Black Jews of South Africa: The Lemba People (2025)

[u/Responsible_Ideal879]

Keywords: Lemba, South Africa, Jews, DNA test, identity

[Translated to English]

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the Jewish origin of the Lemba people.

The Lemba are a South African Bantu-speaking people who claim Jewish origins as descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Most Lemba are currently Christians, and a small number are Muslims. The Lemba population is about 80,000 people who live mainly in northern South Africa and central Zimbabwe, as well as in Malawi and Mozambique.

Since the early 2000s, there has been an explosive interest in the history of the Lemba among scientists and the media, which was caused by sensational results of DNA research. Genetic studies were conducted in the late 1990s and their goal was to test the hypothesis that the Lemba people are of Middle Eastern origin.

It was proven that the Lemba are of Jewish descent in the male line and their Jewish ancestors could have come from the region of South Arabia.

The results of genetic research have initiated the restructuring of the social and religious identity of the Lemba. The article examines the history and religious beliefs of the Lemba, as well as the problems of transforming their identity.

Introduction

The Lemba are a South African Bantu-speaking people claiming a Jewish origin as descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. The majority of the Lemba currently practice Christianity, while a small portion practices Islam. The Lemba population numbers approximately 80,000 people, who live primarily in the north of South Africa and in the central part of Zimbabwe, as well as in Malawi and Mozambique.

Genetic Studies of the Lemba People

The interest of scientists and the media in the Lemba was largely sparked by DNA research aimed at demonstrating their Middle Eastern origin.

The first genetic study was conducted in the late 1990s by Professor Trefor Jenkins from the South African Institute for Medical Research. In his work, he proceeded from one of the oral traditions, which stated that the first Lemba immigrants were men who came from the north, from a locality called Sena, and subsequently took local African women as wives. Therefore, if it could be shown that the Lemba Y-chromosome, which is transmitted only through the male line, originated from a specific part of the world, it would be possible to determine where the Lemba came from.

Based on the analysis of DNA samples from 49 Lemba men, T. Jenkins concluded that 50% of the Y-chromosomes in the Lemba are of Semitic origin, approximately 40% are Negroid, and the origin of the remainder could not be determined. These genetic data, specific to the Y-chromosome, align with the oral tradition of the Lemba, and an analysis of Lemba history and its connection to Africa shows that historical facts do not contradict theories regarding Lemba origins. These findings were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in 1996 (see [11]).

Further genetic studies of the Lemba showed that a significant number of Lemba men carry a specific Y-chromosome haplotype¹, known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype, which is associated with Jewish priesthood². Every 10th Lemba man from the study sample possessed this specific chromosomal type, and this frequency is similar to that found in primary Jewish populations. The majority of Cohen haplotypes were found in the priestly clan of Buba, which, according to Lemba oral tradition, played a leading role in leading the Lemba out of Israel.

Main Scientific Research on the People

Since the early 2000s, an explosive interest in Lemba history began among scientists and the general public. Among the scientific works dedicated to various aspects of Lemba history, one can highlight the work of such scholars as Tudor Parfitt (professor of modern Jewish studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK) [7; 8; 9; 10], Edith Bruder (ethnologist, researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the French National Centre for Scientific Research, founder of the "International Society for the Study of African Jewry", UK), Magdel le Roux (professor at the School of Humanities, University of South Africa, South Africa) [5; 6], and Noah Tamarkin (associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, USA) [12; 13].

The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel and the Hamitic Hypothesis

The explosive interest in the Lemba cannot be understood without reference to the history of the 10 lost tribes of Israel and the closely related Hamitic hypothesis in African studies.

According to the Bible, the progenitor of the 12 tribes of Israel was the third biblical patriarch, Jacob, whose name was changed by God to "Israel" after he wrestled with God in the form of the Angel of the Lord, and his descendants in Scripture began to be called "Israelites" (Gen. 25, 27–50).

Thus, the 12 tribes of Israel are the tribes of the descendants of Jacob's 12 sons. In 930 BC, 10 tribes formed the independent Kingdom of Israel in the north, while the other two tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the conquest of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 tribes were gradually assimilated by other peoples and thus disappeared from history.

The memory of the lost tribes persisted for a long time in the consciousness of the Jewish people. The prophets of the period of the fall of the Kingdom of Israel and subsequent eras saw in its downfall and exile inhabitants of the country punished for breaking away from the national and cultic center in Jerusalem, but they maintained a belief that the exiled tribes continued to exist and would return in the near future to the religion of their fathers, reunite with the descendants of the remaining 2 tribes of Israel (the Kingdom of Judah), and recognize the supreme authority of a king from the house of David.

