I was very interested in todays discussion, because I have never been exposed to Black Jews in America. As I mentioned in class, I have seen many Ethiopian Jews in Israel, but I have yet to see Black Jews in a synagouge. I decided to google Black Jews and the first hit was a website, www.BlackJews.org which I decided to look at in order to learn more about this Jewish community in America.
The first two lines of the website state that while it is a website for all to read, it is a, "gateway for people of color who wish to connect with others who share their faith and can identify with their experiences". I found this wording interesting considering that the term "color" is no longer used to describe Black people. The introductory page of the website addresses the issue of race, and compares itself to Joseph who wore a "coat of many colors". I took this to mean that Black Jews deal with both racial and religious issues, as opposed to a White Jew.
I was interested in seeing where different Black Jewish synagouges were located, but the page would not load. I would be extremely interested in attending a service, not because I think it would differ from one I have attended, but because I feel like a different atmosphere with different kinds of Jews would allow me to broaden my religious experiences.
2 comments:
Heather,
You wrote on a subject we barely touched on in class the other day and I would like to pose a further question. The website you found in addition to our readings and the video we watched all referred to these black Jews as "Jews of Color" but I wonder why this name has stuck when names for African Americans or black people have not. Names for this minority group within America is constantly evolving so why is it that synagogues and other organizations have continued to refer to their own people as "Jews of Color?"
heather,
I was really intrigued by the black Jews class too. The video we watched seemed kind of foreign, and everyone's reactions were interesting. It's weird that we kind of treated it like a joke when the people in the video were taking it seriously. probably because we have never been exposed to this kind of thing.
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