Many of the Evangelical Christian community have been mum on the republican President Donald Trump’s racial animus. Part of the Evangelicals’s blindness towards the president’s racist bias has to do with his policies in favor of Israel. For example, most Evangelicals supported the president’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

About 80 % of White Evangelical Christians voted for President Trump in 2016 and this group comprises about 35% of his base.

I was discussing the above facts as well as voicing my disappointment about too many in the Evangelical Christian world having failed to hold our president accountable for his racist comments and attitude.

She mentioned that our Evangelical brothers and sisters may not be aware that there are Black Ethiopian Jews living in Israel. People forget that there were Black Jewish folks as described in the bible like in Songs of Solomon 1:5, where Solomon describes his physical appearance; He says “I am black and handsome, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

See: The History of Ethiopian Jewry | My Jewish Learning

See: Ethiopian Jews | The Times of Israel

See: They didn’t want Ethiopian Jews in Israel, either – Opinion – Israel/ Haaretz .

Then my daughter started talking about the existence of black Jews or the “The Hebrew Israelites” who are considered to be  the “lost sheep” of Israel, based on the list of curses found in the Bible verses of Deuteronomy Chapter 28. According to my daughter, this Chapter 28 describes how the Israelites who did not obey God would be disbursed through-out many lands to live the life of slaves.

She poised the question, what if these same Evangelicals who are condoning racism were made aware that they could be held accountable by God for messing with Blacks who could be “The Hebrew Israelites?”

Frankly, I’d never heard of the “The Hebrew Israelites” until my daughter educated me on this topic.

Here’s the rest of the story…

On August 29, 2016, Sam Kestenbaum of  Foward penned the following report, “Who Are The Hebrew Israelites?”

Excerpts:

“Their story rarely finds its way into the mainstream news. When it does, readers are surprised.”

“A cousin of First Lady Michelle Obama is a black rabbi in Chicago? Generations of African Americans — not religious converts — who observe the Sabbath and read the Torah? A star NBA player decides to move to Jerusalem on a spiritual journey, calling himself the descendent of an “ancient tribe of the Hebrew Israelites?” What does it mean?”

“Parallel to the American Jewish story, another complex spiritual tale has been unfolding for over a century — that of the Hebrew Israelites.”

“Hebrew Israelites are people of color, mostly African Americans, who view the biblical Israelites as their historic ancestors. For Hebrew Israelites, the transatlantic slave trade was foretold in scripture and they understand those Africans who were enslaved in the Americas as Israelites, severed from their heritage. Now they are returning.”

“Israelites of all stripes today point to specific scriptures as prophetic proof of their ancestry, particularly Deuteronomy 28. For Israelites, the chapter describes a foretelling of slavery and servitude in the Americas: “The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.” The chapter also describes those Israelites being made to serve false gods and lose knowledge of their true identities.”

How old is the movement?

“Over a century. There is no one “founder” of the movement, instead an entire generation of patriarchs who shared related beliefs. These figures were commonly called Black Jews in their lifetimes, but later generations carrying on their traditions have gravitated towards Hebrew Israelite or simply Israelite.”

“These patriarchs include a former runaway slave named William Saunders Crowdy, who gained a following in the 1890s, teaching that blacks were the “lost sheep of Israel” and that they should return to the ancient ways of the Hebrews as described in the bible.”

“In NY, a Barbadian musician named Arnold Josiah Ford founded a Harlem congregation in 1924 and also taught that blacks should take on the Hebrew faith. Ford was an associate of nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and led a small group of followers to Ethiopia in 1930 where he lived until his death.”

“Arguably the most influential leader was another Caribbean-born rabbi named Wentworth Arthur Matthew, who was ordained by Ford. Matthew founded an influential congregation in Harlem known as the Commandment Keepers in 1919. That congregation became a hub of high-profile activity for decades, visited frequently by Jewish journalists (including reporters from the Yiddish Forverts). Matthew formed a rabbinical school and taught an entire generation of spiritual leaders.”

More details about the formative years of these groups can be found in the book “Chosen People,” by Jacob Dorman, a professor of history at Kansas University. For a perspective from the Israelite Board, Rabbi Sholomo Ben Levy maintains a website, with many pages of insider history, about “people who identify as Black Jews or Israelites.”

Why ‘Israelites’ and not Jews?

“From around the the 1890s to the mid 1960s, the leaders mentioned above were most commonly called Black Jews. Beginning in the mid 1960s, a younger generation of community members ushered in the term Hebrew Israelite.”