"She-ma, She-ma! She-ma, she-ma! She-maaa, Yis-ra-el!"
The melodious chorus rang out in the sanctuary, as the voices of some 300 people joined in the song together in loud and joyous unison to set the mood and welcome Shabbat in the synagogue for the Bat Mitzvah.
We could have been in any large U.S. synagogue that draws a youthful or boisterous crowd on a Friday night. But we weren't.
We were in Nabugoye, a village outside the city of Mbale, in southeastern Uganda. And this was the Abayudaya, a Jewish community that has thrived despite the hardship of poverty and isolation in this Third World country. |