during a LCA

Conference at India village

Photo 4 Dancers, drummers and praise singers at the special LCA Conference,
Sekhukhuneland

5
INTRODUCTION

from scholarship. I was guided by three themes in my inquiry: (i) the oral traditions of
the Lemba people, (ii) their customs, festivals and ceremonies and (iii) their concept of
God and of Christianity.
After the first round, in the former \fenda (Limpopo Province, October 1995), I felt the
need to reduce the ‘academic’ nature of some of the questions, analysed the questions
and rephrased some of them. Most of the Lemba indicated that they were Christians. On
account of this it was clear that much depended on the church that the particular person
or group belonged to, and on whether they understood the questions about certain
religious elements. I found that they could not relate to certain questions at all, for
example: ‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?’ or ‘How do you understand the way of
salvation?’ or ‘Do you have a personal relationship with God?’ Therefore I was pre­
pared to drop these questions in specific settings and rather ask questions such as:
‘Are you a Christian?’ ‘Do you pray?’ ‘To whom do you pray?’ ‘When do you pray?’
and, ‘What is the relationship between Jesus/God and the ancestors?’
During the second round of testing the guidelines (Sekhukhuneland, March 1996) I,
once again, realised that the educational level of the respondents was another major
factor which would determine the ease or difficulty of conducting the interviews, and
that this was applicable to any cultural group. After careful consideration and the
experience of the ‘second round’, it was decided to include additional topics and to
drop others (cf ADDENDUM I).
After another round of field work in 1996,1 consulted the anthropologists Prof F de Beer
and Dr J Boeyens,4 and they assisted me in refining the questionnaire yet further (cf
ADDENDUM II).5The more incisive questions were posed especially to the academics
from among Lemba ranks and to other interested parties from the University of Harare
and elsewhere. Obviously, not all the information obtained from the field work could be
used in this project, but every bit of information contributed to the image which could
be formed of the Lemba, even if it was impossible to write it all down.
Between March and October 1997 we had the opportunity to return to most of the
places we had visited during the previous year. The purpose was mainly to verify
information gained during the former visits, to fill in certain gaps in the information, by
again making use of falsification, as a method of elimination of data. With the assistance
of Profs M Daneel, F de Beer and Dr J Boeyens again, I tried to adapt and improve my
interview guide from time to time. Their contributions as advisers to my study were
invaluable and are highly appreciated.
One of the purposes of this book is to reflect some of the results of the field work
conducted in the above mentioned geographical areas between October 1995 and to
October 1997, as well as to reflect information from other written documents on the
Lemba. Throughout the research the impact of the Old Testament on the creation of oral
traditions and identity is kept in mind. Attention is paid to the way the identity of the

6
 C H A P T E R ONE

Lemba is manifested in the traditions of their origin and through their religio-cultural
practices. The purpose is further to determine in what way this group might shed new
light on our concepts of early Israel and on our understanding of the Old Testament and
Christianity in Africa.
1compare the Lemba with early Israel (1250-1000 BCE, i e before the monarchy), since:
(i) their communities function according to a segmented clan system without a common
leader; (ii) this period is interesting for the study of oral cultures; and (iii) they regard
themselves as ‘children of Abraham’ who at one stage or another stage came to Africa.
\hrious traditions exist regarding as to when the Lemba came to Africa. Some say it was
during the time of Solomon, others again aver that they came with Arab traders coming
to southern Africa, and while a few informed leaders maintain that they came in about
586 BC. This implies that a comparison to the post-exilic era could also have been done.
The Lemba are merely used as an examplare (case study), because they make particular
claims and because they are accessible to me.
During the field study the following questions emerged: What role did the missionaries
play in the invention or creation of specific traditions and eventually in Lemba identity?
Is their use of ‘Judaism’ merely a biblical veneer covering over essentially African
traditional practices? Or is their symbolic use o f‘Judaism’ one that had been channelled
through Christianity or Islam? What is the role or function of oral traditions in the
creation of identity? What role does oral tradition play in the preservation of history?
And finally: What is the function of oral traditions in oral cultures such as the early
Israelite and the Lemba communities? However, not all of these questions will be ad­
dressed.
Many comparative studies between the Old Testament and Africa have been done
already (cf the Nuer of Southern Sudan, the Tallensi of Ghana, the Tiv of Nigeria, the
Masai of Kenya, [Fiensy 1987:74]). This research has indicated that there are numerous
points of contingence between most African cultural customs, which are also reflected
in the Old Testament. Many writers have observed these similarities, yet few have
investigated the extent to which the Israelite culture is similar to or different from
African cultures. Although few have compared the cultures, yet several have written on
the Israelite culture only, while others have written about certain African cultures.
These studies are usually predominantly anthropologically orientated. The premise is
generally that oral cultures all have the same inherent tendencies and therefore by
means of comparisons between the cultures, one can arrive at a general theory; a kind
of inductive method.
This project seeks to determine to what extent the culture of early Israel (1250-1000
BCE) is similar to African cultures, more specifically to that of the Lemba. Although a
mere comparison between the culture of early Israel and with that of certain African
tribes is interesting, that is not the primary objective here. It should further be stated

7
INTRODUCTION

clarified that it is neither an anthropological study, nor is it the intent that the emphasis
should be on the Lemba as such - although they do receive a substantial amount of
attention. The ambit within which this study operates finally, is ultimately within Old
Testament Studies. Therefore, the study of the Lemba is secondary subsidiary to the
point o f contingence which their culture may have with Old Testament customs and
traditions, and to how this information can affect the interpretation of Old Testament
texts, as well as the teaching of the Old Testament and Christianity in Africa.
Furthermore, to my mind the Lemba and their particular traditions of origin and identity,
as well as their particular characteristics and practices, open numerous possibilities for
further research. It may be that these people with their oral culture and ‘double’ (if not
triple) identity are one of the very few extant ‘living sources’ which may still make a
possible contribution to the better understanding of the reception of the Old Testament
(and Christianity) in an African context. By referring to the Lemba as a ‘living source’,
I do not necessarily accept all their claims, but am aware that communities, as they are
reflected in the Old Testament, are becoming scarcer in the present-day world.
This project comprises some comparisons, but is different from previous studies in a
number of respects:
First, although I used qualitative research, (an inductive method,) in the field study, the
greatest part of the application o f the data (about religious perspectives and practices)
in this book is mediated or guided by theory (that of Smart, cf Chapters Five to Eight);
thus it is deductive. The project also deals with the role of oral traditions, history and
historiography.
Second, the Lemba are also a very specific African group with claims about Judaistic/
Israelite origins. Their early departure from Israel (according to some, ca 586 BCE) could
imply that their religion could contain remnants of a very ancient type of religion, which
might be of great value when these are juxtaposed with those of early Israel. This study
takes Lemba traditions seriously. However, it does not endeavour to verify or falsify
Lemba claims. Their claims are an interesting additional datum, which makes this group
special and interesting in the study of oral cultures. Their claims are tested, in a number
of ways, by other scholars (e g Spurdle & Jenkins 1992; Thomas [et al] and others 1998;
2000). Questions such as whether their so-called Jewish origins can be ‘proven' by their
oral traditions and whether a comparison between Lemba traditions with the Old Testa­
ment can make a contribution to the debate about the claims of the Lemba are ad­
dressed, but only as a sub-theme.
Third, this project searches for an understanding o f the relevance o f the Old Testament
in Africa and is therefore selective and not an exhaustive comparison between the
Lemba and early Israel. I have mainly selected mainly representative social and reli­
gious practices from these two entities and principally those which are most important
for understanding the world of early Israel and of the Lemba. The respective readings of

