African-American Jews

African-American Jews are people who are both African-American and Jewish. African-American Jews may be either Jewish from birth or converts to Judaism. Many African-American Jews are of mixed heritage, having both African-American gentile and non-black Jewish ancestors.

North America

The American Jewish community includes Jews with African-American backgrounds. African-American Jews belong to each of the major American Jewish denominations—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform—and the smaller movements as well, such as Reconstructionist or Humanistic. Like their white Jewish counterparts, there are also African-American Jewish secularists and African-American Jews who may rarely or never take part in religious practices.[1]

Robin Washington, an American journalist and filmmaker, became one of three founders of the National Conference of Black Jews, later called the Alliance of Black Jews. It was conceived to build bridges among all African-American Jews, who are affiliated with many different groups. Estimates of the number of black Jews in the United States range from 20,000[2] to 200,000.[3]

There are several predominantly African-American synagogues in The United States, such as Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, which is a synagogue in Chicago, Illinois. The congregation leader of Beth Shalom is Rabbi Capers Funnye. Its assistant rabbis are Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter.[4] The congregation, which has about 200 members, is mostly African American.[5][6] The congregation was started by Rabbi Horace Hasan from Bombay (now Mumbai), India, in 1918 as the Ethiopian Hebrew Settlement Workers Association,[7] and it was influenced by Wentworth Arthur Matthew's Commandment Keepers.[5][6]

See also

• Alliance of Black Jews
• African American–Jewish relations
• Jewish diaspora
• Jewish ethnic divisions
• List of African-American Jews
• Drake (rapper)

References

1. Wolfson, Bernard J. (1999). "African American Jews". In Chireau, Yvonne; Deutsch, Nathaniel (eds.). Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 0-19-511257-1.
2. David Whelan (May 8, 2003). "A Fledgling Grant Maker Nurtures Young Jewish 'Social Entrepreneurs'". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved February 8, 2009.
3. Michael Gelbwasser (April 10, 1998). "Organization for black Jews claims 200,000 in U.S." j. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
4. "Divine Law or Sexism?". National Public Radio. July 12, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
5. Chireau, Yvonne (2000). "Black Culture and Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism, 1790–1930, an Overview". In Yvonne Patricia Chireau; Nathaniel Deutsch (eds.). Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 48. ISBN 0-19-511257-1.
6. Angell, Stephen W. (Spring 2001). "Yvonne Chireau and Nathaniel Deutsch, eds, Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism". The North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History. 4 (2). Retrieved October 6, 2016.
7. Koppel, Niko (March 16, 2008). "Black Rabbi Reaches Out to Mainstream of His Faith". The New York Times.

Further reading

• Chireau, Yvonne; Deutsch, Nathaniel, eds. (1999). Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511257-1.
• Kaye/Kantrowitz, Melanie (2007). The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34902-8.
• Khanga, Yelena; Jacoby, Susan (1994). Soul to Soul: A Black Russian Jewish Woman's Search for Her Roots. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-31155-4.
• Lester, Julius (1995) [1988]. Lovesong: Becoming a Jew. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-316-4.
• Parfitt, Tudor (2013). Black Jews in Africa and the Americas. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-06698-4.
• Tobin, Diane; Tobin, Gary A.; Rubin, Scott (2005). In Every Tongue: The Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Jewish People. San Francisco: Institute for Jewish & Community Research. ISBN 1-893671-01-1.
• Walker, Rebecca (2000). Black, White & Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self. New York: Riverhead Books. ISBN 1-57322-169-4.

External links

• "Black & Jewish, A Community for Jews of Color". Archived from the original on June 11, 2007., a site for "Black American Jews and their friends to communicate".
• "Center for Afro-Jewish Studies". Archived from the original on September 11, 2007. at Temple University, a "research and learning institution dedicated to scholarship on Afro-Jewish peoples and developing awareness of the historical, political, religious, and philosophical issues that arise from the convergence of the African and Jewish diasporas".
• "Jewish Multiracial Network"., a group whose mission is "to build a community of Jews of color and multiracial Jewish families".
• "On Being a (Black) Jew in America: Conversation with MaNishtana". Chicago Jewish Cafe with Alexander Gendler. October 26, 2018.

News and articles

• "Black and Jewish: 10 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Jewish". The Huffington Post. April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
• "Black Jews". Time. September 27, 1937. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
• Freedman, Samuel G. (August 12, 2011). "Prayer, and Bug Juice, at a Summer Camp for Jews of Color". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
• Holzinger, Kay (1998). "Black Jews". The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Religious Movements Homepage Project at the University of Virginia. Archived from the original on April 8, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
• Lee, Trymaine (August 27, 2010). "Black and Jewish, and Seeing No Contradiction". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
• Lyons, Len (July 23, 2012). "Black Jews Gain Wider Acceptance". The Forward. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
• Pomerance, Rachel (June 18, 2008). "Judaism Drawing More Black Americans". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
• Yankovich, Ita (January 13, 2008). "Minority Within a Minority". Aish HaTorah. Retrieved August 31, 2010.