About the Conference
For the first time, Kulanu will be hosting a Pan African Conference to bring together our partner communities from across Africa to learn about Jewish history, philosophy, anti-Semitism, kosher laws, music, and conversion. This invite-only conference is being held in conjunction with Ohr Torah Nidchei Yisrael.
The Pan African Conference will be held in Côte d’Ivoire and will been rescheduled from its original date of May 2020 due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Kulanu is expecting more than 50 people to attend from eight different countries across the continent.
The goal of the conference is to educate participants and form relationships between all of the Jewish African communities in attendance. The conference will focus on various aspects of Jewish law and practice along with communication skills to bring to their communities. A structure for a Pan African Network for Emerging Jewish Communities will be formed.
About the Teachers
The three main teachers for the Pan African Conference are Orthodox rabbis. Rabbi Dr. Ari Greenspan is a dentist, mohel, and shochet for 30 years. He studied at Yeshiva University under the famed Rabbi Soloveitchik. Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky is a professor of brain science at Bar Ilan University with degrees in electrical engineering and a master’s in Jewish history. Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum has been the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay and Milan, Italy. He is a world-renowned expert on Jewish communities worldwide as well as an official religious judge on conversion for the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel. All three rabbis have taught and lectured in over 50 countries around the world and are among the few people who have been to most of the far-flung Jewish communities worldwide.