8
 C H A P T E R ONE

biblical texts are meant only to highlight the way in which particular social or religious
practices function and are not meant to provide a complete exegesis. Therefore, the
purpose is not to provide an intensive exegesis of certain Old Testament passages,
neither is it to determine the historicity of certain narratives or customs. It is rather to
determine what early Israels experience o f about certain customs and rituals was and
what role it played in their communities. It has to be accepted that the Book of Judges
is the only direct source of information for early Israel and therefore it should be used
with great circumspection. Although the Book of Judges forms part of the
Deuteronomistic historiography and may therefore, be dated long after the events (e g
during the Exile), it probably still contains traditions about early Israel, and thus early
conditions are reflected in it.
Fourth, a comparison with the Old Testament tribal community enables us to gain
valuable insight into how the Biblical message is proclaimed and how it functions in a
specific African community. Research into such a community of the Lemba requires a
multidisciplinary approach in order to understand the Lemba’s way of combining Juda­
ism and Christianity. The Lemba community seems to have a unique Africanized pat­
tern of Jewish and Christian interaction with African world-views and traditional reli­
gions. Here we not only find an interpretation of the New Testament message but also
a ‘living proof' of the Old Testament’s influence on the Lemba community. This study
includes comparative empirical research between the ancient Israelite tribes/clans and
the Lemba communities with reference to the contextualization of the Biblical message.
It was therefore of great interest to probe into the way in which the Semitic background
of the Lemba is interwoven with their Christian principles. In my opinion, an interdisci­
plinary or holistic approach has the potential to offer a comprehensive analysis and an
in-depth understanding of the Lemba tribal community.
In particular, the contribution of the Lemba (as many other groups) to the world church
has gone unnoticed because it has hitherto found expression mainly in ‘celebration,
song and dance’. This, among other features, indicates parallels with the oral culture of
the Israelite clans. I found that a type of mythology has developed around certain
places, people and events in the past. This, as well as the type of doctrine which is
being taught, will be explored. It is quite possible that the Lemba have accepted laws of
a unique nature, as a result of their blend of Old Testament and tribal values. Through­
out the research I attempted to integrate information about how their religion relates
among other things, to geography, rain, agriculture, prosperity and adversity. As far as
participant observation is concerned, important issues such as church meetings, rites,
ceremonies, feasts, institutions, manners and customs are noted and studied inten­
sively. Insights regarding Lemba initiatives in the assimilation and propagation of
Christian and Judaistic values are gained. This could be an important contribution to
understanding the Africanisation of biblical religions.

9
INTRODUCTION

The structure of the book

Chapter Two deals with a number of Judaising groups, as a worldwide phenomenon as
well as in Africa, more specifically in Southern Africa. Specific attention is given to
possible reasons which could underlie a religious shift, the role missionaries played in
the invention and creation of especially Jewish traditions, and the identity of numerous
groups (cf the Zulu, Xhosa, Hottentots and Boers). Other groups in Southern Africa
such as the AIC (African Independent [or Initiated] Churches) also show a vibrant
interest in the Old Testament. I shall refer to them, but the actual study of those groups
resides outside the purview of this investigation. The focus is on the Lemba, who
regard themselves as the ‘Black Jews’ of Southern Africa, and on the social processes
that may have created their unique identity, as well as on possible reasons for what
makes them think the way they do.
Chapter Three presents the history and customs of the Lemba, as recorded by various
authors. It will draw from anthropological, archaeological, ethnological, genetic and
many other sources, in an attempt to provide maximum understanding. Every possible
connection the Lemba could have had with Semitic influences is indicated, from their
own indigenous accounts to those in colonial archives to travellers’ accounts and even
museum collections are referred to. In this chapter, as well as in other chapters, there are
cursory references, where applicable, to similar customs and practices in other African
groups. Understandably, scholars have not agreed on the origins of the Lemba and it is
definitely not the intention of the present study to resolve the issues surrounding this
problem. One needs to accept, though, that the various reports or accounts of the
Lemba have been interpreted through the presuppositions and motives of each respec­
tive author. No one is free from this. Therefore, this chapter is entitled ‘Conflicting
accounts of the possible “Semitic” history and origins of the Lemba
Chapter Four deals with the social practices of the Lemba and early Israel: food rituals,
marital customs, burial customs, special skills and their social organisation. The main
questions addressed here are: ‘Who is subjected to whom?’, ‘Who may marry whom?’
and ‘Who is included and who not?’ However, many questions still remain to be asked.
The theoretical framework for Chapters Five to Eight is that developed by Smart (1983),
a scholar in the field of comparative religion. He proposes that the religion of pre­
industrial communities needs to be studied under the title o f‘Worldview’ [sic] and this
title would then mean an individual or a group’s orientation to life. Questions need to be
asked about the ‘very nature of existence’: ‘Our place in the cosmos and our connec­
tions with other human beings - those within our family and culture and those we
consider foreign and different’ (Smart 1983:22-27).
Smart stresses that world-views are neither monolithic nor static and provides different
heuristic categories or dimensions that he found useful in exploring the religious as­
pects of ancient Israel. The categories taken as a basis for explaining the religious views

10
 CHAPTER ONE

and practices of the Lemba and early Israel are the following: the experiential (Chapter
Five), the mythical (Chapter Six), the ritual (Chapter Seven) and the legal and ethical
dimensions (Chapter Eight). These categories often overlap and may be broken down
into many other facets, but these are helpful and they provide a way of obtaining a
perspective on traditions. Differences and similarities in the oral traditions and prac­
tices in the different groups, are discussed.
Fundamental questions underlying behind Chapter Nine are: ‘To what extent are oral
traditions a search for identity of the Lemba?’ ‘When did certain oral traditions become
important to them?’ ‘What is the purpose of folklore, traditions and customs within a
society?’ ‘What role does identity play in determining whether a group is inclusive or
exclusive?’ And many more. Considering the way in which oral traditions functioned
within Lemba communities, the most pressing need would be to apply this discussion
to the oral traditions of early Israel reflected in the Old Testament. This juxtaposition is
necessary for a better understanding of the role which different oral traditions played in
ancient Israel, as well as of the possible functions of these oral traditions and practices
within the social structure of the Old Testament. A more accurate understanding could
be required considering within the complexity of cults, movements and political struc­
tures in relation to oral traditions, as a type of social process. This of course is no simple
task.
Traditions most certainly change to accommodate new circumstances, but once the
traditions relating to community identity are written down, a new model of an unchang­
ing body of traditions is created. To a certain extent this might have been the case with
Mathivha’s book (1992), as might also have been the case with the historiography of
the Deuteronomist. The moment these were fixed, they became something else. Which
social processes lead to the creation of identity through historiography? What were
the social contexts within which both these bodies of texts originated? Do they reveal
something about the kind of text? However, this is only an explorative study, which is
not discussed in much detail. Nevertheless, there is room for more research regarding
matters such as the functioning of customs, narratives, sayings in a pre-industrial
community.
In the conclusion, Chapter Ten, I again refer to the relevance of the Old Testament in an
African context and the possible implications for the interpretation of the Old Testa­
ment, suggesting further study of these phenomena in Africa. The numerous points of
contingence between the customs of, among others, the Lemba and those customs
reflected in the Old Testament will differ from those on other continents and in other
countries. This implies that the teaching of the Old Testament in, for instance, Denmark
or Germany will be different from what it would be in Africa. Lastly, I refer to the implica­
tions of this kind of study for the relevance of the Old Testament to missionary
endeavours in Africa.

