Jews of Nigeria

While Jews have long had a presence in Ethiopia and the Maghreb, Africa’s newest Jewish community of note is in Nigeria, where upwards of twenty thousand Igbos are commonly claimed to have adopted Judaism. Bolstered by customs recalling an Israelite ancestry, but embracing rabbinic Judaism, they are also the world’s first “Internet Jews.” William Miles has spent over three decades conducting research in West Africa. In Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey, he shares life stories from thi...