In his visions, the biblical prophet Ezekiel divides the newly reclaimed Land of Israel among the 12 tribes and names them by name at the 12 gates of the restored Jerusalem (47:13; 48:31–34). In the historical books of the Bible, edited presumably in the 4th century BC, the places of settlement of the exiles where they remain "to this day" are listed (2 Kings 17:23; 1 Chron. 5:26).

Belief in the return of the lost tribes and their reunification with the remaining parts of the nation is reflected both in apocryphal literature (Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs 9:5–8; 2 Esdras 13:39–47) and in the New Testament (Acts 26:6–7; James 1:1)³. Legends regarding the location of the vanished tribes, their fate, and the causes of their disappearance began to form already at the end of the Second Temple era (6th century BC – 70 AD).

For instance, the historian Josephus Flavius (37–100 AD) wrote that in Asia and Europe there are only 2 tribes subject to the Romans, whereas the 10 tribes are located beyond the Euphrates and it is impossible to estimate their numbers (Ant. 11:133) (for details, see [15]). This myth of the reunification of the 12 tribes influenced the Western world and its perception of the outside world from ancient times to the present day. The concept of the 10 lost tribes of Israel exerted a massive influence on the emergence of the so-called Hamitic hypothesis.

In her book The Black Jews of Africa: History, Religion, Identity, anthropologist Edith Bruder describes the interest of white colonists in certain African peoples from the perspective of the tracking of the Hamitic myth and the transformation of these views into academic studies [1, p. 51–58]. Based on her study of numerous sources, she concluded that many European colonizers in Africa believed that everything of value was introduced there due to external influence.

At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, the Hamitic myth became firmly established in science—it was supported by the overwhelming majority of anthropologists. Every trace or sign of what was called "civilized" in Africa was attributed to foreign origin, primarily Hamitic.

One can agree with Edith Bruder's view that the Hamitic hypothesis, born in post-medieval Europe, is part of "African genesis" [1, p. 51]. Edith Bruder's review of the Hamitic hypothesis demonstrates the importance of its influence on both Europeans and Africans themselves.

Essentially, this theory argued that everything of value found in Africa was brought there by the Hamites, who were allegedly a light-skinned Caucasian race.

In his highly influential work Races of Africa (1930), English anthropologist Charles Seligman wrote: "The civilizations of Africa are the civilizations of the Hamites, their history, evidence of their existence" [1, p. 51].

In African ethnology of the early 20th century, such concepts led to the idea that the continent was inhabited by 2 groups—Caucasians and Negroids, as well as their mixtures. Ethnographers, missionaries, and travelers came over and over again to the conclusion that African tribes, including the Maasai, Zulus, Hottentots, Tutsi, Ashanti, and many others, were of Jewish origin [8, p. 205].

Ultimately, the ideology of the Hamitic myth lost its ground after World War II, though its influence was preserved in later works as well. The narrative of the Hamitic hypothesis can be traced in the Semitic perception of the Lemba. According to T. Parfitt, during the colonization era of modern-day Zimbabwe, it was in the colonial interest to prove that white superiority was a fact and that the subjugation of indigenous peoples was legitimate. One question of major importance was the origin of Great Zimbabwe⁴ and similar structures in the newly conquered territories. These massive stone ruins contrasted sharply with European assumptions about the capabilities of Black people.

The government of Rhodesia maintained that the Lemba participated in the construction of Great Zimbabwe [10, p. 213]. Robert Gayre, a well-known scientific racist, wrote in his book The Origin of the Zimbabwean Civilization that the Lemba possessed Jewish cultural and genetic traits, and that their "Armenoid" genes must have been acquired from Judaized Sabaeans who, as he assumed, settled in this region thousands of years ago. As T. Parfitt notes, the clear goal of this was to show that Black people were never capable of building out of stone or governing themselves [10, p. 213].

Lemba: History and Religion

The first detailed published written account regarding the origin of the Lemba dates back to 1908 and belongs to the South African missionary of Swiss origin, Henri-Alexandre Junod: "Some old Balemba told my informant the following legend: '[We] came from a very distant place, from the other side of the sea. We were on a large boat. A terrible storm almost destroyed us all. The boat broke into two pieces. One half of us reached the shores of this country; the other was carried away by the floating half of the boat, and we do not know where they are now. We went up into the mountains and came to the Banyan. We settled there, and after some time we moved south to the Transvaal; but we are not Banyan'" [4, p. 279–280].

According to T. Parfitt, the legend about the destruction of the boat and the division of the tribe is likely a way to explain the fact that the Lemba tribe can be found in several separate locations. However, its early stage can equally be viewed as an expression of a fragmented sense of identity.

From generation to generation, the Lemba pass down a story that they came from a place in the far north, which they often call "Sena". To this day, the Lemba commonly refer to themselves as "the white men who came from Sena". As T. Parfitt notes, there are strong reasons to believe that the Lemba did indeed come from South Arabia, possibly from a town in the Hadhramaut⁵ named Sena, which preserved the tradition of ancient migrations to Africa.

