in Pilch Hall
Join renowned photographer, author and filmmaker, Professor Peter DeCherney of the University of Pennsylvania, as he displays and speaks about his many visits embedded within the Abuyaday Jewish community of Uganda, and shows some of his exquisite photography from those visits. Professor DeCherney will be joined by Dafna Sizomu (, who grew up in that community and whose father, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu is its rabbi. Rabbi Kligfeld will moderate the conversation.
Temple Beth Am will exhibit Peter Decherney’s recent photographs and films of the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda, followed by a discussion with Peter and Beth Am member Dafna Sizomu, who will discuss Abayudaya history, religion, and culture. The films were produced by the University of Pennsylvania’s new Global Documentary Institute in partnership with the Abayudaya communities.
Uganda’s Abayudaya community started in 1919 when a local leader converted himself to Judaism. Today, Eastern Uganda has over a dozen synagogues with a combined membership of around 7000 congregants. They practice forms of Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, and a nascent Reform movement is growing.
The photographs and films explore the intersection of being African and Jewish. What does it mean to be Jewish in Uganda, connected to Jewish communities in the United States and Israel, and also, increasingly, to the growing Jewish communities across Africa?