Documenting Jewish life in Africa

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

“I’m just a guy with passions for travel, photography and writing. Over time and through many adventures, I’ve fostered an interest in documenting Jewish life wherever I happened to be,” says David.

With his work published and exhibited across the world, David is now showcasing a selection of 44 images taken as part of his Jewish Africa project – compiled during visits to 30 African countries between 2012 and 2016.

“I’d been doing independent Jewish documentation for many years,” he says. “When I started out, my work was very undefined. It steadily became more meaningful and as my interest grew, I got more organised, doing research and making contact with local people before my travels. In 2011, I decided to do something bigger and bolder.”

And so his Jewish Africa project was born, a project he terms “an unofficial photographic survey”.

“I’d been in southern and northern Africa before as a tourist, but I wanted to travel more in Africa and I also knew there was Jewish life here, beyond the ancient communities in Egypt and Morocco, for example. I was intrigued by the histories of once-established Jewish communities, now much dwindled.

“Reading about the unrecognised but emerging Jewish communities in places like Ghana and Cameroon, and the more established Abayudaya community in Uganda was also fascinating. I wanted to explore all of this and I knew that wider Jewish communities around the world would largely find it new and intriguing.”

Aware that the largest community of Jews in Africa lived in South Africa, David started there. “It made sense to make as many connections in South Africa as possible,” he says.

Undeterred by delayed responses, David remained determined. His persistence paid off. “The kingpin became Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, who’s known as ‘the travelling rabbi’. It took months for him to respond to my email, but I understood and I was persistent; I know silence doesn’t necessarily mean no.

“He was the single most important person because he launched me not only into opportunities in South Africa by connecting me to all the right people, but also throughout the southern African region – and as far north as Kenya, and as far east as Madagascar and Mauritius.

“There were some barriers in certain places, though, and I had to find my own way a lot. For example, I battled to track down the ‘last Jew in Eritrea’, Sami Cohen, but there my efforts paid off. In Egypt, I tried to get hold of the ‘president’ of the tiny remaining Jewish community, but she wouldn’t meet with me as I am not a credentialed photojournalist. So, I went there as a tourist and had to keep a low profile.”

David began the first leg of his journey in August 2012. “I did eight legs from my base in Osaka, Japan, where I was living at the time,” he says. “The experience was more than I ever could have imagined. There’s no established, recognised Jewish community in Africa that’s actually growing; they’re all dwindling.

“These emerging communities are growing, though, but they’re mostly not recognised and there are many issues that surround them. My work is not about attention for myself; I want people to know about these communities. It’s fascinating and it’s important for history – I see the value of my work a hundred years from now, more so than in the actual moment the pictures are taken.

“Inevitably, all photographs become a document, so I’m making my small contribution to the wider sphere of Jewish scholarship and research.”

To date, various incarnations of David’s Jewish Africa project have been showcased at the Beit Hatfutsot Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel, and at museums in the US and Ireland.

David explains that his exhibition at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre is also part of his larger Jewish Africa project. “When I was doing the project, I never had a Holocaust or genocide exhibition in mind. Things I did along the way just formed part of the story. Tali Nates, the director of the centre, and I had met before the project was even completed, and she was very enthusiastic. In the end, we worked together to choose photos that would fit the mission of the centre.

“About half of the 44 photos in this exhibition are directly Holocaust and genocide-related, and half are not. Yet all the photos tie in to the broader Jewish Africa theme with the idea of overall unity – that out of Holocaust or genocide, you have to have hope for the future. In all their manifestations, that’s what brings in the threads of even the emerging, unrecognised communities.

“From my experience these communities are genuine; they don’t have ulterior motives. I think there’s a certain recognition that should be given to that in the greater sphere of what Jewish Africa is today.

“In their own words, they’re seeking truth and identity. Most of them were subject to colonisation or subjugated in their countries, and being Jewish is an opportunity for them to make a choice. They want people to know about them, they want to be part of the Jewish community at large.”

While David has dedicated his photographic work to documenting Jewish life, he admits he isn’t particularly religious. “I’m only an observant Jew in the sense that I observe Jews and I photograph them,” he jokes. “However, I’m a cultural Jew and a historical Jew, and being Jewish is a very important part of who I am – I can’t separate myself from it.

“And, as I’ve built my work over the years, my Judaism has become more defining of who I am. I’m making my small contribution to our history. We learn about history, but we don’t always learn from it. I see the long game. That’s why I continue to do it – because the value and worth of my efforts will pay off as long as my photographs are archived. They’ll be more valuable long after I’m gone. That’s what I really hope.”

• Jono David’s exhibition at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre runs until April 29, before moving to the Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre in May and the Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre in August.