New Children of Israel: Emerging Jewish Communities in an Era of Globalization by Nathan P. Devir

Abstract

Reviewed by: New Children of Israel: Emerging Jewish Communities in an Era of Globalization by Nathan P. Devir Edith Bruder Nathan P. Devir. New Children of Israel: Emerging Jewish Communities in an Era of Globalization. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2017. 310 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419001028 Nathan Devir's survey refers to a remarkable phenomenon in recent decades: a vast number of individuals or groups in Africa, India, and elsewhere, with no historical ties to Jewish life, who have chosen to become part of the Jewish people and to adopt Jewish traditions. Referring to pioneering scholarship on so-called Judaizing movements, Devir's comparative ethnographic study explores oral histories and heritage narratives, the historical background, and the circumstances of this motivation through case studies in Ghana, Cameroon, India, and other postcolonial places. He examines in depth the typologies and modalities of the inclusion of the "New Children of Israel" in the Jewish world and what this tells us about the contemporary construction of new Jewish identities. Leaving aside the evidentiary data that might corroborate claims of Israelite ancestry and the notion of the "authenticity" of these communities, Devir investigates the practical and symbolic ways in which these communities construct their ideas about what Jewishness means. The "House of Israel" community in Ghana claims that their heritage narratives indicate a precolonial Jewish history, which is emblematic of the first wave of African communities that asserted they are the heirs of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Through testimonies and interviews, Devir reconstructs a detailed description of how the journey of this community to normative Judaism began. From the discovery of similarities between the traditional customs of the Sefwi—including circumcision eight days after birth, a Saturday Sabbath, burial and food taboos, the ritual slaughter of animals, and menstrual seclusion of women—and those found in the Tanakh, the founders of this community have adopted and developed versions of their tribal history emphasizing that, prior to the arrival of colonial missionaries, they practiced a form of Judaism. As a result, they considered that their "lost" traditions have revealed that they belong to the Hebrew people. While Devir does consider the frequently mentioned commonalities between Ashanti and Jewish customs in the anthropological discourse, he emphasizes a series of interactions that relate to post-colonially influenced notions of chosenness in a context where colonists denigrated traditional religions. For the author, this rhetoric of Old Testamentism is the expression of a return-to-roots countermovement, even if it is not limited to that alone. Without taking into account any such apparently inherited similarities, the more recent adoption of Judaism of the Beth Yeshouroun of Cameroon at the beginning of the twenty-first century is construed along the lines of religious affiliation by spontaneous conversion. The study of Hebrew Scriptures is the basis of their belief. As noticed by Devir, this community's founding members were inspired by a deep spiritual desire and have freed themselves from a racial-genealogical definition of Jewishness. Globalized media and technology have played a salient role in the construction of this community, which began to practice [End Page 203] Judaism according to information found on the Internet, without any prior personal interaction with other Jews. That the Beth Yeshouroun adopted Jewish spirituality and traditions via online practice led Devir to point out the transnational and decentralized nature of the current communication paradigm and its effects on the evolution of Judaism and more generally on religions. As he relates, these "Internet Jews" have meticulously studied online videos of Jewish services abroad; they follow normative Jewish religious practice, and the religious service in their synagogue might seem identical to a Conservative or Modern Orthodox service that can be witnessed in Europe, Israel, or the Americas. They see the Jewish entity as a kinship group whose defining characteristics are to observe the commandments. In joining Judaism they became Jews and sought formal recognition as Jews. The case of the Bene Ephraim movement of south India enhances the comparative significance of Devir's research on new Jewish communities in the developing world. The Bene Ephraim are a group of formerly Christianized "untouchables" (dalits) who claim descent from a Lost Tribe of...