How Jewish do the Abayudaya have to be?

Jack Miller, Johannesburg

The yearning of about 2 000 Ugandan Jews, known as the Abayudaya, who have persisted in practising a reasonable form of orthodoxy despite their physical distance from mainstream Judaism, should enable them to integrate and be accepted into our traditional Orthodox practice. It is a sorry show of intolerance, probably on the part of ultra Orthodox Jews, that these Abayudaya are considered not Jewish enough, despite the hardships they have endured to maintain their religion.

These ultra Orthodox Jews, a small minority of Israelis, unfortunately hold the balance of power in Israel’s coalition government. The irony of their rejection of the Abayudaya lies in the fact that in Israel there exist thousands of Jews who never attend synagogue, eat treif food and sun themselves on the country’s beaches on Yom Kippur and other holy days. Yet they are regarded as Jews.

How many of these ultra Orthodox residents of Israel have served in the army or done anything to protect Israel? Yet they live off the land at the Israeli taxpayers’ expense.

Jews from Ethiopia and Yemen were airlifted from their hometowns to Israel. Why can’t we do the same for the Abayudaya, instead of abandoning our Ugandan brothers and sisters? It’s time for Israel to get back in touch with its humanitarian values.