Musings: Kenyan University Pioneers Centre for Jewish Studies

Approximately twenty kilometers from the center of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi lies the sprawling 46-acre campus of the Africa International University (AIU). Originally founded by the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, AIU states, as part of its philosophy, a sincere commitment “to God’s Mission to bring shalom to His people”, and to bringing lifelong transformation to the 2,000-plus students enrolled at the university every semester.

It is in the furtherance of this philosophy that the AIU launched the Centre for Jewish and Judaic Studies on Friday, 6th September 2024. Present to grace the occasion was the Israeli Ambassador to Kenya, Amb. Michael Lotem, as well as the university’s senior-most executive administrator, Vice-Chancellor Dr Nelson Makanda.

Also on hand to celebrate the event were senior Christian ministers from Kenya and beyond, including Kepha Nyandega, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK). Of note also were leaders of several ministries that individually offer prayer support to Israel, but periodically collaborate under an umbrella initiative named The Ezer of Israel. Among these were Bishop James Murunga, Apostle Phoebe Mugo and Prayer Ministers Margaret Aduol, Francis Gitau and Ann Terta. Dean Bye of Return Ministries Israel made a special trip to Kenya to witness the event.

Amb. Michael Lotem and Dr Nelson Makanda with key leaders of the Ezer of Israel initiative. (Photo courtesy)

AIU’s impressive campus is nestled in one of Nairobi’s more affluent suburbs, simply named “Karen”, after Baroness Karen Blixen, famed heroine of the bestselling memoir and Hollywood biopic, “Out of Africa”. Baroness Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 and is recalled for her efforts to establish a vibrant coffee enterprise on the 6,000 acres on which AIU and numerous other institutions and homes stand today. Originally of Danish descent, the Baroness moved back to her home country in 1931 and later courageously provided a temporary hideout for fleeing Jews in German-occupied Denmark during the Second World War. She is famously reported to have made the statement: “We should be proud to be Danes, as long as we have Germans in the garden and Jews inside the house.”

Over the years, the nation and people of Kenya have enjoyed warm relations with the resident Jewish community, among whom are numerous luminaries who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s progress. According to the Kenyan embassy in Israel, “several hundred Kenyans of Jewish origin live and call Kenya their first home.”

The Jewish community in Kenya can trace its roots back to more than a hundred years ago when Romanian-born Ignatz “Ignatius” Marcus booked himself a seat on a steamship and made the weeks-long journey from India to the nation’s port of Mombasa. Not much information is available regarding when and for what reason Marcus left his home country of Romania; what we do know is that sometime in 1899, 50-year-old Marcus made the often perilous trip across the Indian Ocean, landed in Mombasa, and then traveled 480 km inland to Nairobi, a growing railway settlement christened the “place of cool waters” by indigenous Maasai. He became the first Jewish resident of Nairobi and a welcome partaker of its fine waters.

At around this time, rumblings of virulent antisemitism had begun to rip through parts of Europe, prompting many Jewish families to consider migrating to other parts of the globe. As is well known, Theodor Herzl, founder of the Zionist Organization, had from the late 1890’s actively begun to lobby the major political powers of the time, including Great Britain, for help in the resettlement of Jews in Palestine. In addition, in 1902, Herzl had approached British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain and proposed either the Sinai Peninsula (located in present-day Egypt), or Cyprus, as alternatives. But this turned out to be not feasible, partly because the territories were not under British control.

While on official visit to Britain’s East African colony some months later, Chamberlain happened to travel by train across the vast Uasin Gishu plateau, today located in Kenya. Beholding the fertile, mostly uninhabited land, Chamberlain was struck by the idea of a potential Jewish homeland on the leafy plains. Once back in England, he informed Herzl that the British government could potentially avail the land for Jewish settlement, on condition that it would not be at the government’s expense and that the Crown would have the right to take back the land should the plan not succeed.

Herzl initially hesitated to accept the offer. But then the horrendous Kishnev Massacre of Russia abruptly broke out in the spring of 1903. Dozens of Russian Jews were murdered and close to 2,000 homes plundered or destroyed. Alarmed, Herzl reconsidered the Kenya offer, viewing it as a temporary but urgent solution to the increasing danger of deadly persecution in Europe.

Four months later, at the 6^th Zionist Congress, Herzl presented Chamberlain’s Kenya plan to 600 keen delegates and 2,000 spectators. But a ferocious uproar immediately ensued. Many were vehemently opposed to the plan and made their stand patently clear, with some delegates storming out in protest. In the end, a vote was called and by a count of 295 to 178, it was agreed that a three-man commission would be sent to Kenya to assess the land. But by the time the commissioners were completing their assignment in mid-1904, Herzl had sadly died from a heart ailment that may have been exacerbated, some say, by the extreme strain his work entailed. The commissioners’ report was presented at the next Zionist congress on 29th-30th July 1905 and subjected to a searing 7-hour debate. Eventually, a resolution was made, firmly declining Chamberlain’s offer, with thanks. Delegates overwhelmingly preferred to pursue the legal acquisition of a permanent home in Palestine.

