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“From 3 NO to 3 YES,” tweeted US Ambassador Ron Dermer on October 23. “In 1967, the Arab world infamously declared no recognition, no negotiations and no peace with Israel in the capital of Sudan. Today, Sudan joins the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as the third Arab country to make peace with Israel in 2020 ”. As Dermer noted, the Jerusalem-Khartoum agreement is the third peace agreement signed this year with Arab states. Unlike the UAE and Bahrain, Sudan was directly involved in conflicts with Israel and sent troops to fight the Jewish state in major Arab-Israeli wars. Prior to the October 23 peace agreement, Sudan viewed Israel as an enemy state. Within the week of signing the peace agreement, Israel agreed to send $ 5 million worth of wheat as a welcome gesture and part of this new normalization. This is significant, as Sudan is currently besieged by a food crisis, hyperinflation and a declining economy. According to the United Nations, 9.6 million of Sudan’s 40 million citizens are insecure due to hunger and a national debt of 72 billion dollars. Sudan consumes 2 million tons of wheat per year; Israel’s initial peace gesture sets a positive tone: the Republic of Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan became independent. Today it is the third largest country in Africa. In the early part of the 19th century, extreme Muslim intolerance was prevalent, with the forced conversion of Jews to Islam. A small Jewish community was founded in Sudan in 1908 with the aim of undoing the effects of this intolerance. What is not generally appreciated is that Sudan was home to a small but thriving Jewish community from 1908 until the Six Day War. In the early part of the 20th century, this Jewish community developed in the capital Khartoum, with Jews coming mainly from the Mediterranean countries, but also from Europe. This community had 1,000 Jews at its peak. The Jewish community in Sudan was remarkably modern, Zionist and aristocratic. Its members were educated in the Christian schools that were part of the British Empire at that time. Sudanese Jews enjoyed a rich and wonderful community life that was very well integrated, with congenial relationships with his Muslim and Christian compatriots.The Chief Rabbi of Sudan, Rabbi Shlomo Malka, was a deeply spiritual visionary respected by his community as well. as from other religious communities. Malka was originally a kabbalist and dayan (judge) who lived in Tiberias, Palestine. He was sent on a mission to Khartoum to reverse the effects of Muslim intolerance towards his small Jewish community. Malka’s kabbalistic vision of treating all people with dignity, love and respect has had generational ripple effects. He taught people to avoid hatred and promote peace among all human beings, regardless of race, religion or creed. He felt that humanity should learn from history and realize that all power comes from the strength of love and peace. His modus operandi was eloquently expressed when he was recently selected as “Tzadik of the day” in Jerusalem. Its impact was summed up in a poster displayed across Jerusalem by the Paris-based international Jewish organization Alliance Israélite Universelle, as living proof of the profound and permanent effects of peace. Malka said that all of humanity should maximize efforts to increase world peace by avoiding hatred and learning from destruction throughout history. He called all humanity to action by increasing the power of love and peace. A model for religious tolerance, the rabbi’s impact in Khartoum left a lasting impression on Sudan’s imams and leaders. When Malka died in 1949, he was mourned not only by the Jewish community but by the chief imam and chief priest of Sudan. Unfortunately, the wave of religious harmony in Sudan was short-lived. The wave of anti-Semitism increased again when Sudan joined the Arab League in 1956. There was an inverse relationship between the rise of the state of Israel and intolerance of indigenous Jews from Arab lands across the region. After the Six Day War, all remaining Jews emigrated from Sudan and moved around the world. It is not greatly appreciated that the Jews of Sudan have had a major impact on the state of Israel. They played a key role in freeing the founding Zionists from British prisons in the region, including Yitzhak Shamir, Yaakov Meridor, Aryeh Ben-Eliezer, Meir Shamgar, Rahamim Mizrachi and Reuven Drori. These and other Zionists from the Irgun and Lehi metro were imprisoned by the British in Palestine and later deported to detention camps in Africa. With the help of some brave Sudanese Jews from Khartoum, including Mayer Malka, grandson of Rabbi Malka and his wife Vickie, some prisoners were released from the detention camps and were able to return to Palestine. community is a Jewish cemetery in Khartoum with 18 graves. These tombs have been preserved by the current Muslim leaders who continue to remember the relations that the two religions had in Sudan, rooted by Rabbi Malka. Most of the graves found in the Khartoum cemetery, including that of Malka, were moved to Jerusalem to a special section of the Har Hamenuchot cemetery, marked as “Jews of Sudan”. The Sudanese Jewish community also had Sifrei Torah, which was flown on a cargo flight and distributed to the synagogues in Geneva; North Bergen, New Jersey; and Herzliya. It seems that the revered rabbi’s insight played an unseen historical role in the 2020 peace efforts. Only 70 years after Malka’s death, US President Donald Trump, a Christian, brokered a peace pact between the Republic Sudan, a fundamentalist Muslim country and Israel, the only Jewish state. Sudan is the fifth Arab country to officially recognize Israel. In this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, God promises Abraham that he will be the father of many nations that will be extremely fruitful. Islam, Christianity and Judaism all consider Abraham their patriarch. God then creates the first agreement with Abraham and endows the land of Canaan to Abraham’s offspring. Our modern challenge is to find sustainable peace with Abraham’s other offspring and the peace agreement signed last week is believed to have a positive, lasting and profound impact. By increasing person-to-person communication and commerce, a cooperative path has been opened for future generations from different countries and religions. The writer is a human rights lawyer licensed to practice law in Israel and the United States. She is a certified mediator and signatory to the 2013 Jordan River Covenant, an agreement between Jordan and Israel to share the water of the Jordan River. He is also the proud great-grandson of Rabbi Shlomo [email protected]
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