THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES of Akwa Ibom State in southern Nigeria, made up largely of Ibibio people, have long practised rabbinic Judaism faithfully, even without recognition from world Jewry. So it was an experience of a lifetime when they welcomed Professor William F.S. Miles from the United States.
Professor Miles is the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, and the author of Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey, the landmark study of Nigeria’s Jewish communities. For a scholar who teaches Jewish history to come to Akwa Ibom was an honour in itself. For the communities, his visit was a sign that their story is finally being heard.
This was not his first time in the state. The first edition of Jews of Nigeria centred on Igbo communities, and many non-Igbo Jewish communities were left out of its pages. His tours of 2018 and 2019 began to change that. His visit to Port Harcourt flagged off the Franklin-Miles Tour To Jewish Nigeria 5779, a journey that took him through Rivers State and into Akwa Ibom. Back then, though, he visited only one community in Akwa Ibom, at Ukanafun.
A Torah Comes Home
This time, after keeping Shabbat at Adat Yisrael Synagogue in Lagos, Professor Miles flew into Akwa Ibom carrying a precious gift: a Torah scroll for Beth Ha’arachman Jewish Community, along Airport Road in Uruan Local Government Area.
The community had a beautiful Aron Kodesh but had never had a Torah scroll. That same Sunday, the Torah was carried into the synagogue and placed in the Ark, amid joy and gratitude.
Receiving it, Rosh Emmanuel Yerimyahu Ukpong said: “I never knew that the first Torah in our community would be brand new. Hashem has answered our prayers through you.”
The next morning was Monday, one of the days the Torah is read. The Professor returned for Shacharit, and for the first time the community read from its very own scroll.
After the service, Professor Miles shared how the Torah had reached them. He had come to Nigeria for a five-day conference on borders in Lagos, and the request for a Torah scroll reached him very late, when his bags were almost packed. But it came from someone very special, and he could not say no. Through his rabbi, Rabbi Wayne Franklin, a brand new scroll was found, and Mrs. Miles helped him repack to make room for it. Rabbi Franklin read through it himself to make sure all was in order, then rolled it to the very portion the community would read on the day it was first opened in Akwa Ibom.
Weeks later, the same congregation would gather again in joy, when two babies and two Yom Kippurs came together as Menashe entered the covenant in the Sukkot village.
From the Farmyard to the Yeshiva
After prayers, Professor Miles toured the Shehecheyanu farmyard, home of the registered Shehecheyanu Foundation and its food support programme. Within its walls stands the palm oil mill, palm trees, small plots of farmland and fish ponds now lying idle.
In front of him, the whole process of producing red palm oil was demonstrated: the fresh fruit was boiled, softened in the digester, pressed, and the oil separated out, rich and red. A cracker machine then broke the hard shells of the palm kernels to reveal the edible nut inside. Beth Ha’arachman sells the kernels in bags to bulk traders, either whole or already cracked, and the nuts end up as food or with biscuit manufacturers. The visit ended with a meal of yam eaten with the freshly made oil. The Professor saw for himself how one crop can feed a community and sustain its economy, and how the Shehechayanu oil mills turned a setback into Beth Ha’arachman’s path to self-sufficiency.
From the farmyard, he went on to Brachot Yeshiva, where Jewish students were attending holiday classes. He gave them a Hebrew lesson, a rare chance for young learners in Akwa Ibom to be taught by a university professor of Jewish studies. Before leaving, he had a conversation with the head teacher and two senior members of the school’s management, sharing thoughts from one educator to another. The students he taught were among the young people who answered when African Jewish communities took up the call to repair the sea in the Ninth Reverse Tashlich.
A Patron’s Welcome in Uyo
That evening, Professor Miles was hosted at Jewish Central Synagogue in Uyo by the Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Judaism Fellowship Initiative (JFI), which brings together five communities in the state.
Leaders, elders and members came from the host community, Jewish Central Synagogue, Uyo; B’nai Yeshurun Jewish Community, Ikot Akpa Ekang, Uruan; Beit Tzur Malkeinu Jewish Community, Ibiaku Ikot Edet, Ikono; She’erit Kodesh Tzon Yisrael Community, Ikot Akpa Ekang, Uruan; and El Melech Jewish Community, Edebom, Nsit Ibom.
“I am thrilled by this crowd,” the Professor said. “I never imagined that I would have such a reception.”
The chapter presented him with an Award of Patron. The chapter’s Chairman, Rishon Ben Avraham, said: “We are hopeful that you will tell the world about us. This community is the first in Nigeria to have a Chevra Kadisha of men and women drawn from all our member communities. We are practical in our Judaism.”
Gadi Azaria, the chapter’s Secretary and Head of the Chevra Kadisha, expressed hope that world Jewry would support them with further training. In his vote of thanks, Elder Joel Ukim, Head of the Nsit Ibom community, told the Professor: “The Akwa Ibom Jewish community is ready for Aliyah.”
The Parashat Kids and a Final Stop
On Tuesday morning, the Professor joined the much-loved #ParashatKids, the children who explain a halacha from the weekly parashah in a short video on African Jewish Voices: Gad, Tehillah, Chesed and now Hadassah. For them, it was proof that their weekly effort is seen far beyond Africa. “The involvement of children in Jewish education is vital for the continuity of communal traditions,” he told them, “so don’t stop.”
His last engagement in the state was at Beit Tzur Malkeinu Knesset in Ibiaku Ikot Edet, Ikono. The community’s head, Perez Ben Yisrael, told him: “We wish that your visit will be yearly.”
In 2019, Professor Miles saw one community in Akwa Ibom. This time he met at least six: the five gathered in Uyo, and Beth Ha’arachman. That fuller picture will matter if he updates Jews of Nigeria, bringing the non-Igbo Jews of southern Nigeria into a story that belongs to them as much as anyone. It is a gap that African Jewish Voices also explored in its book review, Inside the Jews of Nigeria.
From Ikono, Professor Miles left Akwa Ibom with AJV Chief Editor Avraham Ben Avraham, heading on to Imo State. It was a short stay, but a full one. The Torah now rests in Beth Ha’arachman’s Ark, and every time it is lifted, the community will remember the professor who carried it to them, and his promise to tell the world their story.