FREE EVENT
Qesher Book Club: "Shalom Uganda - A Jewish Community in the Equator"
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Tuesday, August 6
USA 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET
UK 8:00 pm / France 9:00 pm / Israel 10:00 pm
The talk will last approximately 60 minutes
About this talk
Janice Masur grew up in a tiny, remote European Jewish community in Kampala, Uganda, under British Imperial rule, with no rabbi or Jewish infrastructure. And yet, this community of only twenty-three families formed a cohesive group that celebrated all Jewish festivals together and upheld their Jewish identity. Sadly, while Kampala Jewry made every effort to survive, it eventually failed and withered under the hot African sun. In "Shalom Uganda: A Jewish Community on the Equator", Masur tells her story of living in this little-known Ashkenazi Jewish community from 1949 to 1961. Because so many Jewish communities were obliterated in the last century, she documents, remembers, and preserves Kampala European Jewry with all the respect that it deserves. This book is the only piece of scholarship on this particular Jewish topic.
Supported with interviews, photos and research, this presentation will be enjoyed by Jewish scholars and anyone interested in Jewish history and life in far-flung places.
You can read more and order the book here.
About the Author
Janice Masur was born in Eritrea, spent her childhood in Uganda, and attended university in New Zealand—all countries where Jewry was barely visible on the Jewish diaspora spectrum. Today, Masur feels strongly rooted in her Jewish community in Vancouver, Canada, where she lives with her husband.
In March 2024 Janice went to Uganda to unveil a memorial plaque for her non-existent Jewish community. The author has also held a photographic exhibit in 2019 in Vancouver entitled "Shalom Uganda". A travelling banner exhibit in May 2022 in Toronto which will find a final home in the newly built Buganda Museum in Kampala in 2024.
Janice has spoken in London, England, Toronto and Seattle, Windhoek, Namibia and Vancouver in person and has participated in several zoom talks on this particular topic.
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