The Lemba or Lembaa are an ethnic group numbering 70,000^[1] in southern Africa who claim a common descent and belonging to the Jewish people.^[2]

Although they are speakers of Bantu languages related to those spoken by their geographic neighbors - which in itself does not discount their claim (see Jewish languages) - they have specific religious practices and beliefs similar to those in Judaism, which have been remembered and transmitted orally through the generations.^[2] Today, many Lemba are Christians, though they maintain several Jewish practices.^[3]

Judaic links

Many Lemba beliefs and practices can be linked to Judaism. According to Dr. Rudo Mathivha,^[2] this includes the following:

• They are monotheists and call their creator God ?Nwali?.
• Like the Jewish Shabbat, they hold a day of the week to be holy and praise Nwali.
• They praise Nwali for looking after the Lemba, considering themselves a chosen people.
• They teach their children to honor their mothers and fathers.
• They refrain from eating pork or other foods forbidden by the Old Testament, or forbidden combinations of permitted foods, like mixing milk with meat.
• They say grace and thank Nwali before feasting, as in Judaism one gives blessing for the foods provided before feasting.
• Their form of animal slaughter, which makes meats fit for their consumption, resembles Jewish Shechita.
• They practice male circumcision.
• They place a Star of David on their tombstones.
• Lembas are discouraged from marrying non-Lembas, as Jews are discouraged from marrying non-Jews. However, like Jews, they are rare in that they are a non-exclusive ethnic group (See next point).
• One can gain ethnic status in the community, though it is actively discouraged. In Lemba society, gaining ethnic status can be sought upon marrying a Lemba, where the non-Lemba must learn the religious laws, dietary laws, etc, before being vouched for. Contrary to this, both Lemba and non-Lemba are expelled from the community.

Lemba traditions

The Lemba have oral traditions of being a migrant people with clues pointing to an origin in the Middle East. According to the oral history of the Lemba, their ancestors were Jews who left Judea about 2,500 years ago and settled in a place called Senna, later migrating further into East Africa.^[4] According to the findings of British researcher Tudor Parfitt, the location of Sena was more than likely in Yemen, specifically, in the village of San?w within the easternmost portion of the Wadi Hadhramaut^[5]. Indeed, the city had a vibrant Jewish population since ancient times, dwindling to a couple of hundred people since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.^[6]

After entering Africa, the tribe is said to have split off into two groups, with one staying in Ethiopia, and the other traveling farther south, along the east coast. Furthermore, the Lemba claim that this second group settled in Tanzania and Kenya, and built what was referred to as "Sena II". Others were said to have settled in Malawi where their descendants still reside today. Others settled in Mozambique and eventually migrated to the area in South Africa and Zimbabwe, where they claim to have constructed or helped construct the great enclosure.^[4] Although, most academics agree that at least for the most part, the construction of the enclosure at Great Zimbabwe is attributable to the ancestors of the Shona.^[7]

Dr Bernard Leeman in his book ^[8] states that the Venda traditions are pre-Second Temple Israelite not post 400 B.C.E. Jewish but have a Southern Arabian and Ethiopian origin.

Marriage to other Lembas is preferred, with marriage to non-Lembas being discouraged. The restrictions on intermarriage with non-Lemba make it particularly difficult for a male non-Lemba to become a member. A woman who marries a Lemba male must learn the Lemba religion, dietary rules, etc. She may not bring any cooking equipment from her previous home as they may be tainted from inappropriate usage (see Kashrut). Initially, she may have to shave her head. As a part of the community, her children must also be brought up as Lembas. Lemba men who marry non-Lemba women are both expelled from the community if the women refuse to live according to Lemba traditions. Normative Judaism only recognizes matrilineal descent; however, patrilineal descent was the norm among the Israelites who lived prior to its development.

Lemba tradition tells of a sacred object, the ngoma lungundu or "drum that thunders" that was brought with them from Sena. Tudor Parfitt, Professor of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, has theorised that it was the Ark of the Covenant, lost from Jerusalem after the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC.^[9] In a Channel 4 programme, Parfitt claimed to have traced a copy of the artefact to a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe. Radiocarbon dating showed it to be 600 years old, and Parfitt suggested that it was a replica which was made while the Lemba were in Yemen, after the original Ark was destroyed.^[10]

DNA testing

According to recent genetic research, a substantial number of Lemba men carry a particular polymorphism on the Y chromosome known as the Cohen modal haplotype, which is indicative of Y-DNA Haplogroup J found amongst some Jews, and in other populations across the Middle East. A study from 1996 suggested that more that 50% of the Lemba Y chromosomes are Semitic in origin.^[11] The fact that the Cohen modal haplotype is found with low frequency in other Semitic groups supports the Lemba claims of a paternal Judaic ancestry.^[12]

One particular sub-clan within the Lemba, the Buba clan, is considered by the Lemba to be their priestly clan, while among Jews, the Kohanim are the priestly clan. The Buba clan carried most of the Cohen modal haplotypes found in the Lemba. Among Jews the marker is also most prevalent among Jewish Kohanim, or priests. As recounted in Lemba oral tradition, the Buba clan "had a leadership role in bringing the Lemba out of Israel" and into Southern Africa.^[13]

Halakhic status as Jews

Despite the genetic findings, halakhic Jewish status (Jewish status according to Jewish law) in modern rabbinic Judaism is determined by an unbroken matrilineal line of descent or by conversion to Judaism. Jews who adhere to modern rabbinism therefore believe that Jewish status by birth is passed by a Jewish female to her children (if she herself is a Jew by birth or by conversion to Judaism) regardless of the Jewish status of the father.

As a result of the halakhic laws, there has been a push among some Lemba towards the formal embracing of normative Judaism in order to legitimize the community's members as Jews and thereby include them in the wider Jewish community.

Notes

See also

• Jews and Judaism in Africa
• Beta Israel
• Y-chromosomal Aaron
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)
• Newsweek, February 6, 2006.
• Yemeni Jews
• Gathering of Israel

External links

• "Lost tribes of Israel (2000)" (PBS documentary on the Lemba and their origins)

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