Unknown Tidbits
Of The Intersectionality Of Jews And Blacks In America
Torah portion—this
weekend, is Vaera-in Exodus- Ch 9:1.It includes in it the famous phrase, in
Hebrew, “Shlach et Ami V’yavduni”- Let my people go, that they shall serve me.”
We all
recognize that the phrase “ Let My People Go” became incorporated into a
spiritual that had its roots in the struggle of black slaves to be free from
their chains. The phrase was made part of the introduction between my
Professor, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose
memory we honor this weekend:
“At the first conference on religion
and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were:
“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go that they may
celebrate a feast to Me.”
Relations between Jews and Blacks
have been mixed, especially in recent years, from a Louis Farrakhan or a Kanye
West. Some of it stems from the influence of the first Christians to preach to
their slaves, way back, and teaching them the “ Christ-killer” narrative.
Yet, on the other hand, as the words of the
song “ Let my People Go”, there was also an identification with ancient Israel.
There was as well a lot of mixing
that took place, over the centuries—Alexander Hamilton, one of the great
framers of the Constitution, may have been of mixed African and Jewish
heritage. A few years back, we did an on-line zoom session with members of the Jewish
community of Jamaica, which is very much a mixed-community of Jews of Sephardic
and African ancestry.
Here's a reminder: Avinu Malkenu
with a Caribbean beat:
https://youtu.be/obuEDvzcQyQ?si=4fzY9rBLnddFMSYL&t=6175
One of the founders of the very influential
black civil rights movement, SNCC ( Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)
, Julius Lester, converted to Judaism, influence by the fact that he had a
Jewish great grandfather who married a freed slave. My sociology professor,
back in thee 60’s, pointed out that then, the predominant mixed race marriages
were between Jews and Blacks. Later, I hope to bring in some outside
participants to talk with us about their experience as Jews of Color, or Black
Jews, or just plain Jews.
So, I want, this Shabbat, to dabble
in the theme of intersectionality, to use a contemporary politically loaded
word, as it relates to positive connections between our two groups.
First, let’s talk about music.
Gershwin introduced Jewish musical themes into a musical about blacks- Porgy
and Bess. Al Jolson pretended to play a Negro in blackface, as was done a
century ago. But what about the other way around?
Tevye der Shvartzer Khazn
The story of Thomas LaRue Jones, the Black cantor
from Newark who captivated the Jewish world with his songs BY EDNA NAHSHON
JUNE 16, 2022 Tablet Magazine
The writer notes:
“Working my way through a mass of colorful theater
posters that featured Yiddish divas and matinee idols, I glimpsed an old
black-and-white illustrated placard with a cameo like portrait of a
serious-looking young Black man with soulful eyes, dressed in festive cantorial
regalia. Titled “Tevye, der shvartzer khazn” (Tevye, the Black Cantor), he was,
the undated print declared, “The Greatest Wonder of the World.” A small-type
English-language byline at bottom of the poster announced that “Thomas La-Rue”
was “the most phenomenal cantor-tenor in America” and “the only one of his kind
in the world.” “Tevye,” the renowned Black cantor, the poster announced in
Yiddish, “has taken America by storm” with a multilanguage repertoire of Jewish
folk songs and cantorial compositions by Yossele (Joseph) Rosenblatt and other
Jewish composers.
Here is a little visual about him:
https://www.youtube.com/live/bXu_32enBa8?si=RM3gN-7cIQdbf9_X&t=917
Run to 16:29
Sample of his
singing, on the theme of Jewish suffering and hope!
https://www.youtube.com/live/bXu_32enBa8?si=bhS8B97tmZjDxlLz&t=1620
go to 29:16
African Zionism
Today, South
Africa is leading the attack against Israel at the international court, part of
a historical trend in South Africa of the past several decades. It ignores, not
only the role that Israel played in the support given to the newly emergent
nations of Africa after colonialism, but also the inspiration that Jewish
history gave to prominent leaders of the early civil rights movement:
Zionism, Pan-Africanism, and White Nationalism-
Tablet Magazine
What we learn about Israel’s ethnocentrism by looking at groups inspired by Zionism
BY SHAUL MAGID DECEMBER 11, 2018
Excerpts
“Black Zionism has its roots before the formal advent of Zionism: in the
Pan-African writings of William Blyden and Martin Delaney, and then later in
W.E.B Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Stokely Carmichael.”
“West Indian-born Edward Blyden wrote about it as a resolution to the
slavery question in the 1850s, focusing on the newly founded country of Liberia
in1847. Blyden had no particular ideology of Black Nationalism and viewed
colonizing Liberia in the way proto-Zionists in the 19th century viewed Jewish
immigration to Palestine, as a return to the homeland (although Blyden did not
have the messianic tenor of some Jewish proto-Zionists or later
Pan-Africanists). Blyden published The Jewish Question, a pamphlet, in 1898 (underwritten
by his Jewish friend from Liverpool, Louis Solomon), two years after the
publication of Herzl’s Der Judenstaadt, which Blyden read and admired. In 1903,
a year before Herzl’s death, Blyden noted in a lecture “West African Problems,”
using a biblical metaphor, that the idea of the black colonization of Africa
“give[s] to the African the fullest opportunity for self-development and
self-advancement.” Blyden viewed Zionism as a model for his idea, coining the
term “Ethiopianism”and calling on blacks to return to Africa to redeem it. In
The Jewish Question, Blyden writes, “The Jewish question, in some respects, is
similar to that which at this moment agitates thousands of descendants of
Africa in America, anxious to return to the land of their fathers.”