11
INTRODUCTION

NOTES
1. Louis Trichardt, Limpopo Province, Republic of South Africa.
2. Prof Mathivha has since passed away and has been succeeded by Mr Samuel Moeti.
3. Qualitative research refers to research that focuses on qualities of human behaviour, as well
as on the holistic nature of social behaviour. Taylor and Bogdan define qualitative research as
research that produces descriptive data. The researcher collects people’s own written or
spoken words and observable behaviour. Rist (in Taylor & Bogdon 1984:5-8) points out
that qualitative methodology is more than a set of data gathering techniques. He mentions, for
example, that qualitative research is inductive, humanistic, looks at settings and people
holistically, the researchers are sensitive to their effects on the people they study, try to
experience reality as others experience it, does not seek ‘truth’ or ‘morality’ but rather a
detailed understanding of others’ perspectives. In this project I attempt to keep these
principles of qualitative research in mind and to apply them as far as possible.
4. De Beer and Boeyens are lecturers in the Department of Anthropology and Indigenous Law,
at the University of South Africa.
5. The use of the standardised questionnaire by Van Warmelo [s a], was suggested, and I
employed this with great success. Although not all the questions were used in every
interview, this nevertheless offered effective guidelines, according to which additional
information was gathered.

12
CHAPTER T W O
Some w a y s in which the Old
T e s t a m e n t w a s received in
Africa

Introduction
History books and other accounts indicate that during the pre-Islamic period (before
600 CE) Judaism spread into Saudi Arabia, Africa and the rest of the world, resulting in
more than one tribe in Africa embracing a form of Judaism, Different reasons were
offered for these Jewish roots.1 At present there are numerous synagogues in India and
Judaising2groups in Japan and in Yemen. There are also many ‘Black Jews’ in the USA,
who came from West Africa.3
A problem is that each Judaising group embraces/d an identity shaped by ideology; a
Jewish identity which sometimes differs from Judaism proper. According to Parfitt,
‘Jewishness’ often denotes/d something very far removed from what we might term
‘authentic’ Jewish tradition.4
Parfitt 1997b:25 The truth of this is most clearly seen when one observes the adoption
of Judaism en masse in some form or another by peoples, groups or religions. It should
therefore be noted that the idea of ‘Jewishness’ is neither specifically nor exclusively
Jewish. Parfitt observes that the phenomenon of Jewishness has been borrowed by
various groups and peoples throughout history and made to serve a variety of func­
tions for different reasons. This evokes the question of how ‘Judaism’ should be de­
fined. ‘There is, of course, no stable object called Judaism’ (Eilberg-Schwartz 1990:2),
but one possible definition of Judaism is that it is
the system and practice of the religion that emerged from the study of the Old
Testament after the exile, laying heavy stress on the precepts of the law and nowa­
days consisting in conservative, reform, orthodox and reconstructing Judaism (De­
ist 1984:88).
Commonly, Judaism refers to both a religious and an ethnic community who reflect a
particular way of life and who practise a unique set of beliefs and values/’ This leads me
to the deduction that it is virtually impossible not to be a member of the Jewish ethnic
or religious community if one was bom of Jewish parents.

13
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t he Ol d T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in Af r i c a

In order to facilitate the understanding of the so-called Judaising groups in Africa, I

shall investigate the following problem areas: the Judaism of Judaising groups and
‘authentic’ Judaism, as well as the historical and existential relationship of Balemba or
Lemba ‘Judaism' with ‘authentic’ Judaism. Did the Lemba specifically make a religious
shift at one stage or another? Or did they choose to identify with the idea of being
Jewish or rather Israelite, because it confirmed and reinforced their traditions of origin
and Semitic customs? Or are they simply one of the lost tribes of Israel or part of a
number of tribes? Although Judaism and Jewishness are not equal concepts, in the
context of these groups, they are now sometimes used as though they were inter­
changeable. The question remains as Parfitt {1987:3) put it: To what should Judaism or
Jewishness be reduced before it stops being Judaism?

Photo 5 A Falasha in Uni Raquba, Sudan (Parfitt, 1987)

All over the world definitions of religion and identity are changing and we realise that
we live in a world of fragmented identities. In general, religion can be described as
belief, as well as a link with specific images and emotions. Religion is also closely
related to cosmology and magical practices. These beliefs (among others) constitute
‘identity’. There are many expressions of belief which may appeal to people, but they
usually seek a community that largely expresses or confirms what they already believe.
The theory regarding the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, links to the history of when the Ten
Tribes of the Northern Kingdom (of Israel) were carried oft' into exile by the Assyrians
(722/1 BCE), never to return (cf 2 Ki 15:29; 17:4-6; 18:11). Those tubes of course were not
known as Jews, but as Israelites. Over the centuries there were many theories about

14
 CHAPTER TWO

what happened to these tribes and today there are many groups who claim to be
descendants of the Ten Tribes, even in Africa. From the Assyrian Inscriptions it is clear
that, broadly estimated, at best, only twenty percent of the Israelite population was
taken into exile after 722 BCE. The perception that Ten Tribes were carried away and
thus got lost, should probably be read against the background of the Judaistic claim
that only Judah represents the ‘real Israel’.
What confuses the situation is that many other indigenous groups in Africa have many
manners and customs with a Semitic resonance. Where did they get this from? Are they
descendants of the lost tribes? Or is there any evidence of a more general religion that
existed earlier throughout the world? And where do the Lemba fit in?
An impediment to this study is the apparent non-existence of any Jewish record of ties
with 'lost' tribes elsewhere. Also, for approximately the last fifteen hundred years Juda­
ism has not looked very favourably on such ‘conversion to Judaism’ movements and
tended to ignore them? Currently the Israeli Government does not have a particular
interest in any Jewish groups in Africa. Smythe (1962:101) confirms
... that the refugees who have come to Israel in more recent years, especially the
darker-hued Jews from North Africa and Yemen, have found themselves segregated
and looked upon as inferiors. Although the Israeli Government officially opposes
any undemocratic practices against these diverse newcomers they are still consid­
ered less equal than the dominant population group and suffer some form of dis­
crimination and segregation.
These factors constitute a paucity of written (historical) records of these groups. Only
oral and ceremonial traditions preserve possible links with Judaism ‘proper’.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, comparativists (colonialists, observers,
missionaries and others) who came to southern Africa imposed the idea of a Semitic
heritage on almost all the indigenous peoples - from the ‘Hottentots’ to the Dutch Boers
- instead of considering them in their own contexts. This led to biased and one-sided
interpretations of traditional African religions. Theorists firmly believed that all ‘sav­
ages’ were degenerated remnants of more civilised races.8 As a matter of fact, Parfitt
(1987:2) is convinced that ‘there is scarcely a people in the world which has not at some
time been identified as one of the lost tribes of Israel’.
In the long run, very few of these groups in southern Africa really accepted the
‘Jewishness’ imposed upon them. Others identified with the notion of Jewishness,
probably because it confirmed and reinforced their own ancient traditions and customs.
During my field research, it became clear that the Lemba have oral traditions claiming
that they came from Israel as well as many practices with an Old Testament resonance,
but most o f the Lemba have been converted to Christianity. Therefore, to a certain

15
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Ol d T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

extent, the Lemba should rather be seen as Christians with Judaising tendencies. But I
am particularly interested in these practices and rituals with a specific Old Testament
resonance and will focus mainly upon them (cf Chapters Four to Nine). The field study
elicited the following questions:
(i) What role did consciousness of identity play (among Judaising groups in Africa
and world-wide) in the process of making a religious shift? And what would the
reasons be for such a religious shift?
(ii) To what extent should the work of the missionaries (and others) and perhaps the
way they brought the gospel to Africa, be taken into consideration?
(iii) Why do the Lemba perceive themselves as being Jewish or Israelite?
(iv) Did they ‘adopt’ a form of Judaism and if so, how did it happen? Or are they
perhaps really one of the lost tribes of Israel in Africa?

