The AJC says the number is at 150,000 in the U.S. alone -- and rising. The paper profiles a former evangelical couple who are making the conversion. "For a black male to put on a kipah and go wandering around...
Maybe the numbers seem large because it's out of the ordinary and starting to come to more light and get more publicity.
From my perspective, the more, the merrier.
Rabbi Joshua Nelson once spoke at my synagogue. He was great and had no problem expressing his love of and pride in Judaism, as well as his amusement about how people perceived him.
It's supposed to be about spirituality, not skin color.
Michael
June 24, 2008 10:25 AM
It always made sense to me that African-Americans identify with Judaism. After all, our religion was founded by slaves, freed after 400 years of servitude in a strange land.
NoraCharles
June 24, 2008 10:29 AM
I go to a synagogue in Jersey City, N.J. where there are a number of black congregants. I think that it may depend on where synaogues are located. Many are in very white suburban areas while those in urban areas are more likely to get a real mix of congregants. I think it's a good thing to have to have a real mixture and to have more people becoming Jews.
Samantha
June 24, 2008 12:38 PM
I am a fourth generation black Jew. We've been around for quite a while...
erey
June 24, 2008 3:22 PM
I have known one african american lady who did convert to judaism. I believe she has been very sincere because she has maintained being a jew for many years. I have seen her out having coffee with her Rabbi.
I know she as raising her daughter to be jewish.
MrMissy
June 26, 2008 6:15 PM
Black Jews?!!!! Surely you jest! This can't be true if America is just discovering this......
Everyone knows that Jesus was a Hollywood star with blue contacts and long flowing locks from using Ultress. I don't see any resemblance to a Jew in Jesus. He's White, I tell you!
meshil
July 19, 2008 8:37 AM
Rabbi Joshua Nelson once spoke at my synagogue. He was great and had no problem expressing his love of and pride in Judaism, as well as his amusement about how people perceived him.
=====================================================================
meshil
Devorah
August 7, 2008 8:14 PM
As an African-American woman in her 40's, who grew up in a predominantly African-American church going neighborhood, one would never suspect that by the age of four I was reading Hebrew and learned to read Hebrew before I learned to read English. All of my brothers and sisters followed this path. My parents, both African-American and from the South, raised all of us under the shadow of the Torah. No one converted to Judaism. My way of life is based on a rich oral tradition whispered in any number of groves and fields in the South. At one point as a kid, the other kids on our block, knew that we could not go outside to play on Shabbat and they would wait until after they heard my father recite the Havdalah and the Ma'ariv before coming to asking if we could play. My father passed away seven years ago, and it wasn't until at his funeral services that I realized the impact we may have had on our neighbors and friends, when they joined all our family in singing the Shema, in my father's memory. None of these people are Jewish and did not attend services, except what they heard coming from our house.
All of this is a long way to say that there are many black Jews here in America. Like me, many of them know nothing else. Also, like me,
our story, challenges and path through history differ a little from mainstream or Euroethnic Jews here in America or abroad. Nevertheless, it is rich and is a source of pride.
I am glad to see that there is a promise for Jews of all ethnicities to come together and rejoice before the L-rd with all our similarities and embracing our differences.
Tam Flowers
September 17, 2008 8:56 PM
I received my mtDNA analysis last year. If what they say is true, I'm a Jew. . . a descendant of a female Black African Jewish Slave who was forced into the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Do I want to convert to Judaism? Why should I convert to being something that I already am? I don't know anything about Judaism, but would be open to finding out under the right circumstances. I went back to my home town, armed with the scientific evidence that we were actually African American Jews Without Clues. The information was not very well received. Since "everybody knows that there are no African American Black Jews!" Oh Brother! As if being Black wasn't complicated enough. I'm sure that our family is not the only one. Do you think that the White Jews will reach out to us to teach us what beaten out of our slave forefathers in this country long ago? It's not like we would have anything other than the blood that runs through our veins to prove that we are who/what we say we are.
Deejlovely
October 18, 2008 5:21 PM
I am a African American Jew who also raise my children as being a Jew. I don't know why it is such a amazement to the Europeon Jew that there are black Jews if they do their history and read Deuteronomy 28th chpt. They are preserving our heritage for our curse of disobeying Hashem and now we are coming back for it basically. It seems that African Americans don't have a problem with Europeon Jews but Europeon Jews have a problem with us. They can't believe that we can be Black and Jewish and why not? I celebrate the high holy days just as they do, and when the sabbath comes around I praise Hashem as they do. Just because I am Black does not mean that I am a Ethiopian Jew also. I feel that I don't have to get conversion papers to prove that I am Jewish to anyone. Being Jewish is a way of life and how you feel in your heart. Hashem told me that I was doing the right thing and that is all I need! Idon't feel I have to prove my beliefs to anyone especially on a piece of paper just to be excepted by others. I am a Jew and will always be a Jew ans so will my children.
Ben
October 24, 2008 1:51 AM
Tam:>
You probably would have to convert to Judaism formally - reason being, while you may very well carry Jewish DNA, because of slavery and the fact that families were split apart, you may have and probably do have a non-Jewish ancestor, on the mother's side - and Judaism flows from the mother.
