Resonances between Jews and Indigenous Peoples
Dr Sheree Trotter spoke at Beit Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto on 6 June 2026, on the weekend of a series of events that had been organised by the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem, Canada Antisemitism Education Foundation, Allied Voices for Israel, Kanada House and the Harmony Foundation. Here are excerpts from that speech.
Three aspects of Indigeneity which Jews and Māori share in common
1. Connection to ancestral land
Māori are connected to the land on which our ancestors lived and lie buried. We are called tangata whenua, meaning people of the land. This introduction affirms our identity as Māori - we are connected to a particular place, to particular ancestors and have a particular language.
The connection to ancestral land is important for Indigenous peoples.
Whenua means land. It is also the word for the placenta. In our custom the placenta is buried in the land. Burying the placenta symbolizes the inseparable bond between a person and the land — the place they come from and to which they belong. It reflects the belief that the land nourishes life, just as the placenta nourishes the baby in the womb.
When Māori see Jews in the diaspora burying the soil of Israel in the graves of their loved ones, we recognise this as an Indigenous way of being. We understand that connection.
When they read sacred texts about Jewish attachment to Mt Zion or Mt Sinai we recognise that longing. We too have their ancestral mountains, which are part of our identity as an Indigenous people.
When a Jewish blessing is recited upon seeing the sea, especially the Mediterranean, Indigenous peoples understand, as they too have a special connection to their waterways. They name their tribal seas, rivers or lakes in their formal introductions. It too is part of their identity.
Regardless of where in the world Jewish people live, the Jewish festivals Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot, and others have been faithfully observed for thousands of years. These festivals are intimately connected with the land, the produce of the land and the seasons of Israel.
Connection to ancestral land is the first key aspect of Indigeneity.
The next one I want to discuss is the connection to ancestors.
In our formal introduction we include the names of our ancestors, emphasising the kinship relationship and the importance of genealogy. This is called whakapapa. The Māori worldview is ordered according to whakapapa, an epistemological framework that understands the world through genealogy, connection, and relationship.
While whakapapa is often interpreted as “genealogy”, it goes far beyond a family tree.
Whaka = to cause or to make
Papa = foundation or layer
So whakapapa literally means “to lay one thing upon another” — symbolizing layers of connection across generations, time, and existence.
Genealogical descent is the more specific application of whakapapa, and this aspect plays a key role in organising the Māori social world. Descent is exclusive, lineal and limited. It is specific to each individual, who by tracing his or her genealogical line to a particular ancestor, can claim to be Māori. While there is much contemporary debate about Māori identity, and whether particular qualifications should be imposed to recognise those who are truly Māori (such as fluency in Māori language, or involvement in tribal affairs), genealogy is an unassailable qualifier for Māori identity.
Experts use whakapapa in public speechmaking and ceremonial settings, to establish their right to speak and to establish a connection between themselves and the audience. It is the basis of membership in tribes and sub-tribes and can be the basis for shares in tribal land.
When Indigenous people are introduced to the Jewish story, of a tribe of people whose genealogy goes back thousands of years, it is a recognition of an Indigenous way of seeing.
A Restored Language
Each people group has a distinct language, which is a window into the soul of the people. Oftentimes ideas, thoughts, pictures are not easily conveyed from one language to the other and this is certainly the case for Māori.
Māori maintained a rich oral culture, where stories were passed down from generation to generation over many centuries. These narratives held the meaning and worldview of a people and its culture.
The transmission of Māori history and culture was both formal and informal. Formally, expert knowledge was passed down to specially chosen people, (tohunga considered experts in specialised fields of knowledge) in a process marked by sacred protocol.
In addition, oral histories were passed down in song, (waiata), proverb (whakatauki), chants (karakia). Stories were also conveyed in the art forms of carving and dance. Carved meeting houses contained the stories of the ancestors and tribal knowledge. Ceremonial dance or Haka is used for multiple purposes including the transmission of social or political messages.
The Jewish people have a rich heritage maintained in written and oral form over millenia..
The loss of language is a pressing concern for most Indigenous peoples. However, the revitalisation of Hebrew as a living everyday language gives hope to Indigenous peoples. Israelis speak much the same language their ancestors spoke thousands of years ago. While their language was threatened by their expulsion by the Romans 2,000 years ago, it was preserved through the centuries as a liturgical language. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was revived as an everyday language by the determined efforts of Eliezer Ben Yehudah and the Zionists who ultimately established the state of Israel in 1948. This provides hope for Indigenous peoples who are striving to retain their Indigenous language.
It is not surprising that these aspects of peoplehood; connection to land, ancestors and language are integral to an Indigenous worldview. We find a model for this concept in ancient Hebrew texts.
An Ancient Model of Indigeneity
Chapters 10 and 11 of Genesis or Bereshit set out what scholars and students of the text have called The Table of Nations. We find within this ancient text the fundamental elements of peoplehood, criteria which are compatible with almost all conceptions of indigeneity.
The following short excerpts from the text of Genesis include terms that are recurrent throughout the broader context of the two chapters:
These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.
These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations…
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations…
We may thus distill the terms:
families מִשְׁפְּחוֹת
languages לְשֹׁנוֹת
territories אַרְצֹתָם
nations גֹּויִם
generations תוֹלְדֹת
Familial units, language and land can be seen as the basis elements constituting a people group or nation. Generations or lines of descent introduce the element of time and continuity. Going beyond the text, we can assert that a necessary outcome of a people group plus time is history and culture - or broadly speaking, values and practices. These various elements fit well with most of the various definitions of indigeneity.
Connection to land and ancestors, and a unique language are among the defining features of peoplehood, and the core of Indigeneity. I would argue that the Jewish people - their experience and ways of being cast them as the archetypal Indigenous people.