Os tensible r e a so n s for ‘religious shifts ’9 world-wide

A variety of reasons could underlie a religious shift as Parfitt (1995:3) has observed it
elsewhere in the world and in Africa:
The Judaisation of Himyar may for example best be viewed as a gesture of Yemeni
nationalism directed against the encroachments of Ethiopia and Byzantium whereas
conversely the adoption of Christianity by the Kiev state was a desire to be united
with Byzantium - the cultural Eldorado of the day. In present times the Judaising
process at work among the Shmlung can be seen as emanating in part at least from
their desire to extricate themselves from their unenviable state as ‘tribals’ - too lowly
even to form part of the Indian caste system. The Judaising activity of the Japanese
groups Makuya and Beit Shalom on the other hand may be seen as an attempt to
escape the suffocating anonymity of Japanese society. In the case of the Falasha
their elaboration of a separate religious tradition formed part of a desire to further
buttress existing differences between themselves and neighbouring groups.
Social reasons seem to have been the main motivation for these shifts. Parfitt (1995:3)
contends that religious shifts are similar in different regions of the world and are most
likely to occur after missionary or other ideological activity, or after the manifestation of
some historical reminder of what a given group considers to have been its original
religious state. One wonders to what extent the fact that the missionaries first translated
and brought the message of the New Testament to Africa and only later brought the
Old Testament, should be taken into consideration. This might have given the impres­
sion, especially to some tribes in Africa, that the Old Testament is the more important
(thicker, number of pages) and therefore some of the tribes eventually rejected (or
minimised) the message and customs of the much thinner (therefore less important)
New Testament.10
16
 CHAPTER TWO

The occurrence of a religious shift is often explained as having taken place because of
transmitted traditions and as a result of the choices that have been made. Parfitt ex­
plains that such a movement from one religious system or identification to another,
could be brought about by ‘sudden conversion or by an almost imperceptible and
gradual process’ (Parfitt 1995:2). A specific group will often revert to their oral traditions
or folklore as resources during a phase of renewal. Choices often involve a well-ac­
knowledged charismatic national or group leader, who carefully weighs the pros and
cons of different religions.
Parfitt uses Central Asian (Russian) traditions as an example of free choice being exer­
cised, when decisions had to be made between the competing claims of Nestorian
Christianity, Islam and Manicheism. In the debate that followed their deliberations,
Prince Vladimir first eliminated Islam for obvious reasons. Islam prohibited alcohol - and
this he considered unacceptable for the Russian people. Because of the traditional
enmity between the Khazar Khanate and Kiev, Judaism was rejected. This left Christian­
ity as the only option.
Because of the strong racial and ethnic character of Judaism, Weingarten points out
that most Judaising groups make some attempt to legitimise themselves by claiming
that they have always been Jews. The Yemenite Jews insisted that they migrated to
South Arabia forty two years before the destruction of the First Temple (approximately
630 BCE). Judaising Japanese sects claim kinship with the lost tribe of Zebulun, who
made their way by sea to Japan, bringing with them the Mosaic law. The bene Israel of
western India (who probably came to Judaism via Islam) claim kinship either with the
lost tribes of Israel or with those Jews who left Palestine as a result of the persecutions
by Antiochus Epiphanus (165 BCE). The Judaising Shinlung of eastern India, who
accepted a kind of Judaism via Protestant Christianity, claim descent from the lost tribe
of Manasseh, while the central theory of Falasha origin involves their descent from
Solomon and Sheba, although other historical periods and situations are involved as
well. ‘British Israelism’ in Britain insisted that the prophet Jeremiah and the daughter of
king Zedekiah (the last Judaean king) ended up in Ireland after the Babylonian Exile.
According to them, she married the Irish monarch, Hermon, who himself was a descen­
dant of Judah.1! The present monarchy of Britain (said by some to derive from the
Hebrew: ‘berit ish’ = covenant man) are therefore seen by this group as their descen­
dants.
The Lemba cannot recall the particular tribe of Israel from which they have descended,
but they regard themselves as an offshoot of Yemenite Jews who left Israel before the
Babylonian invasion, crossed the Phusela (but they do not know where or what Phusela
is) and came to Africa.
Parfitt (1995:3) explains that groups are sometimes attracted to specific inherent charac­
teristics of an ideology such as Judaism. In certain cases it is the exclusivity of Judaism
that exerts a certain fascination; and in other instances the historical experience and

17
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

suffering of Jewish people serve as a powerful magnet and as a usable framework to

explain and make more bearable their own suffering or to use when their own identity is
under siege. This may have been the case with the Dutch (South African) Boers and
some Black people when they were suffering at the hands of the British (cf the Mani­
festo of the Emigrant Farmers, compiled by Piet Retief, 2 February 1837, published in
The Graham’s Town Journal).12 A specific small right-wing group of Christian Dutch
Boers in South Africa were known as ‘Jerusalemgangers’, since they perceived them­
selves to be ‘the chosen people of God’ (without mention of a connection to a specific
tribe; De \hal [s a]a: 1) on their way to Jerusalem.

‘J u d a is in g ’ m ovem ents in A frica

Before introducing the Judaising elements in the Lemba, let us consider this phenom­
enon in the wider context of Africa. The maritime activities of one specific group, the
Sabaean (Yemenite) Arabs, provide a background. According to folklore, their fore­
bears migrated from Palestine to Yemen ‘exactly forty-two years before the destruction
of the First Temple’ (as mentioned above; Aharoni 1986:25). In view of the maritime
enterprises in the Red Sea by King Solomon and some Judaean kings, it is not far­
fetched to assume that some Judaeans settled in Yemen and eventually in Africa during
that early period (cf 1 Ki 10:11-15). Gotein (1969:226) makes it clear, though, that no
historical record of such settlement has been found thus far, but their presence (or
perhaps that of a later group) is attested for in the centuries immediately preceding
Islam by Islamic and Christian literary sources, as well as by local inscriptions in the
Himyarite language. According to Goitein these sources also bear witness that the
Judaeans in Yemen proselytised vigorously in their adopted country and abroad.
Gayre of Gayre13observes that (according to early maritime accounts) the great Semitic
maritime power of ancient times, the Sabaean Arabs, in whose country the Judaeans
settled, had been very much involved in settlement and exploitation of the coast of East
Africa at the beginning of the seventh century BCE and early in our era. Fie added that
the Yemenites - Jews and Arabs - had been exposed to many different religions. They
were, for example, converted from ‘heathenism’ to Christianity, under which they re­
mained until some time in the fifth century (CE) when they came under the control of a
Jewish dynasty. According to Gayre of Gayre, their (the Sabaean Arabs’) very early
influence in Ethiopia on language and writing characteristics and also on the Lemba,
whose oral tradition indicates that they came across the sea from Yemen to Africa, can
clearly be surmised.
The best-known Judaising group in Africa today, are are probably the ‘Jews’ (or 'Black
Israelites’) in Ethiopia, who from approximately the 1920s were known as the ‘Falasha’
(cf Photo 5) (cf Map I). The word Falasha is derived from an ancient Ethiopic, or Ge’ez
term, meaning an ‘exile’ or a ‘stranger’. It is not known when it was first introduced.
Many Falashas themselves prefer to call themselves beta Israel - the house of Israel (cf
18
 CHAPTER TW O

