Mon. 5/11, 8 p.m. Abayudaya Unity Concert

Ugandan Jews are no strangers to poverty and disease, but the most recent government lockdown measures to control the spread of COVID-19 have crippled their ability to succeed in that most basic of human activities: gathering food. And though conditions have eased somewhat in the cities in recent days, in the Abayudaya villages, starvation remains an imminent threat.

To help counter that threat, on Monday evening, May 11, the Cantors Assembly will premiere a concert event to benefit the Jews of Uganda, entitled “Abayudaya Unity.” The event will appear on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AbayudayaUnityConcert) and YouTube at 8:00 PM ET and will remain available on those platforms indefinitely. Viewers will be encouraged to donate to immediate food relief efforts by visiting www.cantors.org/abayudaya. Our fundraising goal is $25,000, all of which will be distributed in kind directly to those who most need it.

“It’s meant to be a love letter to the Abayudaya from their friends outside Africa,” said Cantor Mike Weis, Director of Communications of the

Cantors Assembly and producer of the project. “We thought about waiting to do this, but when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, and armed soldiers won’t let you out of your house to find it, that’s about as immediate need as I can imagine.”

Featuring such celebrated artists as Noam Katz, Shefa Gold, Elana Brody, Neshama Carlebach and Menachem Creditor, along with Hazzanim Michael Stein, Jeremy Stein, Jesse Holzer, Jack Chomsky, Steven Stoehr, Michael Weis and CA President David Lipp, viewers will be introduced to leaders within the Abayudaya community along with representatives of NGOs most active in

the area. Harriet Bograd, Kulanu’s President, will be one of the speakers.

The event was inspired by a recent solidarity mission undertaken by the Cantors Assembly.