For eight weeks this past summer two groups of young rabbis from the Chabad-Lubavitch Summer Peace Corps Program traveled the length and breadth of Africa to reach out to Jews in small or non-existent communities. Rabbis Mendel Lifshitz and Chananya Rogalsky traveled to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, to meet and spend time with as many Jewish people as possible, and help invigorate their religious lives. During their visits they engaged in discussions of all sorts, distributed prayer books and literature on observance and spirituality, and helped the individuals they encountered enrich their Jewish practice.

The two rabbis were trained in the biblical procedures for rendering animals kosher and writing Torah and mezuzah scrolls, enabling them to attend to the communities' ritual needs. High points came in Nairobi, where the rabbis arranged several fabrengens, or festive gatherings with religious discussion. The inspired guests sang, danced and talked into the early morning hours. Another highlight was a warm meeting with the Israeli ambassador to Kenya, Menashe Tzipori.

In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the rabbis organized the first Friday night service in at least 30 years. In Arusha a chance tip brought them to an elderly British Jew whose brother had recently died, and wanted to recite the Kaddish in his memory. The rabbis taught him some basic prayers. The journal they kept throughout the journey opens a fascinating window on the communities of Jews living in East Africa and on Chabad outreach efforts worldwide.

We bring here just a few excerpts for your enjoyment. Names have been deleted for obvious reasons:

TUESDAY, July 6, 1999 We were invited to an Israeli-run Kenyan manufacturing company. Our host was in a rush, so we met with his partner, another Israeli who has been in East Africa for quite a few years. He comes from a traditional background and respects religion. We talked about our purpose for coming here. He was very interested in the religious books we brought and bought five of them. We put on tefillin with him.

We checked all the mezuzahs in the two buildings. (All entrances and offices belonging to Jews here have mezuzahs, seemingly a tradition started by the Shluchim to here many years ago.) Two were beyond repair, so we put up new ones. They bought six additional ones, "for the future." Our host arrived, and also bought many books. We made up to have a fabrengen at his house on Sunday night.

That night we met with the head of the congregation. He was very pleased that we came. We spoke about ways to enhance the Yiddishkeit in Nairobi.

FRIDAY NIGHT, July 9, 1999 [Preparation for the Shabbos meal was marked by adventure. The rabbis purchased a new pot to ensure that the meal be cooked with kosher utensils. A new pot must be ritually purified before use by being dipped in a mikvah. The two took the pot to the oceanfront of the Dar es Salaam Beach Club, where they had been directed by their hostess. However, the Beach Club proprietor had not been previously informed. The rabbis were detained for trespassing, until explanations straightened things out...]

The food was ready, the candles were lit. People started to arrive. We had a minyan. According to some of the assembled, it was the first Friday night service in at least 30 years. One man said he recalls from his childhood in the late '60s and early '70s getting together for Rosh Hashanah meals, (which they still try to do), but never with a minyan.

Chananya led the prayers. Everyone sang. Buffet-style meal. We had bought a new grate and had grilled fish, made cholent in the new pot and several cold salads. It was great. We shmoozed with everyone and sang niggunim. One woman asked to host the event at her house the next time around. A French banker who has been living here for a while was overjoyed, as this was his first Jewish experience in Tanzania.

MONDAY, July 12, 1999 Arusha. We went to a restaurant owned by an English Jew in his seventies. He came to Tanzania in the 1950s to work for the British army and married a Tanzanian woman. He remembers or knows little about Yiddishkeit except that he must say Kaddish for his brother who passed away recently. He remembers Rabbi Fishel Katz (of Miami) was once in Arusha on business and put on tefillin with him, and gave him a siddur. We showed him prayers he could say in that siddur, and discussed things he could do to rekindle his Jewish connection...