G’niza Ceremony under a Mango Tree
On a beautiful Sunday morning on Nabugoye Hill, the Abayudaya buried many unusable books containing shemot, names of God. Part of my work of organizing the books in the synagogue over the past few months has been separating out these unusable books from the collection. I have found humashim, books containing the five books of Moses, siddurim, prayer books, haggadot, books we use during a Passover seder, and other books and papers containing God’s name that once clean and new had become torn and broken. After planning with leaders of the community, Seth, Aaron, and Israel, for a few weeks, the community joined us in burying one large bag and a box of books under a Mango tree behind Rabbi Gershom’s house.
I was surprised and thrilled to see that over 30 people had come to the ceremony. A few of the teenagers, Isaac, Esau, Natan, and Rachman, dug barefoot with garden tools for over an hour in order to create a hole deep enough to inter all the books and papers. Over ten men stood around while they dug andchatted in Luganda and Luguere. Not understanding most of what was being said, I went to talk to some students that would be presenting during the ceremony. Finally, the hole was deep enough and more people had gathered. Since Ugandans are very particular about creating agendas for ceremonies, this geniza burying ceremony had an agenda as well. After Seth, the M.C., read through the agenda, Maccabee, one of the musically talented youth in the community, led us with his echidongo, guitar, in singing aa few Psalms in Luganda. Seth described the Jewish custom of burying books with shemot before he turned it over to Israel who explained the history of the donations of holy books that the Abayudaya have received over the years. I then read a letter that I found mysteriously while sorting through the books an hour before the ceremony. The letter, attached to a donation of humashim, had been sent a few years ago by a friend and supporter of the Abayudaya, Rabbi Carl M. Perkins. The end of the letter read, “We feel very fortunate to be able to establish a link with your community through the gift of these humashim. We hope that you will be able to study and learn from these books for many years to come!” It was moving for those present to witness the burying of books that have been completely worn from use knowing that other usable books line the shelves of the synagogue thanks to the help of many friends of the Abayudaya from around the world.
After I read the blessing for studying Torah, Isaac, a youth in the community, read passages from different Jewish holy texts from the Siddur Sim Shalom. After a musical interlude, we continued with the reading in Hebrew and Luganda of Exodus, chapter 19 and 20, describing revelation at Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments. One of the reasons that Seth and I chose these passages is that the Abayudaya are very familiar with them. Not many people in the community can read Luganda, but most can understand it when it is read or spoken. Therefore, it was an exciting moment when Rachman, one of the Abayudaya youth, read the Ten Commandments in Luganda; many people (who unlike Rachman did not have the text in front of them) even corrected him each time he mispronounced a word!
The next part of the ceremony was the most moving. A few community members had prepared brief responses to a question Seth and I posed to them: Why is the Torah important to you, your community, and to the Jewish people? A few people spoke about the inherent good of God’s commandments and the positive affect that the Torah has had on the world because most countries’ governments uphold the Ten Commandments. Some spoke about how learning Torah and observing mitzvoth has been an incredible asset intheir lives and how it hasinfluenced the way that they behave and the way that they see the world. And some spoke about their relationship with God. The Torah for them is the constitution they must follow that will lead them to doing God’s will. Someone even gave the example of Adam eating of the fruit from the Garden of Eden and explained that because he was punished for disobeying God’s commandment, she has been careful to always observe the laws of Torah so that she will never be punished. I was surprised and thrilled that after those who had been asked to present gave their answers, other community members volunteered to answer as well. The sharing of love and respect for the Torah continued for about twenty minutes. Most of the answers were given in Luganda, but Dr. Sam Wamani, the clinical officer from the community, was very kind to translate them to English for me.
After I offered a prayer to the community and thanked everyone for coming, Maccabee led us in some more songs as we placed the bag and box of shemot into the hole and shoveled in dirt. Everyone joined in throwing dirt into the hole and then those with shovels smoothed it over. The ceremony was very moving and many community members expressed their thanks to me and the other planners of the service. During my blessing to the community, I urged them to move from these unusable books to those on the shelves of the synagogue so that they continue to learn Torah each day throughout their lives. Some understood that I was speaking metaphorically, but others moved to the synagogue to learn more Torah thinking that it was next on the agenda. I guess my comments had been lost in translation…
