Mikveh in Madagascar: 121 Convert to Judaism
One hundred and twenty one men, women and children joined the Jewish faith last month in a far off country better known as the title to animated film than a hotbed of religious resurgence.
Over a ten-day period in May 2016, the island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, was home to a remarkable transformation as one hundred plus members of the nascent Madagascar Jewish community underwent Orthodox conversions amid the rain forests, lemurs and chameleons for which the country is most famous.
The community members, ranging in age from 3 to 85, came to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, to sit before a beit din, a rabbinical court comprised of three Orthodox rabbis: Rabbi Oizer Neumann of Brooklyn, Rabbi Pinchas Klein of Philadelphia and Rabbi Achiya Delouya of Montreal.
Rabbi Delouya comes from a Moroccan background, which helped him communicate with the new Jews in French (Madagascar’s second official language).
Following the beit din, the Madagascar Jews drove 90 minutes to the closest river to undergo a makeshift mikveh. Then it was off to the chupah for 12 couples who extended the festive atmosphere by remarrying according to Jewish tradition.
It was a remarkable conclusion to a six-year journey for this group of Malagasies, a subset of a possibly even larger community of “secret” hidden Jews in Madagascar.
While many Malagasies claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes, a more likely origin story dates back to either the seventh century, when Muslim merchants whose forefathers had been compelled to convert from Judaism settled the eastern end of the island, or to the 1500s, when Jews fleeing the Inquisition may been among the Portuguese sailors entranced by the island’s vanilla, coffee, and ilang-ilang (a perfume extracted from the local cananga tree).
Madagascar is primarily Christian – some 50 percent of the country practices some form of Christianity; another 7 percent is Muslim. However, an article on the JTA website reports that some Malagasies claim that up to 80 percent of the population has Jewish roots. That includes Prince Ndriana Rabarioelina, a descendant of Madagascar’s Merina monarchy, who proudly asserts his own Jewish ancestry.
Jewish symbols, Hebrew and hints of a Jewish past can be found throughout the island.
On the “sacred rock” of Alakamisy-Ambohimaha, there are Hebrew letters. Many Malagasies swear that the staff of Moses and a fragment of the Ten Commandments are hidden away on the island. A group known as the “Aaronites” (the brother of Moses) practice a form of animal sacrifice according to the laws of Leviticus. A television talk show host took the Hebrew name David Mazal. “I found my roots…Am Yisrael Chai – the people of Israel live,” he told JTA.
Other community leaders include Andrianarisao Asarery, a former pastor and TV cooking show host who leads a congregation of about 25, hosts a Jewish-themed radio show and claims that his ancestor “was originally from Jerusalem and his first language was Hebrew”; Andre Jacque Rabisiso, a computer programmer who teaches Hebrew and Jewish mysticism and has 30 followers of his own; and Ferdinand Jean Andriatovomanana, a self-taught cantor whose long peyot (sidelocks) would not look out of place in Bnei Brak. His living room congregation consists of 40 Malagasies.
Community members dress modestly, observe the laws of nidah (family purity) and do their best to keep kosher, although without a kosher butcher or tradition of shechita (ritual slaughter), most are vegetarians.
Only 30 people were originally intended to convert last month. Another 100 potential converts are waiting for the next round.
Madagascar once had a very different meaning in the Jewish world: the Nazis conceived of it as a way to rid Europe of its Jews by deporting them to the then Vichy-controlled island, the fourth largest island in the world, where they would be massacred. The plan was never implemented.
William FS Miles visited Madagascar in 2015 and reported on the community for The Jerusalem Report. He commented that, while the number of observant Jews barely numbers 100, there have been almost as many political and religious rifts. Questions abound: should they convert? (That question seems mostly to have been solved.) Should they make aliyah? (No one’s knocking on the door just yet.) Should women be allowed to wear pants? (Mostly they don’t.)
Miles visited Mananzara, home of the Aaronite community where he learned that their “Israelite ancestors are said to have arrived by canoe…transported by divine waves and currents” and that the group’s leader was running for mayor with a logo a harp set inside a Star of David.
How far back does Madagascar’s Jewish tradition go? We may never know. But for the 121 new converts to Judaism, it’s all about looking to the future.
“For many years, I explored many types of spirituality,” computer programmer and teacher Rabisiso told Miles in 2015. “I tried yoga, meditation, astrology…for the last five years, I have been in contact with Rabbinic Judaism, studying true Torah and Jewish culture. There has been a great change in my life. Now, all my [spiritual] questions from before are answered.”
TV chef Asarery agrees. “I realized that if I truly wished to repent, it is through teshuva,” returning to Judaism, he said. “Judaism is a principle of life, and a source of faith. The true law is found in Torah.”
Photo credit: Jean-Pierre Malavialle