CAMEROON is a true patchwork of cultures, a country which has, despite all odds, maintained peace and security inside its borders. In this mix is our community, a Jewish community with roots in Bantu identity, practising a faith that we understand not as something we adopted from outside but as an expression
We call ourselves the Bantu Israelites, and our community is called Beth Goshen. The name comes from the Torah: Goshen was the fertile region in Egypt where Yacov settled when he came to be reunited with his son Yosef, who was then governor of Egypt. In Hebrew, it evokes a house of the sun, a green and grassy place, a home of abundance and renewal. It is the name we chose because it speaks both of memory and of what we are building.
About Us Who We Are
The word “Bantu” describes one of the largest ethnolinguistic groupings in the world, encompassing hundreds of peoples across Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa. We Bantu Israelites did not begin our identity with a foreign mission or a sudden conversion. It has its origin in the 19th century, when African groups, brought into contact with the Bible (often under the influence of Protestantism), found in its writings a description of themselves, and came to see their ancestry as the Lost Tribes of Israel. Later generations reaffirmed this identification through the narratives of travellers, the testimony of some missionaries, and the wider currents of Pan-African ideology.
day of the Jewish calendar, marked by prayer, repentance, and spiritual reflection
Our community was born with a specific realisation. After visiting a number of communities across Cameroon and other parts of Africa that claimed a connection to Judaism, we saw a recurring problem: the transmission and practice of Jewish tradition in these groups rested on fragile foundations due to a lack of deep knowledge. We set out to build something different—a community anchored in serious study, faithful to the Derekh Haïm, the Jewish path of life, and committed to connecting our ancestral Bantu traditions to the teachings of the Torah and the Mekoubalim, the Kabbalists.
Our community came to life with the guidance and support of our teacher, Rabbi Pin’has Eliyahou Shaday. From the beginning, our goal has been to foster a communal life grounded in Ahavat Yisrael – love of one’s fellow Jews – and in Shalom, peace with all the cultural and religious communities around us in Cameroon and beyond.
Our Community Life
We are based in Yaoundé, and our membership reflects the diversity of our city and country. More than fifty active members are fully engaged in community life, coming from a range of backgrounds, both national and international. A further eighty-five people are currently in the process of formal conversion, awaiting the ceremony that will mark their official entry into our community. Around thirty supporting members regularly join us for worship.
Prayer is the beating heart of Beth Goshen. Everything begins and ends with it. Every Friday evening through to Saturday night, we observe Shabbat. We celebrate all the major festivals of the Jewish calendar: Passover, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and others. We hold daily services, and Torah study is woven into the rhythm of our communal life.
“Israelite Bantu Judaism is one of the lesser-known but authentic faces of Cameroonian diversity. Since 1995, it has been represented by our association, Beth Goshen, committed to dialogue and civic engagement.”
How We Sustain Ourselves
We are a young organization, and sustaining community life is ongoing. We support ourselves through a range of economic activities that reflect both the realities of daily life in Yaoundé and the values of self-reliance and mutual care that define us.
We farm, cultivating cassava, sweet potatoes, maize, peanuts, and vegetables. We raise fish, including kanga and carp. The women of our community have built small enterprises producing and selling household goods: liquid soap, fabric dyes, natural juices, smoked fish, and poultry. We also trade in Jewish religious items—kippot, menorahs, and the Chumash—and distribute kosher products across Africa, including wine, books, and prayer shawls. We offer online training in soap-making and dyeing, extending our skills and economic reach beyond our membership.
Since 2019, we have also been connected to the Kibboutz Haolam project, a French association whose vision of international Jewish community networking aligns closely with our own. What draws us to this partnership is the conviction that modern technology and ease of travel make it possible to build strong bonds between communities that are geographically distant but spiritually close. Together, we pursue mutual enrichment through collective study, the sharing of experience and best practices, and the patient weaving of what we call a living and effective haverut—fellowship.
Our Place in Cameroonian Society
We understand our Jewishness not as a private matter but as a civic one. Our community participates actively in the interfaith life of Cameroon, and we show up at moments when the country needs voices of peace. In February 2025, with presidential elections on the horizon, we were invited to stand alongside the main religious denominations of Cameroon, including Christian and Muslim, in a solemn and unified appeal for national peace. We affirmed our community’s commitment to stability, dialogue, and the well-being of our nation—first and foremost, Cameroon.
We have also cultivated a relationship with the Embassy of Israel in Cameroon. In February 2024, we made a formal presentation of our community to Ambassador Raphael Morav. Most recently, we were glad to announce a significant partnership: the Israeli anthropologist Dr. Malka Shabtay has formalized a collaboration to produce an academic and cinematic documentary dedicated to the Israelite Bantus. For us, this project carries deep meaning. It is a record of who we are—of a community that has existed largely beyond the awareness of the wider Jewish world, now to be brought into view. We work on it with pride to honor our ancestors.
Where We Are Going
Our ambitions are concrete. We are working toward the construction of a synagogue, a school, and a training centre. We wish to build a mikveh, a community health facility, and a cemetery. We are also awaiting formal legal recognition as a religious and cultural association, as all administrative steps have been completed, and a presidential approval decree is pending.
We seek to formalize our practice through a halakhic conversion, so our members are fully recognized in the Orthodox community and connected with the State of Israel.
Our vision, as Bantu Israelites—descendants of Jacob, also called Israel—is to transmit the light of the Torah and share its wisdom with all who seek it, while remaining rooted in who we are: Bantu people, citizens of Cameroon, and members of Am Yisrael.
We are not a community on the margins of Jewish life. We are part of its story, which has a chapter written in Cameroon, in the Bantu tongue, under the African sun. Beth Goshen is our house. We are building it, one Shabbat at a time.