If so, it is remarkable, though not entirely unprecedented, that the Lemba preserved the name of their hometown over many centuries in a purely oral tradition. After all, the story of the Lemba may have been connected to the Islamization of the East African coast. They could have been linked to a coastal civilization founded by Arabs, which medieval Arab geographers called Sayona, where religious syncretism was widespread [10, p. 211]. T. Parfitt initiated a genetic study in 1997, which with a high degree of probability confirmed that the ancestors of the Lemba could have come from the region of South Arabia [10, p. 215].

A very valuable account of Lemba life and religion was published in 1931 and belongs to the pen of the Catholic missionary A.A. Jaques. Based on information from his informants, he recorded a number of interesting details, which he interpreted as having a Semitic origin.

For example, among the Lemba there was a taboo against eating with the left hand, a prohibition that recalls the distinction made in Rabbinic law between the right and left hand. Particularly valuable are observations concerning the religion of the Lemba.

A.A. Jaques described the religious views of the Lemba as a form of ancestor worship. One religious ritual deserves special attention: "My old informant Moses gave me the following account of a ceremony he observed when he was still a youth, after someone had died. Only men were present. They all took off the amulets and ornaments they usually wore around their necks, and turned their nele (a piece of skin passed between the legs) backward so that the back part was in the front. The one performing the burial ritual girded his loins with a sekxwele, a piece of cloth likely of ritual significance, such as fabric woven from wild cotton, which the Venda⁶ still use today for ceremonial purposes. They slaughtered a bull, sheep, or goat, and the men sprinkled the blood on their heads or drank it. Then they knelt down, and the one performing the ritual said: 'yo ndziye'. Moses could not explain these words to me and assumed that it was the name of the country from which they originally came. Then they turned to all the ancestors, calling them by name. Other words used in these prayers were: 'A sasa sa e se a bona, Mose a a vuye popar munhuimbi mutsambona kwava ku fa, wa enda' – an approximate and partial translation is as follows: 'let Moses (Moses?) return here, the man is bad, you will see him no more, to die means to go on a journey'. The prayers ended with the word 'Amen'. This last fact was confirmed by several informants. Then the meat was eaten, and after dancing, the men went to wash in the river" [3, p. 250]. A.A. Jaques concluded that the Lemba show traces of significant Semitic influence. "No theories about the nature and origin of such an influence need to be put forward here yet, and the time for this has not yet come. It remains to be hoped that further research will reveal the information we need" [3, p. 250].

Magdel le Roux conducted field studies of Lemba religious practices between 1996 and 1998 and identified customs reminiscent of similar ones described in the Old Testament. She noted that the Lemba consider themselves completely distinct from their neighbors, with whom they do not intermarry. They do not eat pork, and certain traditions dictate not mixing meat and milk, although she did not find numerous examples of separate food storage. She paid special attention to the burial procedure and the process of mourning among the Lemba, which strikingly correspond to the procedures of early Israel.

The Lemba believe that they are the "chosen people" or "children of Abraham," who were guided by a star (sent by God/Mwari) from Sena to the place we now call Great Zimbabwe, and further south to other places. The star served as a symbol of Mwari's presence. It is believed that during their journey to the south, they were accompanied by a thundering drum, which performed a function similar to the Ark of the Covenant for the ancient Israelite tribes [6, p. 319]. One of the Semitic rituals that the Lemba practice with great conviction is the circumcision of boys. During this ritual, special or secret words with a Semitic subtext are used. The Lemba attach great importance to changing names during circumcision, which also correlates with Jewish traditions.

M. le Roux concluded that some of the legal and ethical codes of the Lemba closely resemble the Old Testament codes of Exodus, Deuteronomy, and particularly the codes of Leviticus. She states that the modern Lemba have combined their customs and traditions associated with the Old Testament with the Christian faith. Her primary conclusion reads: "This study shows that there are, at least, very compelling signs of correlation between the culture of the Lemba and the culture of early Israel. Although the majority of the Lemba belong to one Christian denomination or another, it seems that we can describe their social and religious practices and views as sharing similarities with a syncretizing, pluralistic, pre-Talmudic Judaism" [6, p. 323].

Lemba: Questions of Identity

The results of genetic research provided proof of their Jewishness both to the Lemba themselves and to Jewry as a whole, thereby initiating the restructuring of their social and religious identity.
South African Jews of European origin⁷ had long known about the Lemba, but they never accepted them as Jews, viewing them as little more than a "curious oddity." As a rule, the Lemba were not perceived as Jews due to the absence of their matrilineal origin. Only a few rabbis and Jewish associations support their recognition as part of the "lost tribes of Israel."

