Beth Yeshurun Jews of Color: Black Jews in Africa, Israel, and the US

Welcome Bernice Heilbrunn as our guest teacher for Jews of Color: Black Jews in Africa, Israel, and the US. In six classes, we’ll explore the sub-Saharan groups that consider themselves descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes and those who converted en masse to Judaism. From Ethiopia, we will follow the Beta Israel from mud huts and mud wall synagogues as they courageously make aliyah to Israel. We will stay with them as they transform themselves within a generation, adapting to modern Israel and becoming Ethiopian Israelis, not without pain along the way, some grave missteps among Israelis, and massive public demonstrations among previously quiet people now asserting their rights. Then we’ll cross continents to discover devout Black Hebrew Israelites in the US and Black Jews. Looking at the past and the present of Black Jews in the US, we will ask, “How do we embrace one another as we pursue the future of Judaism?”