Kessler 1982:x/V). In 1985 the Falasha, with their form of Judaism, were rescued from
persecution and taken to Israel by the Israeli Government. They are recognised by the
Rabbinate of Israel as authentic Jews. Goitein (1969:228) is convinced that the type of
religion developed by a foreign population won over to Judaism may best be studied in
the Falashas. Their beliefs and practises have very little to do with Judaism.
According to Spurdle & Jenkins (1992; 1996) genetic tests have confirmed that in
contrast to the Lemba, the Falasha are not Jewish or Israelites by blood but Ethiopians
who made a religious shift. Therefore, the Falasha’s claim to be Jewish is not based on
genetic tests, as in the case of the Lemba.
Other Judaising groups in Africa include the Aba-yudeyo group in Uganda, the Moyo
or Amwenye in Malawi and Maputo, the Ibo in Nigeria, groups in Kenya and others, for
example the Berbers in North Africa.14 The recent ‘discovery’ of a synagogue in
Mozambique might necessitate the rewriting of the history of Jews in Africa.15 Al­
though the groupings of people who lived in southern Africa before contact with the
Europeans had beliefs and practices that by any modem definition were religious, these
Europeans tended to report that the Africans had no religions. However, once they had
been conquered and dispossessed it was ‘discovered’ that African people had a God
and a religious system after all. It was firmly believed that the subjugation of native
people (especially unbelievers) was legitimate. According to Chidester (1996) and Ander­
son (1983), categorising their religious systems is a European invention.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries European colonialists, observers, mis­
sionaries and travellers rushed to Southern Africa for various reasons. In the process of
identifying the languages and ‘superstitions’, the manners and customs of the indig­
enous peoples of Southern Africa, demarcations were drawn around human groupings
who came to be designated as ‘Hottentots’ and ‘Bushmen’, ‘Kafirs’ and ‘Zulus’,
‘Basutos’ and ‘Bechuanas’16 (Chidester 1996:22). We cannot suppose that these terms
refer in any unproblematic way to ‘natural’ groupings of people, who lived in the region
prior to contact with Europeans. The terms by which they were identified were probably
totally of European invention.
The beliefs and practices of indigenous people were derived from ancient sources,
most often identified as from the religion of ancient Israel, since this was familiar to
Christian comparativists from their reading of the Old Testament.1 Chidester (1996:22-
27) explains how these frontier theorists (comparativists), in order to define unfamiliar
African religions, resorted to comparisons with the more familiar religions of Christian­
ity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as with the ancient religions of
Israel, Egypt, Arabia, Greece, Rome and Europe. As Whately (1879:22) observes: ‘[A]ll
savages are degenerated remnants of more civilized races.’ In this process of delineat­
ing specific African religious systems these theorists, in ‘creating’ and identifying all
the religions of the world, made knowledge available to the indigenous people.

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S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

Comparative religion provided further terms for differentiating among local people: the
Xhosa were Arabs; the Zulu were the ‘Hottentots’, the Dutch Boers were Jews and the
Sotho-Tswana ancient Egyptians.18 In this fanciful genealogy of religions, frontier com­
parative religion was used in ways that both transferred the Middle East onto the
southern African landscape and conceptually displayed the indigenous people of South­
ern Africa to the Middle East.
It seems as though colonialists and others endorsed the idea of linking a Semitic iden­
tity with the indigenous people for their own specific needs - they relocated Judaism to
southern Africa, as an opposing religion to Christianity. The religions or religious move­
ments in South Africa therefore should be evaluated within a history of the relation­
ships of colonialisation, domination, resistance and recovery.
I will now differentiate in the Southern African context, between those groups on whom
the idea of Jewishness was either imposed, or those who identified with the concept,
because it may have confirmed and reinforced ancient traditions and customs. Groups
upon whom the idea of Jewishness was imposed included:

The Khoik hoi19

Taking oral tradition as his primary evidence, Kolb, a German visitor to the Cape in 1705,
compared the religion of the ‘Hottentots’ (Khoikhoi) with what was known from written
sources about other nations. He calls the ‘Hottentots’ children of Abraham, who had
preserved, in distorted form, religious traditions that could be traced back to ancient
Israel. Kolb’s comparative method revealed that the Khoikhoi were like Jews, with a
religion derived from Abraham. Kolb found grounds for resemblance in:
sacrificial offerings, the regulation of their chief festival by the new and full moon,
avoidances between husbands and wives, the abstention from eating certain foods,
especially swine flesh, the circumcision of males, and the exclusion of women from
full participation in religious ritual. However, the Hottentots lack any memory of the
Children of Israel, Moses or the Law (cited in Chidester 1996:51).
Kolb, therefore, proposed that it was more likely that they had descended from the
Troglodytes, children of Abraham by his wife, Chetura (= Keturah; Gn 25:1-4) and
informed his readers that the religion of the Khoikhoi could be imagined, not as barbaric
paganism, but as a variety of Judaism. By emphasising comparisons between the
Khoikhoi and Jews, Kolb reinvented Judaism in Christian terms, by relocating it in the
Cape as an opposition to Christianity. Two decades later other observers concluded,
however, that there was absolutely no common ground between Khoikhoi and Jews
and that Kolb was an unreliable witness. However, the social anthropologist Schapera
in the 1930s admitted that Kolb’s account, ‘notoriously inaccurate as it is in many
respects, is by far the most detailed and useful’ (1934:233).

20
 CHAPTER TW O

The Zulus
Shaka, Chief of a small Zulu-speaking Nguni clan, founded the Zulu empire from the
Nguni group and other surrounding tribes early in the nineteenth century. Shaka began
attacking and establishing his supremacy over his neighbours, with the result that
many tribes and groups of people left the country in all directions, never to return.
Many smaller groups were totally destroyed or incorporated. An oral tradition holds
that the Lala section of the Zulus at the time of Shaka were Lemba people. According to
this tradition they were the group who introduced the Zulu to circumcision.2"
The magistrate and linguist Stuart in 1901 noted that a Zulu philosopher, Mxaba (1839-),
referred explicitly to the precedents of ancient Israel and Greece, in order to reconstruct
an ancient history of Zulu religion. Mxaba observed that many Zulu customs were held
in common with Jews. Both the Zulu and ancient Jews ‘slit their earlobes, burned
incense in ritual, spread chyme on graves, and burned the bones and divided the meat
of sacrificial animals in similar ways’ (cited in Webb & Wright 1976:263). Mxaba cited
these commonalities as evidence of a prior historical contact between the Zulus and
Jews and was convinced that their lineage could be traced back to the lost tribes of
Israel. Stuart (cited in 1901, in Webb & Wright 1976:262-263) responded that there were
even ‘people in England who believed that the British were descended from the same
lost tribes’. When Mxaba asked him to elaborate on the correspondence between En­
glish and Jewish customs, Stuart was at a loss. Mxaba proceeded to state that the Zulu
had forgotten their God, their home, their mother tongue and original religion, but under
the influence of Christian mission, however, they would remember. For Mxaba, Zulu
religion was recognisable as the same type of religion that had been practised in ancient
Israel and he held that Zulu life seems to have been organised on an ancient Israelite
pattern. Peppercome (1852-1853:62-65) characterised this pattern as pre-monarchic, of
which the basic form had appeared in ancient Israel. To know more about Zulu religion,
he said, one only has to refer to the Hebrew Bible. Relevant knowledge about their
religious system was readily available not only by direct observation but also by com­
parison with the Old Testament.
In the 1820s, Fynn (cited in Stuart & Malcolm 1950:86-88) produced an inventory of the
most striking similarities between the religious life of the Zulu and that of ancient Israel:
sin offerings,21 propitiatory offerings; festival of first fruits; the proportion of the
sacrifice given to the Isanusi (or witch doctor, as termed by Europeans), periods of
uncleanness, on the decease of relatives and touching the dead; circumcision; rules
regarding chastity and the rejection of swine’s flesh.
Along the same lines as Fynn, Colenso (1862-1879:9,10) conceded that the Zulu not
only provided a model for reconstructing the religion of ancient Israel but felt that they
were also a touchstone of universal religion. Thus he proposed a rereading of the Bible

21
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

in terms of the patterns and rhythms of African life. Colenso proposed that the Zulu
provided a measure against which the scientific or historical accuracy of the Bible could
be tested, as well as representing evidence of a more general religion that had appeared
in sacred texts and traditions throughout the world. The similarities between the an­
cient Israelites and the African offered an indispensable tool for interpretation. Cus­
toms such as polygamy could for example best be understood by a comparative ap­
proach. Colenso was perhaps one of the few scholars of his time who took seriously the
problem of the cultural distance between the England of his day and ancient Israel. By
1900 the comparison between the Zulu and Jews had been thoroughly internalised in
Zulu reflections upon their own religious heritage.
Isaacs (1836) denied the existence of any religion among the Zulu, while Gardiner found
in 1835 a diversity of rqligious ideas among the Zulu-speaking people. Bleek (1857:205)
reported that the Zulu are extremely religious, ‘but their religion consists of veneration
for the spirits of their ancestors, in particular the souls of their departed chiefs’.

