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African-American Jews
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 Alma via JTA and TOI staff
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
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
Lacey Schwartz Delgado. (Courtesy)
October 6, 2019, 3:00 am
A biracial Jewish filmmaker refuses to shy from thorny questions of identity
Lacey Schwartz Delgado’s dual identities as an African-American and New York Jew inform her documentary, ‘Little White Lie,’ and her current work with youth via Be’chol Lashon
By Rich Tenorio
Rain Pryor with daughter Lotus, named for her great-grandmother, Mama. (Courtesy)
July 31, 2019, 4:18 am
Is there anything Jewish mama Rain Pryor — Richard’s daughter — can’t do?
The singer, actress, author and comedian who has carved a space of her own in the entertainment industry announces that she is dipping her toes into another pool: politics
By Arielle Kaplan
Jamaica Kincaid listens during a panel on migration at the National Library of Israel's Global Forum, March 18, 2019. (Yonatan Kelberman)
March 31, 2019, 10:24 pm
Jamaica Kincaid is black and Jewish — but she’s through talking about identity
Speaking with The Times of Israel on the sidelines of the National Library of Israel’s Global Forum, the acclaimed author shares her thoughts on migration and religion
By Yaakov Schwartz
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