African-American Jews

Left: Marcella White Campbell, the new executive director of Be'chol Lashon; Right: A Shabbat service at Camp Be’chol Lashon in 2016 led by Ethiopian Israeli, Maor Sanbata and campers. (Both photos courtesy of Be’chol Lashon/ via JTA)

Interview

Meet Marcella Campbell, 1st Jew of color to head diversity group Be’chol Lashon

For decades the US organization worked to shatter Ashkenormative stereotypes and pioneered programming by and for non-white Jews. It’s now seeing its first Black executive director

January 20, 2021, 1:01 pm

Meet Marcella Campbell, 1st Jew of color to head diversity group Be’chol Lashon

For decades the US organization worked to shatter Ashkenormative stereotypes and pioneered programming by and for non-white Jews. It’s now seeing its first Black executive director

By Gabe Friedman

Basketball player Amar'e Stoudemire (C) shows off his Israeli national identity card at the Interior Ministry in Jerusalem alongside Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (R) and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion on March 13, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

January 2, 2021, 4:48 am

Amar’e Stoudemire’s Jewish journey, from young scholar to aspiring ‘prophet’

The former NBA star went from a life in the spotlight to a ‘humbling’ process getting Israeli citizenship, undergoing an Orthodox conversion, and starting a youth education center

By Gabe Friedman

The Moorish Zionist Temple, Harlem, NY, 1929 (James Van Der Zee/The Folklore Research Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem via the National Library of Israel Digital Collection)

November 1, 2020, 10:10 pm

Yiddisher Black cantors from 100 years ago rediscovered thanks to rare recording

Discographer Henry Sapoznik tracks down record by international Yiddish-language performer Thomas LaRue, and slips into a rabbit hole of Black Jewish history

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Yitz Jordan has co-launched a news site for Jews of Color. (Courtesy)

July 19, 2020, 4:11 am

Rapper and entrepreneur Y-Love launches news site for Jews of Color

Founder Yitz Jordan is proud, gay, and deeply Jewish. The Tribe Herald, a centralized voice for minority Jews, is already popular with Jews of all stripes after its June 19 launch

By Aviva Engel

Members of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, including in the front row April Baskin, on the far right and Leo Ferguson, third from right, march as part of a Jews4BlackLives protest in New York in 2016. (Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images/ via JTA)

July 18, 2020, 2:11 am

US Jewish recognition of Jews of color took decades of sweat, blood and tears

With the BLM movement center stage, many Jewish organizations move to make communities more welcoming — but that’s no coincidence: such initiatives have been decades in the making

By Josefin Dolsten

A selection of Elisheva Rishon's designs. (Image designs by Grace Yagel; product shots via Eli7 Designs website)

July 12, 2020, 4:23 am

Black Modern Orthodox woman sells empowering Jewish apparel with Hebrew slogans

Elisheva Rishon’s designs celebrate some of her own identities while offering universal messages of affirmation that people of all backgrounds can draw strength from

By TOI staff and alma via jta

Annamie Paul (Courtesy of Paul/ via JTA)

June 26, 2020, 4:29 am

Annamie Paul wants to be the first Black-Jewish leader of a Canadian party

Touting studies which show diversity yields stronger public policy, the Toronto-born public affairs lawyer would be Canada’s first Jew of any ethnicity heading a party in 50 years

By Ilana Belfer

Social worker and health care chaplain Chava Monastersky staffs the interfaith chaplaincy at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest in Seattle. (Gregory Gutterman Scruggs/Times of Israel)

June 23, 2020, 11:44 pm

In Seattle’s protest zone, rabbis at chaplaincy table create new rituals

In the middle of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), a cadre of rabbis hold a havdallah service, foster interfaith community, and try to make spaces welcoming to all Jews

By Gregory Gutterman Scruggs

Yiddish song 'Eli Eli' first became popular in the 1920s. (Design by Arielle Kaplan/ JTA)

June 19, 2020, 10:15 pm

How this iconic Yiddish song became an anthem for Black Americans

Popularized in 1920s, the mournful ‘Eli, Eli’ is an expression of faith in trying circumstances — and was embraced by Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Paul Robeson, Johnny Mathis

By Arielle Kaplan

Illustrative: John Eaves, seen on a visit to Israel's Western Wall, says being black and Jewish has made him more attuned to bigotry. (Courtesy of Eaves/via JTA)

June 4, 2020, 5:53 am

Black and Jewish, aspiring congressman John Eaves claims double-dose of empathy

Looking to be the first US lawmaker to share the two identities, the former county commissioner north of Atlanta has learned to fight bigotry on multiple fronts

By Josefin Dolsten

Top left, clockwise, April Baskin, Anthony Russell, Yitz Jordan and Tema Smith. (Baskin: Jill Peltzman; Russell: Courtesy of Russell; Jordan: Courtesy of Jordan; Smith: Courtesy of Smith -- all via JTA)

June 1, 2020, 6:13 am

‘Believe us’: Black Jews respond to George Floyd protests, in their own words

Black Jews in US call for more solidarity, understanding and support from their coreligionists and to use shared history of oppression for empathy, not denying pain of others

By Josefin Dolsten

Nissim Black says he's 'Hitler's worst nightmare.' (Screenshot from 'Mothaland Bounce' video/ via JTA)

February 28, 2020, 6:12 am

Orthodox rapper Nissim Black reintroduces himself to the world

The African-American-Hasidic musician’s new single ‘Mothaland Bounce’ gives tribute to both his ‘urban’ past and Orthodox Jewish present in Israel as he broadens his message

By Emily Burack

Tamar Manasseh of Mothers and Men Against Senseless Killings in a still from the new documentary 'They Ain't Ready for Me.' (Courtesy Brad Rothschild)

February 12, 2020, 6:14 am

Meet the African-American Jewish mom who fights gun violence with prayer

Documentary ‘They Ain’t Ready for Me’ chronicles student rabbi Tamar Manasseh, pioneer of a Chicago campaign providing poor families with a much-needed oasis

By Rich Tenorio

Rabbi Capers Funnye of the Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation stands in the sanctuary of the synagogue, September 2, 2008, in the Marquette Park neighborhood of Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

December 17, 2019, 10:36 pm

Black Hebrew Israelite leader condemns ‘heinous’ Jersey City shooting

Distancing himself from the attack, Rabbi Capers Funnye says his organization isn’t ‘some radical fringe group with a false narrative… We are Torah-oriented Jews’

By JTA

Tiffany Haddish in her 2019 Netflix comedy special, 'Black Mitzvah.' (Courtesy Netflix)

November 27, 2019, 3:57 pm

Tiffany Haddish says ‘She ready’ for onscreen Netflix bat mitzvah

African-American Jewish comedian/actress celebrates her ‘Black Mitzvah’ at 40, in a program streaming from December 3. But while it may be funny, the occasion is no joke for her

By Jordan Hoffman