“This idea reached a wider audience in W.E.B. Du Bois, who coined the term
“Black Zionism” to describe his Pan-Africanism. Du Bois openly stated, “The
African movement must mean to us what the Zionist movement must mean to the
Jews, the centralization of race effort and the recognition of a racial front.”
Du Bois, an ardent fan of Zionism, pinpointed the racial component in Zionism
that many overlooked.”
One of the best defenses of Israel’s right was given by a speech by Martin
Luther King Jr, just a short time before he was murdered. I was there then.
http://www.rabbinorbert.com/2015/01/selma-king-and-rabbi.html
Rustin, the movie, failed to
cover Bayard Rustin’s battle on behalf of Israel, when he and A. Phillip
Randolph founded Black Americans to Support Israel Committee (BASIC)
in 1975 . He declared: “Since Israel is a democratic
state surrounded by essentially undemocratic states which have sworn her
destruction, those interested in democracy everywhere must support Israel’s
existence..(
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/bayard-rustin-mlk) “
As a former
communist and openly gay, he would have been shocked by the devotion of so many
in the LGBTQ community to the cause of Hamas.
How about
African Americans who felt they were the original Jews. Many years back, as a
young Rabbinic student, I went on Shabbat to a synagogue in Harlem, The Ethiopian
Hebrew Congregation, led by Rabbi
Matthews.
Black Jews, The Commandment Keepers In Harlem,
1910 (harlemworldmagazine.com)
Black Jews, The Commandment Keepers In Harlem, 1910
JULY 1, 2016
Black
Jews started forming Harlem congregations in the 1910s, based on the conviction
that Africans were descended from ancient Hebrews and that Christianity was a
religion imposed on them during enslavement in America. But few traces of
their presence remain in the neighborhood.
(documentary filmmaker Marlaine
Glicksman ) Her film in progress, called “The Commandment Keepers,” will be
screened on April 17 at 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. It traces the
congregation’s history, from the early black rabbis’ sermons and writings about
their commitment to Jewish rituals to their followers’ persistence in the face
of racism and anti-Semitism.
From Wikipedia
Commandment Keepers
Main article: Commandment
Keepers
The founder of
the Commandment Keepers, Wentworth Arthur
Matthew holding a Sefer Torah.
Wentworth
Arthur Matthew founded the Commandment
Keepers Congregation in Harlem in 1919.[5] Matthew
was influenced by the non-black Jews he met as well as by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities League. Garvey used the Biblical
Jews in exile as a metaphor for black people in North America. One of the accomplishments of
Garvey's movement was to strengthen the connection between black Americans and
Africa, Ethiopia in particular. When Matthew later learned about the Beta Israel—Ethiopian
Jews—he identified with them.[59]
Today the Commandment Keepers
follow traditional Jewish practices and observe Jewish holidays.[35] Members
observe kashrut,
circumcise newborn boys, and celebrate Bar and
Bat Mitzvahs, and their synagogue has
a mechitza to
separate men and women during worship.[60]
The Commandment Keepers
believe that they are descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.[61] Matthew
taught that "the Black man is a Jew" and "all genuine Jews are
Black men",[62] but
he valued non-black Jews as those who had preserved Judaism over the centuries.[5] Matthew
maintained cordial ties with non-black Jewish leaders in New York and
frequently invited them to worship at his synagogue.[63].
Some years
back, I served as a Rabbi in Newport News, Virginia. Across the James River was
the city of Portsmouth, and I was told that there had been a community of Black Jews there. At one time,
when I was driving through the countryside, I saw what looked like an abandoned
church that had a very visible Magen David in the window, but I could not
determine if that was the synagogue. However, I did find some references to
them online:
- Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr. is the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom
B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago. He is also the first
cousin of former First Lady Michelle Obama. He was born in Georgetown,
South Carolina, but his family moved to Portsmouth when he was a child. He
attended I.C. Norcom High School and Norfolk State University before
joining the Israelite movement.
- Louise Lucas is a state senator and a civil rights
activist in Virginia. She is also a member of The Links, Incorporated
(Portsmouth Chapter), a national organization of Black women who are
committed to civic and cultural engagement. She identifies as a Black
Hebrew Israelite and follows the dietary laws of the Torah.
- Michael Twitty is a culinary historian and a James Beard
Award-winning author. He is known for his work on exploring the African
roots of Southern food and culture. He is also a Black Jewish convert who
practices Conservative Judaism. He was born in
Washington, D.C., but he has traced his ancestry to enslaved Africans who
lived in Portsmouth and other parts of Virginia5 .
As I pointed out, we have our own very
important intersectionality between our communities, whether it be Jews who are
descended from the ancient communities of
Ethiopia, like our two young technical crew, or Jews who come from more
recent Jewish heritage, or Jews who themselves chose to formally join Judaism,
whatever their original ethnicity or religion. Welcome aboard.
