Jews of Uganda: After surviving Idi Amin terror, this African Jewish Abayudaya Community is THRIVING

Shoshana McKinney Kirya-Ziraba grew up in Southern California. Today she lives in eastern Uganda, married into a Jewish community most American Jews have never even heard exists, one that was nearly wiped out under a brutal dictator and has since grown into a thriving population of 5,000. As a Black Jewish woman, she says something about walking into a synagogue there finally feels normal in a way it never did growing up Jewish in America. On this episode of Being Jewish, Shoshana tells Jonah the origin story of this community: how it began, what it survived, and why its version of Judaism looks and sounds unlike anything most people have encountered before. She also opens up about the wild, cross-continental journey that got her there, one that involved a pandemic, a closed border, and a decision most people would never make. She now runs a nonprofit fighting for that community's future, and along the way she pushes back on some assumptions a lot of American Jews carry without even realizing it. By the end, she leaves Jonah, and you, with a challenge about what it actually means to be Jewish, and where that identity really comes from. 00:00 - Meet the Abayudaya, Uganda's Jewish Community 02:32 - Their Origin Story: How a Ugandan Leader Chose Judaism 03:54 - Persecuted Under Idi Amin 06:01 - Why Uganda Has Less Antisemitism Than America 07:19 - Being a Black Jew in America vs. Uganda 09:25 - Meeting Her Husband and Moving to Uganda 11:56 - Building Tikvah Chadashah Uganda 19:31 - Funding Barriers and What Jewish Identity Really Means Learn more and support Shoshana's work at https://www.tikvahuganda.org/ If you want to go deeper beyond the podcast, join the Being Jewish Kehillah -- our subscriber community that gives you access to exclusive bonus content, merch discounts, live office hours with Jonah, special community events, and more. Join the Kehillah today at http://beingjewishpodcast.com/join #BeingJewish #AbayudayaJews #BlackJewish #JewishPodcast #Uganda