Rabbis for example have ruled that Crypto Jews (Jews from Spain and Portugal who nominally converted to Catholicism to escape persecution but continued with some Jewish practices) have to formally convert for this same reason.
>
I would hope so - have you considered contacting a synagogue, rabbi, etc.?
ReuvenLevi
December 2, 2008 11:12 PM
http://www.authenticjews.com
Yes, the Blacks are being awaken, here is another website of black history.
www.authenticjews.com
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Maybe the numbers seem large because it's out of the ordinary and starting to come to more light and get more publicity.
From my perspective, the more, the merrier.
Rabbi Joshua Nelson once spoke at my synagogue. He was great and had no problem expressing his love of and pride in Judaism, as well as his amusement about how people perceived him.
It's supposed to be about spirituality, not skin color.
It always made sense to me that African-Americans identify with Judaism. After all, our religion was founded by slaves, freed after 400 years of servitude in a strange land.
I go to a synagogue in Jersey City, N.J. where there are a number of black congregants. I think that it may depend on where synaogues are located. Many are in very white suburban areas while those in urban areas are more likely to get a real mix of congregants. I think it's a good thing to have to have a real mixture and to have more people becoming Jews.
I am a fourth generation black Jew. We've been around for quite a while...
I have known one african american lady who did convert to judaism. I believe she has been very sincere because she has maintained being a jew for many years. I have seen her out having coffee with her Rabbi.
I know she as raising her daughter to be jewish.
Black Jews?!!!! Surely you jest! This can't be true if America is just discovering this......
Everyone knows that Jesus was a Hollywood star with blue contacts and long flowing locks from using Ultress. I don't see any resemblance to a Jew in Jesus. He's White, I tell you!
Rabbi Joshua Nelson once spoke at my synagogue. He was great and had no problem expressing his love of and pride in Judaism, as well as his amusement about how people perceived him.
=====================================================================
meshil
As an African-American woman in her 40's, who grew up in a predominantly African-American church going neighborhood, one would never suspect that by the age of four I was reading Hebrew and learned to read Hebrew before I learned to read English. All of my brothers and sisters followed this path. My parents, both African-American and from the South, raised all of us under the shadow of the Torah. No one converted to Judaism. My way of life is based on a rich oral tradition whispered in any number of groves and fields in the South. At one point as a kid, the other kids on our block, knew that we could not go outside to play on Shabbat and they would wait until after they heard my father recite the Havdalah and the Ma'ariv before coming to asking if we could play. My father passed away seven years ago, and it wasn't until at his funeral services that I realized the impact we may have had on our neighbors and friends, when they joined all our family in singing the Shema, in my father's memory. None of these people are Jewish and did not attend services, except what they heard coming from our house.
All of this is a long way to say that there are many black Jews here in America. Like me, many of them know nothing else. Also, like me,
our story, challenges and path through history differ a little from mainstream or Euroethnic Jews here in America or abroad. Nevertheless, it is rich and is a source of pride.
I am glad to see that there is a promise for Jews of all ethnicities to come together and rejoice before the L-rd with all our similarities and embracing our differences.
I received my mtDNA analysis last year. If what they say is true, I'm a Jew. . . a descendant of a female Black African Jewish Slave who was forced into the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Do I want to convert to Judaism? Why should I convert to being something that I already am? I don't know anything about Judaism, but would be open to finding out under the right circumstances. I went back to my home town, armed with the scientific evidence that we were actually African American Jews Without Clues. The information was not very well received. Since "everybody knows that there are no African American Black Jews!" Oh Brother! As if being Black wasn't complicated enough. I'm sure that our family is not the only one. Do you think that the White Jews will reach out to us to teach us what beaten out of our slave forefathers in this country long ago? It's not like we would have anything other than the blood that runs through our veins to prove that we are who/what we say we are.
I am a African American Jew who also raise my children as being a Jew. I don't know why it is such a amazement to the Europeon Jew that there are black Jews if they do their history and read Deuteronomy 28th chpt. They are preserving our heritage for our curse of disobeying Hashem and now we are coming back for it basically. It seems that African Americans don't have a problem with Europeon Jews but Europeon Jews have a problem with us. They can't believe that we can be Black and Jewish and why not? I celebrate the high holy days just as they do, and when the sabbath comes around I praise Hashem as they do. Just because I am Black does not mean that I am a Ethiopian Jew also. I feel that I don't have to get conversion papers to prove that I am Jewish to anyone. Being Jewish is a way of life and how you feel in your heart. Hashem told me that I was doing the right thing and that is all I need! Idon't feel I have to prove my beliefs to anyone especially on a piece of paper just to be excepted by others. I am a Jew and will always be a Jew ans so will my children.
Tam:>
You probably would have to convert to Judaism formally - reason being, while you may very well carry Jewish DNA, because of slavery and the fact that families were split apart, you may have and probably do have a non-Jewish ancestor, on the mother's side - and Judaism flows from the mother.
Rabbis for example have ruled that Crypto Jews (Jews from Spain and Portugal who nominally converted to Catholicism to escape persecution but continued with some Jewish practices) have to formally convert for this same reason.
>
I would hope so - have you considered contacting a synagogue, rabbi, etc.?
Yes, the Blacks are being awaken, here is another website of black history.
www.authenticjews.com
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.