The Sotho-Tswana and the laws of the Old Testament

With the exception of some Tswana, all the members of this group call themselves
baSotho. According to Van Warmelo the Sotho fall into three major sections:
o the South Sotho in Lesotho
o the Western Sotho or Tswana; and
o the remainder in the northeast
The northern and eastern grazing areas of the Kalahari were inhabited by the Sotho-
Tswana. They adopted a small village system and were all cattle people. From Tswana
traditions, concerning their origins, one gathers that their ancestors arrived from the
North in several migrations separated by time.
Only a few reports mentioned in passing apparent similarities between certain Sotho-
Tswana customs and ‘Mosaic’ or ‘Levitical’ laws of the Old Testament. Many European
observers however, speculated that the system of sacred animals and the practice of
burying the dead with their faces turned towards the northeast, originated from ancient
Egypt (and possibly Abyssinia). Therefore, most reports rather identified the Sotho-
Tswana as ancient Egyptians.22

The Xhosa: an ancient priesthood

The Xhosa are described by Soga (1932:130) as a ‘group of related tribes’, under the
heading of the Cape tribes of the Nguni group. A few centuries ago the Xhosa dwelt
along the upper reaches of the St Johns River, far to the northeast of their present home.

22
 CHAPTER TWO

In 1831 the Glasgow Missionary Society called upon its agents in southern Africa to
investigate Xhosa customs with a view to comparing them with the customs of the
Jews. However, no one responded.
By analysing their language and customs, missionaries who were also comparative
religion theorists, in the Eastern Cape, developed a genealogy for the Xhosa that sug­
gested that they were the Arabs of southern Africa. Other missionaries proposed that
Xhosa-speaking people once had a religion, perhaps even a religion based on revela­
tion, but that they had subsequently lost it - African superstition was the trace of a lost
religion. According to William Shaw (1860:188,189):
from the absence of any form of... writing, tradition has merely served to preserve
certain outward ceremonies, which have necessitated the perpetuation of a class of
persons who are obviously the living representatives of an ancient Priesthood, that
was accustomed to celebrate the rites of some old but unknown form of religion.
Sometimes, that higher religion was identified as Islam. Fleming (1853:117), for example,
concedes that the Xhosa had maintained beliefs and practices such as sacrifices and
circumcision, ‘which refer the origin of this people to Ishmael, the son of Abraham by
Hagar.’ These missionary theorists, of course, were aware of the fact that Muslims were
in fact living on the Eastern Cape frontier.

The Dutch Boers ancient Jews

-

British reports also consistently applied a particular kind of comparative religion to the
Dutch Boers. They identified the phenomenon of the Boers as a kind of frontier Juda­
ism.23 It was alleged that they lacked genuine religion, like the other indigenous people
and they were thus also idolaters. The comparativists observed that the Boers ‘had
walked straight out of the Old Testament....’, and that they imagined themselves to be
the ‘chosen people’ of God. They concluded that not the Africans but these Boer
ancestors of White Afrikaners were the ancient Jews on the northern frontier of south­
ern Africa. According to Chidester (1996:174) the Boers were Christians, but neverthe­
less preferred the Old to the New Testament. The ‘Dutch Boers’ or ‘Hollandsche
Afrikaansche Emigranten’, characterised their trek as an ‘exodus’, away from being
British subjects, or being oppressed. The feeling of being a people of the covenant,
who were elected by God, became quite entrenched over the years.24
One small group of Boers in the 1860s, on the northern frontier, were known specifically
as ‘Jerusalemgangers’ or ‘Jerusalemtrekkers’, because they thought they were approach­
ing the Holy City.23 Places like ‘Nylstroom’ and ‘De Nyl Zyn Oog’ received their names
because it was felt that they were on the way to ‘Jerusalem’.

23
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f ri c a

Tangye also declared that the Boers identified with ancient Jews and that ‘they take the
Old Testament as their only guide’ (1896:54,55). However, it is known from other ac­
counts that the Boers were Calvinists who baptised their people (not circumcised) and
partook of the holy communion.26
Remains of the concept of being Jewish or Israelites were very much alive in the 1920s
(cf the Israelites in the eastern Cape, Bulhoek)27 and are still very much alive today in
some small right-wing Afrikaner groups in South Africa and in the Independent Churches
of some Black groups such as the so-called African Hebrew community, the Church of
God and Saints of Christ, the Zionist Church and the International Pentecostal Holiness
Church. The latter’s headquarters and temples, near Krugersdorp (Oskraal), for ex­
ample, are known as Shiloh and Jerusalem.28 All these groups have some Christian
connection as well, but perceived themselves as Israelites or Jews. Both religious dog­
mas were assimilated into their religious experiences and beliefs.
To conclude, none of these groups as a whole (Khoikhoi; Zulus; Sotho-Tswana; Boers
or Independent Church groups) currently accept or publicly declare themselves to be
Jews or Israelites. Therefore, all the assumptions of yesteryear colonialists and mis­
sionaries rested on misunderstanding and unwarranted inferences. It was highly fash­
ionable to append Semitic traditions to indigenous people and the Europeans totally
misunderstood the realities of pre-colomal Africa. These societies certainly had valued
customs, but their customs were clearly more loosely defined and infinitely flexible -
they helped to maintain a sense of identity, but also allowed for adaptation so sponta­
neous and natural that it was often unperceived. Ranger (1993:248) explained that far
from being a single ‘tribal’ identity,
most Africans moved in and out of multiple identities, defining themselves at one
moment as subject to this chief, at another as a member of that cult, at another
moment as part of this clan, and at yet another moment as an initiate in that profes­
sional guild. These overlapping networks of association and exchange extended
over wide areas. Thus the boundaries of the ‘tribal’ polity and the hierarchies of
authority within them did not define conceptual horizons of Africans.
It is a question whether ‘tribal’ identity really was as dispersed as Ranger describes it.