Nonetheless, Chamberlain’s offer had raised some level of curiosity among Jews living in countries outside Europe. In faraway South Africa, for example, a young man named Abraham Lazarus Block was deeply intrigued by a newspaper item detailing Chamberlain’s plan. Years earlier, young Block had been smuggled out of his native country of Lithuania when the Jewish community had come under heavy persecution by the nation’s Russian overlords.

So, in July 1903 when Block happened upon the Kenya plan, the eager 20-year-old hopped onto a steamship and made the trip from Cape Town to Mombasa, together with six other hopeful Jewish men. In addition to Block’s personal luggage were his two white ponies, a bag of potatoes, a bag of beans, a bag of linseed, and a bag of peas with which he intended to try his luck in farming. In his pocket were his life savings of 23 British pounds. But the conditions in this strange new land proved to be much tougher than the young men had imagined. Two of them soon gave up and returned to South Africa. Abraham Block went on to become one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country, and in his lifetime laid the foundation for one of Kenya’s most prosperous hotel chains, The Block Hotels.

Meanwhile, Ignatz Marcus had gone on to build a highly successful career as a general merchant, conducting brisk trade in such diverse wares as foodstuff, farm equipment, ammunition and even the valuable ostrich feathers with which enterprising milliners fashioned flamboyant, colorful hats for trendy ladies. Marcus had become quite well-regarded in the community – one fellow settler is recorded as having referred to him as “a Romanian of fine repute”. Even though Jewish settlers were still quite few at the time, the number of new arrivals was growing, partly as a result of Chamberlain’s erstwhile offer. So, in 1904, the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation was established. Two years later, Marcus was elected president and served in that capacity from 1906 to 1908. The congregation still exists today and runs a beautiful synagogue still standing atop the grounds on which it was built more than a century ago.

At the time the Hebrew Congregation was celebrating its twentieth year in 1924, another young Jew named Pauline Somen left South Africa, headed for Nairobi. Pauline’s parents had fled Lithuania and, like Block’s family, settled in South Africa. The two unfortunately died while their seven children were still young. Thus, Pauline had come to Nairobi seeking gainful employment and was soon joined by her siblings.

One of Pauline’s younger brothers, Israel Somen, had been put up in a Jewish orphanage in South Africa but had escaped at the age of 16 and run off to the Congo, where he had worked on a cattle ranch before making his way to Mombasa around 1927. Somen, fondly nicknamed Issy (or Izzie), turned out to be an extremely dynamic, enterprising man and, by all accounts, a natural leader. He eventually rose to positions of high influence in Kenya and was even elected Mayor of Nairobi in 1955. Astoundingly, a publication detailing portions of the history of the nation reveals: “Izzie Somen, mayor of Nairobi, was refused membership of the Nairobi Club because he was Jewish.”

Somen also served as Honorary Consul to Israel and played an important diplomatic role between the two budding nations. He was also appointed governor of the University College of Nairobi, of which he was very proud, not least because his formal education had come to a hasty end at age 16 when he had run away from the orphanage. The college later received accreditation and eventually became the first fully-fledged university in Kenya, receiving its charter in 1970. (Later, as the level of academic pursuit in the country grew, many more universities were established, including AIU, which received its charter in 2011)

During the Second World War, the Jewish community in Kenya worked hard to provide a potential solution to those in mortal peril in Hitler’s Germany. As early as 1933, the president of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation at the time, Edward Ruben, had become greatly concerned by the plight of the Jews in Germany. Rumen had called an urgent meeting of the Jewish residents of Nairobi during which the alarming matter of antisemitism was discussed and a fund immediately set up to assist any possible victims. Thereafter, members of the Congregation and other Jewish organizations made vigorous efforts to help provide a sanctuary for Jewish refugees in Kenya. Eventually, an estimated 800 Jewish immigrants found refuge in Kenya during this harrowing time.

Thus, Kenya has undoubtedly contributed in some measure to the story of contemporary Jewish diaspora by playing welcoming host to the small but thriving Jewish community in the country. During the launch of the Jewish and Judaic Studies program at AIU, Ambassador Lotem’s well-received keynote address emphasized the importance of continued friendly relations between Israel and Kenya. The event’s host too, Vice Chancellor Dr Nelson Makanda, and several other invited guests, also spoke warmly of the two nations.

According to a brief sent out by the AIU, the recently launched course will award specialized certificates and diplomas and will aim to equip leaders with a deep understanding of Jewish history, culture, and faith. This will undoubtedly make for captivating and impactful studies and may well contribute to the strengthening of bonds between the two nations of greatly dissimilar histories and cultures. AIU will be one of the first universities in Africa to deliver this groundbreaking curriculum.

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For more information on the Centre for Jewish and Judaic Studies at AIU, please reach out to partnership@aiu.ac.ke.