Judaism growing among black Americans

UPI via Interest!Alert ^ | June 4, 2K4 | UPI

[goldstategop]

The Nazis didn't care whether Jews were observant or not. Their beliefs were still perceived as a danger and that is why every Jew was marked out for death - even secular Jews could have a spiritual reawakening and return to their roots. The Nazis were attempting to wipe out an entire religion and since Judaism is also a way of life, an entire civilization as well. Jews have been persecuted before under various regimes in history but in the modern era they were finally deemed too dangerous to keep around. Ideas do matter and the Jews had one that placed G-d at the center of history which was an impediment to those who wanted a world without Him and without goodness, mercy and justice.

[SJackson]

The Nazis targeted Jews based on their ancestry and/or contemporary relationships, ie marriage. Belief had nothing to do with it. A sincere Catholic with a Jewish dad was a Jew.

You're right that underlying the Nuremburg laws was the objective to rid the world of the Jewish faith, but it wasn't belief oriented in practice, as was the Inquisition where sincere conversion provided a way out.

[SJackson]

If you had a Jewish grandparent, that was enough to get you sent to the camps.

Or a spouse, or "identified" with the Jewish community.

[goldstategop]

The Nazi aim wasn't to allow the Jews to save their lives by allowing them to opt out of Judaism. It was to kill them simply for being Jews. The level of observance had nothing to do with it. That is where the Holocaust differed from previous persecutions. In earlier times, Jews could usually convert or move to some other country to save there lives. During the Holocaust they were simply marked out for death. The ancestry though was based on religious, not racial stipulation. Any one not registered in a church was presumed to be a Jew. Before the government took over registration in the mid-19th century, that was the way things were. Anyway, the point is the Nazis were not interested in the Jewish "nose." They were interested in extinguishing the transmission of the Jewish religion permanently.

[searchandrecovery]

(I'm getting to your answer).

Great article. Stunned silence on my part. You make me wish I'd been a history major. Let me read the book before I reply.

[pepperdog]

I seem to remember something about a group of black people in a country other than the Middle East--perhaps Africa, who claimed to be the Lost Tribe. They kept Jewish religious practices and rules. Later they were tested via DNA and lo and behold, it was verified that they were of Jewish ancestry. Hopefully someone else on this thread will provide a better story than what I can remember. I remember it because the leader of this group (rabbi?) was so certain that they were decendents of the Lost Tribe, he just had no doubt what-so-ever. I thought the whole thing was extremely interesting.

[searchandrecovery]

Hopefully someone else on this thread will provide a better story than what I can remember.

They immigrated from Africa to America (Detroit, actually), and went on to become the musical sensation known as "The Supremes". (Hey, it's a story).

[Coleus]

If memory serves me right Johnny Walker Lindh's mother was a fallen-away Catholic who turned to paganism Hindu and Buddhism and didn't really practice any religion faithfully, she was confused which led to her son's confusion. Dad was a homosexual who taught his son diversity and tolerance and NO moral values.

[Coleus]

There is no such thing as black Judaism >>>

I saw this on 60 Minutes a few years ago

The Lemba -- The Black Jews of Southern Africa

NOVA Online | Lost Tribes of Israel | The Lemba

The Lemba People

Jews in Africa, Part II - Ancient Black African Relations

CONSTRUCTING BLACK JEWS: GENETIC TESTS AND THE LEMBA

The Lemba underwent DNA testing at the University of Arizona where it was determined they were descendents from one or more of the 12 tribes of Israel.

At Israel Doorstep

[Slings and Arrows]

Thanks for the links.

I am aware that there are black Jews, and that there are forms of Judaism practiced primarily, if not solely, by black people. There is, however, no reason why a non-black could not convert and practice such a form of Judaism, just as there is no reason a black person could not convert to any other form of Judaism.

There are heretical sects of Christianity and Islam in which the color of one's skin is a - or THE - factor in determining salvation. (No flames, please, the keyword is "heretical.") No such sect exists in Judaism.

[LS]

Thanks. Dr. Price did the Biblical/scriptural research, but I did a lot of the early American research. If you want another book on the changing view of blacks in the antebellum southern churches, see H. Shelton Smith, "In His Image, But . . . ." It shows how blacks were not viewed as "less than human" prior to the Declaration.

Jefferson's incredible statement of truth---that "all men are created equal"---forced upon racist American Christians (all American Christians CERTAINLY were not racist, but it is undeniable that many were) a world view in which they had to deny large parts of the Bible ("in Christ there is neither slave nor free, male nor female") but also the Declaration.

[LS]

I don't know about these things, but I think that a reasonable reading of the Bible suggests that no only theoretically is it IMPOSSIBLE for God to have "cursed" anyone with black skin or permanent slavery, but if you look at the relevant passages, someone has to do serious damage to them to make them yield such a result. Consider the canard that Noah "cursed" Ham with black skin and that somehow this also invoved the "curse of Cain" which was to "serve his brothers":

1) God ALREADY BLESSSED Noah AND HIS SONS, so Noah's "curse" could NOT overcome what God had already blessed;

2) Cain was not cursed with serving all men, only his brothers. This was a family thing.

3) Even if either of these somehow was related to black skin and/or slavery, any "curse" cannot be passed on indefinitely. The Bible says repeatedly (and Jesus said) that the "sins of the father" were not visited upon the sons.

4) More important, we have clear evidence of God BLESSING blacks specifically: Abram's slave, Hagar, bore Ishmael, whom God did not give the blessing He gave Isaac (because God told Abram to have a child with Sarah) but God DID bless Ishmael---who was an Egyptian, i.e., black.

5) Bathsheeba was a Hittite, and therefore black, meaning Solomon was the result of a union between David and Bathsheeba, i.e., part black. Song of Solomon refers to his (for want of a better term) "nappy" hair and his extremely dark skin, which is often mistranslated as "tanned." The word does not mean tanned, but naturally dark.

6) Only a couple of women are mentioned in all the of genealogy of Christ: notably, they were black. Think God was trying to remind everyone that there is a little of every color in the Lord? I think so. (And I'm not saying Jesus was a Negro, but darker than, say, Jim Caveziel.)

6) One of the 12 Disciples was black, Simon of Cyrene (also called the "Cananite"). He must have been "equal enough" to lay hands on the first Apostles and anoint them, as did the other 11.

Bottom line: while the "black pride" movement has gone way out in left field with "Black Jesus," there is ample evidence of racial equality in the Bible. God is "no respecter of persons," Peter said. That pretty well sums it up.