The Lemba and their ‘Jewish ’ identity

A group in southern Africa who even today regard themselves as Jews or Israelites are
the Lemba, to my knowledge the only group in southern Africa who have specific oral
traditions that they originally came by boat to Africa.
The Lemba, the so-called ‘chosen people’ and ‘children ofAbraham’ are also known as
the Varemba (‘people who refuse’), Basena (‘people coming from Sena’), Basoni (a

24
 CHAPTER TW O

greeting used by Lemba women), Vamwenye (‘foreigner’, ‘guest’, ‘Arab’ or ‘people of

the light’), Vhalungu (‘Europeans’, ‘non-Negroes’ or ‘strangers’), Mushavi (‘traders’),
Balepa and perhaps Mapolakata. The meaning or origin of all these names is not sure
and different explanations have been presented,29but each name used for the Lemba is
actually telling its own story and already suggests other influences sometime in their
past.
The Lemba live among other peoples in southern Africa, mainly in Sekhukhuneland,
\bnda and the southern parts of Zimbabwe. They speak the language of the groups
surrounding them, go to local schools and hold positions in the communities. Their
uniqueness, however, lies in that they keep themselves separate from other peoples,
regard themselves as an offshoot of the Yemenite Jews, have a religion which stems
from Abraham and came from a city called Sena (cfNh 7:38:16:31). According to their
tradition, they centuries ago crossed the Phusela (although they did not know what or
where the Phusela was) and came to Africa ‘at the back of a tree’. Here they rebuilt Sena
- perhaps in more than one place - and helped to construct a great stone city which
they identify as Great Zimbabwe,30the ruins of which have intrigued archaeologists for
at least the last hundred years.
Chidester discusses in detail how comparativists (colonialists, missionaries, travellers)
imposed the idea of a Semitic heritage on almost all the indigenous people in southern
Africa, but he scarcely refers to the Lemba. However, he does mention that while the
Boers were like the ancient Jews on the northern frontier, the Lemba were exceptional,
because they were often traced back to an Islamic origin: in the 1850s some Dutch Boers
described the Lemba as ‘Zlamzie (Islam or Mahometan) Kafirs’ between the Soutpansberg
and the Blue-berg (Baines 1854:290). Did they escape the speculations about
‘Jewishness’ by earlier comparativists?
As a matter of fact missionaries and others did have great interest in the manners and
customs of the Lemba, but their documents or accounts of the Lemba date from a
century later than those of the comparativists, missionaries and colonialists described
above. \hn Warmelo ([1937] 1946:65) points out that the Lemba are strongly suspected
of being Semitic in origin. They eat no pork, no animal which has not been/ros/ier-killed
by slitting the throat and they do not intermarry with the vhasenzi (washenzi): ‘wild
folk, or pagans’.
It is curious that the Lemba, who received least attention in Chidester’s work and who
were described by some as ‘Slaamzyn’, regard themselves as Israelite (not Islamic) and
are the only group in southern Africa today who have very specific oral traditions
about their Semitic origins. None of the other groups, recognised or identified by the
colonialists as Jewish, chose to identify with the inventions of comparativists or had
such traditions. The question is whether the Lemba simply accepted the notions im­
posed upon other groups; or did they perhaps impose these on themselves? It might
also be that they (as mentioned earlier) chose to identify with the idea of being Jewish

25
S o m e w a y s In w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

or Israelite, because it confirmed and reinforced the traditions of origin and Semitic
customs they already had. For this reason 1 shall look into their historical and genetic
roots, and practices and rituals.
When discussing a number of groups who are attracted to symbolic uses of Judaism,
Parfitt (1995:3) refers specifically to the Lemba, whom he regards as having undergone
a lengthy process during their religious shift, and who now largely regard themselves
as Jewish. The Lemba were probably attracted to the exclusivity of Judaism, because it
is still one of their own main features. Perhaps the strong sense of ethnic otherness
attracted the Lemba to Judaism and reinforced ancient traditions and customs. The
Lemba distinguish themselves from others by their customs, traditions, religious prac­
tices, features, skills and aloofness (for example endogamy).
Furthermore, Parfitt suggests that the historical experience and suffering of the Jewish
people might have been a powerful magnet and useful paradigm to explain and alleviate
their own suffering at the hands of the colonialists. He believes that the Lemba or
W em ba (in the former Rhodesia, Zimbabwe) responded to the self-serving interests of
European missionaries, colonists and adventurers, and that their interaction with colo­
nialism produced a radically changed view of themselves. According to Parfitt the
colonisation of the Lemba heartlands in present-day Zimbabwe depended to a large
extent on certain historical issues: It was firmly in the colonial interest to be able to
prove that white supremacy was a fact and that subjugation of native peoples was
legitimate. Most white settlers believed that the Great Zimbabwe constructions were
built by ancient Phoenicians - this theory could help in some sense to legitimise the
British presence. The Lemba with their Semitic customs and Judaising habits, fitted this
particular historical vision admirably and their identification as Jews (or a Semitic group)
thus suited the imperial needs of the British (the Lemba were seen as the descendants
of the Phoenicians). If the country could once have been controlled by a small maritime
nation, why should it not be controlled now by another small maritime nation?31
Parfitt briefly discusses those factors which, according to him, created the ambiguity
the Lemba felt about themselves and which created the obvious diversity of their
religious traditions. He (1995:4) is convinced that the Lemba seized upon a particular
myth - one which was suggested to them - and used it as a means of ridding themselves
of a rather ancient ambiguity at a time when in the context of colonial Rhodesia new
ambiguities may underline many examples of religious shift.
He adds that ‘any confusion the Lemba felt found its antidote in the myth of Jewishness’
and that this particular myth was perhaps a means of reflecting on and clarifying the
colonial situation.
According to Buijs,32 empirical evidence has shown that ethnic consciousness is a
twentieth-century construct, not a carry-over from the past. She is convinced that the
creation of the Lemba Cultural Association (LC A)33 in the forties (1947), for example,

26
 CHAPTER TW O

can therefore be viewed ‘as a direct reaction to European encroachment on, and
aggrandisement of, previously African sources’. She [s a:l] adds that the founding of
the association was an attempt, through creating or recreating a separate and distinct
cultural identity for the Lemba people, to proclaim the value and importance of the
Lemba in the Northern Transvaal and at the same time to identify them with a non-
African community at a time when European domination in South Africa seemed irre­
versible (my italics).
This might be true, but some Lemba informants told me that during the years of the
Black liberation struggle in South Africa, they kept up their culture but many were not
willing to be associated with a non-African (white) race. Precisely for this reason they
preferred not to disclose their identity during census recordings and other occasions.
This was the main reason why the Lemba were never properly counted. But since the
election in 1994 this perception has changed (to a certain extent): they are much more
keen to identify themselves as Lemba and not just as another one of their host peoples.
Regarding Parfitt’s theory of a possible religious shift among the Lemba: during my
field research, I neither got the impression that liberation theology had ever played a
pertinent role among the Lemba, nor that they felt threatened by apartheid. On the
contrary, for the last few years and after the election their leaders have endeavoured to
obtain their own territory. They want to remain exclusive with a view to preserving for
posterity what is precious to them.
On more than one occasion, Mathivha, president of the LCA, for example, in his
speeches, used the opportunity to advise Afrikaners not just to follow every wind of
change, but to maintain their own identity and cultural heritage. He also expressed his
appreciation for the role President Paul Kruger played in their history.
Cultural dilution has always posed the greatest threat to them, and still in this new
dispensation in South Africa engenders the greatest concern. It thus appears that the
Lemba’s desire to be associated with Judaism and to maintain a ‘separate and distinct
cultural identity’ is a much wider and profound factor than a mere reaction to
colonialisation, as Parfitt (1995) suggested or ‘a direct reaction to European encroach­
ment’ (as suggested by Buijs).
Also, to frame ethnic consciousness as a twentieth-century construct (as Buijs does),
is in contradiction to what we have learned from Chidester and others. He explains how
colonialists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had already imposed an ethnic
consciousness on most indigenous groups in southern Africa, while Weingarten
emphasises the strong ethnic character of Judaism to which so many groups were
attracted and still are. It seems possible that the political and other situations to which
Parfitt and Buijs refer (in the above), as well as activities of missionaries (and others),
could have strengthened the Lemba’s existing traditions and customs, especially if one
takes into account the many old reports and references to the activities by these differ­
ent groups in Africa.
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 S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