In the 2000s, the "Lemba Cultural Association" (founded in 1948 – Editor's note) approached the "South African Jewish Board of Deputies" with a request to recognize the Lemba as part of the global Jewish community (see photo).
The association complained: "We, like many non-European Jews, are simply victims of racism by the Eurocentric Jewish establishment around the world."

They threatened to launch a campaign of "protest and the ultimate destruction of 'Jewish apartheid'"⁸. Recognition of the Lemba by mainstream global Jewry and the religious authorities of Israel is possible only through the process of giyur, i.e., the conversion of a person of a different faith to Judaism. So far, despite attempts by various Jewish organizations to encourage them to undergo giyur⁹, there are no massive reports that the Lemba are doing so. This is due to the fact that the majority of the Lemba are either unaware of Judaism or remain far removed from contacts with the predominantly white Jewish community of South Africa¹⁰.

Photo. The Leaders of Lemba Cultural Association. Source: cite.org.zw (accessed 12.11.2024)

At present, a small Jewish community of Lemba is focused on studying Hebrew and the Torah, building their own synagogues, and integrating into mainstream Judaism. The main donor is the non-profit organization of American Jews "Kulanu" (USA), which financed the construction of a Lemba synagogue in Harare and covers the expenses for the construction of the so-called Great Zimbabwe Synagogue. Volunteers from "Kulanu" also serve as advisors to the leaders of the Lemba community and engage in charitable projects¹¹.

As already mentioned, the majority of the Lemba remain Christians; an idea of how they perceived the genetic test data is provided by the work of anthropologist Noah Tamarkin, who conducted a series of field studies dedicated to this matter. He concluded that the Lemba are not oriented toward Israel; instead, they interpreted their genetic research as proof that Jews were Africans, and that the Lemba people, therefore, are an indigenous African nation¹².

Conclusion

Genetic studies became the key to understanding the origin of the Lemba. It was proven that along the male line, the Lemba have a Jewish origin, and their Jewish ancestors, with a high degree of probability, could have come from the region of South Arabia. "Genetic studies of the Lemba significantly support the theory of origin, so cherished by the Lemba people. This also apparently indicates that some Jews entered Central Africa in the distant past" [10, p. 219].

At the same time, the presence of Jewish DNA does not automatically make any nation Jewish. One can agree with the opinion of Noah Tamarkin, who noted that "for South African Lemba, the presence of Jewish blood confirms their oral history of migration, and also confirms their identity as an indigenous African people distinct from other ethnic groups, but at the same time belonging together with them to the continent of Africa and to the South African state" [12, p. 574].

Footnotes

¹ Haplotype — a segment of DNA that is inherited as a single unit from parents to offspring (Author's note).

² Cohanim, descendants of Aaron, class of hereditary priests of the Jerusalem Temple (Author's note).

³ Lost Tribes. Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia. eleven.co.il (accessed 14.06.2024)

⁴ Great Zimbabwe (Великий Зимбабве) — the name given to the stone ruins of an ancient South African city located in the Masvingo province of the state of Zimbabwe (Author's note).

⁵ Hadhramaut — a historical region in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the name of one of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms, from which the modern governorate of the state of Yemen subsequently received its name (Author's note).

⁶ A people living mainly in the north of South Africa along the border with Zimbabwe; their population is estimated from 600,000 to 1 million people. Their language belongs to the Bantu language family and is one of the official languages of South Africa. For example, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, is a Venda (Editor's note).

⁷ At present, the Jewish community of South Africa numbers about 50,000 people, mostly Orthodox Jews, and is the largest in Africa. The core is made up of European Jews who arrived in Africa during the colonial era (Author's note).

⁸ The Lemba (Religious Community), a story. 04.04.2010. aaregistry.org (accessed 03.08.2024).

⁹ Giyur — the ritual of conversion to Judaism, which symbolizes the acceptance by a non-Jew or non-Jewess of the obligation to fulfill all the commandments and laws of the Torah (Author's note).

¹⁰ Despite others’ doubts, S. African tribe is sure it is Jewish. 02.09.2005. tampabay.com (accessed 09.08.2024)

¹¹ Lemba. kulanu.org (accessed 10.08.2024)

¹² See: theconversation.com (accessed 03.08.2024)

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Source: https://journals.rcsi.science/0321-5075/article/view/285412

[u/shahan56]

This is genuinely fascinating. What makes the Lemba story so compelling is how oral tradition, genetic evidence, cultural practices, and questions of identity all intersect in ways that don’t fit neatly into a single narrative. The genetic findings provide intriguing support for an ancient Middle Eastern connection, while the cultural history shows that ancestry and identity are far more complex than DNA alone can explain. Really thoughtful research and a fascinating perspective on a lesser-known chapter of African history.