The small but flourishing Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda has formally applied to form a Zionist Federation within the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
A decision on their application is set to be decided by the Zionist General Council of the WZO next month.
The Abayudaya community, numbering between 2,000 to 3,000, adopted Judaism in the early 20th century, after their leader, having been exposed to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament by Christian missionaries, chose to be Jewish. Most members formally converted through the US Conservative movement between 2002 and 2010, and were recognized as a Jewish community by the Jewish Agency in 2010, although some underwent Orthodox conversion.
Although the Jewish Agency recognized the community as Jewish in 2016, the State of Israel is yet to adopt this position, even though the Interior Ministry, responsible for such recognition, usually accepts the Jewish Agency’s position.
The lack of recognition has created problems for the Abayudaya Jewish community, particularly in traveling to Israel to visit, study, participate in Birthright and Masa programs, and for the purposes of aliyah.
The Zionist organizations in the Abayudaya Jewish community that have applied to form the Zionist Federation include the World Confederation of General Zionists, Marom-Uganda of the Conservative Movement, and the Herut Zionist faction.