C o n c lu s io n
Judaising movements are a phenomenon all over the world and very much so in Africa.
The interest that missionaries, in particular, and others had in Jews and in the ‘mystery
of Israel' - an interest which could perhaps be explained because of a particular theo­
logical system - led them to infer that the Lemba were Jews or ‘Slaamzyn’. But the
traditions among Lemba societies - whether invented by the Europeans or by the Lemba
themselves in response to those invented by Europeans - distorted the past (as it was
before the colonialists came) and became realities through which a good deal of the
colonial encounter was expressed. It could also be that the phenomenon of a search for
a new or earlier identity by the Lemba was encouraged or reinforced by these
comparativists. Clearly, earlier populations and contacts about which we know nothing
have left their mark on the people of southern Africa.
Furthermore, similarities between the ancient Israelites and the Old Testament and
African tribes should not be neglected. They offer an indispensable tool for interpreta­
tion. The functioning of oral traditions and customs such as polygamy, circumcision
and sacrifices can possibly be best understood through the use of a comparative
approach, but one should take seriously into account the problem of the cultural dis­
tance between the modern Bible reader and ancient Israel.
The question of what Judaism could be reduced to, before it stops being Judaism,
should be asked again. Ben Gurion, modem Israel’s first prime minister, believed that ‘a
Jew is someone who believes himself to be one’. Maybe by virtue of not knowing
exactly where they belong, or to which tribe they belong, so-called Judaising groups,
lost tribes or bene Israel all over the world will qualify for the ‘Thirteenth Gate’ one
day.34

NOTES
1. Israel 1984; cf Goitein 1969; Connoway 1978; Parfitt 1987:36ff, 88ff.
2. The term ‘Judaising’ means ‘moving towards Judaism’, ‘Judaic’ implies ‘a fixed state of
Jewishness’.
3. Iam greatly indebted to the research done by Parfitt on this subject. Parfitt is professor in
Modem Jewish Studies and Chairman of the Middle East Centre at the School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, who in 1996 became a member of the
Centre for Genetic Anthropology at University College, London.
4. Parfitt 1997b:2 The truth of this is most clearly seen when one observes the adoption of
Judaism en masse in some form or another by peoples, groups or religions. It should
therefore be noted that the idea of ‘Jewishness’ is neither specifically nor exclusively
Jewish. Parfitt observes that the phenomenon of Jewishness has been borrowed by various
groups and peoples throughout history and made to serve a variety of functions for different
reasons. This evokes the question of how ‘Judaism’ should be defined. ‘There is, of course,

28
 CHAPTER TWO

no stable object called Judaism’ (Eilberg-Schwartz 1990:2), but one possible definition of
Judaism is that it is;
5. Parfitt’s paper on 'Judaising movements’ was read at the joint congress of the Southern
African Missiological Society and the research project ‘African Initiatives in Christian
Mission,’ held at Unisa, 13-17 January 1997.
6. Ellison 1988b:631; Bentwich 1969:59ff.
7. Parfitt 1997b; 1987.
8. Whately 1879:22; cf Schapera 1930.
9. A term (borrowed from linguistics) which indicates ‘a movement from one religious system
or identification to another, whether it is brought about by sudden conversion, or by an
almost imperceptible and gradual process, normally along the slippery axis between poles
of similar religious ideologies’, is often explained via various kinds of transmitted traditions
as a product of choice (Parfitt 1995:2).
10. CfMafico 1979:110; 1982.
11. Ned. Geref. Kerk van Transvaal, Sektebearbeiding no 17.
12. E g ‘we complain of the unjustifiable odium which has been cast upon us by interested and
dishonest persons, under the cloak of religion, whose testimony is believed in England to the
exclusion of all evidence in our favour; and we can foresee as the result of this prejudice,
nothing but the total ruin of the country; ....’ and ‘we are now quitting the fruitful land of
our birth, in which we have suffered enormous losses and continual vexation, and are
entering a wild and dangerous territory; but we go with a firm reliance on an all-seeing, just,
and merciful Being, whom it will be our endeavour to fear and humbly to obey’ (Van
Jaarsveld 1971:55).
13. 1972:88-92.
14. Price 1954:3Iff.
15. I only heard about this ancient synagogue found on an island in Mozambique (Islede
Mozambique) from friends.
16. The terms denominators Hottentot, Bushman (and later Boers), etc. refer to contemporary
usage and are not used in a derogatory sense here (cf Chidester 1996:22). However,
designations such as Khoikhoi, ‘pastoralists’, ‘aboriginal hunter-gatherers’ or simply
‘aborigines’ of southern Africa should rather be used (Kruger 1995:212; 257). The term
‘Kafir’ was used by the Europeans but originally this had been incorporated in Jewish and
Muslim discourse. Jews referred to those who denied their ‘true’ God as Cofar or
‘unbelievers’ and the Muslims identified people who rejected the religion of Islam as Cofers
or Coffers (Chidester 1996:73). Since all Black people s were called ‘Kaffirs’ by the British
this was perhaps a way to distinguish them from ‘Hottentots’ and ‘half-breeds’ (Price
1954:32). Thus these terms were initially used by colonialists to ‘clarify’ specific groups of
populations in South Africa; eventually these gained derogatory connotations.
17. CfKolb 1719; Rose 1829; Isaacs 1836; Peppercome 1852-1853; Colenso 1855; Shaw 1860;
Stuart 1901, in Webb & Wright 1976; Schapera [1937] 1946; Anderson 1983; Eilberg-
Schwartz 1990.
18. The comparativists could therefore have been responsible for the assimilation of some of the
elements of those identities, by indigenous groups (Chidester 1996:240.)

29
S o m e w a y s in w h i c h t h e Old T e s t a m e n t w a s r e c e i v e d in A f r i c a

19. The Khoikhoi (= ‘Hottentots’; cfChidester 1996) developed into cattle herders with a loose
clan structure. They were mainly migrants who arrived after the San. As long as 2000 years
ago they were already roaming the southern parts of Africa. They are a pastoral society with
larger entities than the San.
20. Van Warmelo ([1937] 1974:58) maintained that the Zulu (and the Venda) do not practice
circumcision. Whether his information is correct is not sure, since it differs on this point
from the inventory produced by Fynn (already in 1820) and other researchers (cf Van Dyk
1960).
21. Cf G C Oosthuizen 1989. According to him there is no ethical dimension present in
indigenous cultures: Sin is and never was an issue among Bantu-speakers. This is of course
a debatable statement Interestingly, the Lemba similarly indicated that they do not have
particular sin-offerings.
22. Cf Bryden 1904:127; Casalis 1861:180.
23. Chidester 1996:174.
24. Van Jaarsveld [ 1957] 1959:23,24.
25. De Vaal [s a]a: I.
26. Cf the diary of Erasmus Smit 1972.
27. Edgar 1988:1-40.
28. The Rev Tshelane 1999; cf Oosthuizen 1989:333-345.
29. Cf Von Sicard 1952:140,141; Price 1954:33; Ravele 1958:76,77; Hendrickx 1991:174,175.
30. D:J:1; D:0:6; D:G:6; Mullan 1969; Gayre of Gayre 1972; Mathivha 1992.
31. Cf Garlake 1973; Hall 1905:101; Peters 1902:127.
32. B uijs[sa:l].
33. The Lemba are organised in a national Lemba Cultural Association (LCA). Prof M E R
Mathivha (formerly at the University of the North) was the president of the LCA. He has
since passed away and has been succeeded by Mr Samuel Moeti as the president of the
LCA.
34. ‘The twelve of the thirteen gates of Jerusalem correspond to the twelve tribes, through
which the prayers of each of them ascend to the heavens .... The thirteenth gate is for him
that does not know which is his own tribe’ (Dov Ber the Maggid of Mezericz, Hasidic
leader, d. i772, in Parfitt 1987).

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