Arts & Culture

The Opinionated Jewish Man: Black Jews and Stupid Jews

I met Al Green when I was fifteen, and besides the fact that I was meeting the voice that has inspired countless people to make babies together, the thing that really struck me was the size of his Magen David.  … Read More

By / August 30, 2010

I met Al Green when I was fifteen, and besides the fact that I was meeting the voice that has inspired countless people to make babies together, the thing that really struck me was the size of his Magen David.  I nervously pulled mine out and said, "your Star of David is much bigger than mine," and asked him to sign my notebook. The good reverend laughed, handed me back the autograph he’d just signed, and said, "Jews are a great people," and walked off.

For the next few weeks, in those pre-Wikipedia days, I was under the impression that Al Green was a black Jew, and I was totally blown away.  Al bringing the two cultures together seemed appropriate, and would have been a welcome addition to the Tribe in my book.  Obviously, I was pretty disappointed when I found out that Al Green is so not Jewish that he’s a reverend.

I thought about that the other day as I read the New York Times article on African-American Orthodox Jews.  While it’s nothing I haven’t heard before, statements like "they are sometimes taunted as “monkeys” or with the Yiddish epithet for blacks" never cease to shock, and always disapoint me. And even though I know the answer to this question, I’m asking it anyway: what sort of douchey Jew doesn’t like black Jews?  Jews should welcome African-Americans into the fold like apples and honey, peanut butter and chocolate, lox and bagels, Hall and Oates, and any other awesome combination you can imagine.  

 

  • Kokapelye

    You do all know that ?????? means black, as in the color, and that ???????? means black man with no particular pejorative sense, right? Context makes all the difference. In a neutral context, ?????? and its derivatives mean much the same as black and its derivatives, e.g., “black Jew,” “Moses Was A Black Man,” “blacks,” and “black person.” Only in a negative context —which I won’t give an example— is that “sch-word” equivalent to the “n-word.” In other words, Mel Brooks and Dave Chappelle are hilarious when they use their respective, ahem-words, but a baleboste whose complaints imply her maid’s failings are because she is black is in the same category with the Klan.

  • Jules from London

    But I think I have a feeling where the distrust of blacks by some white Jews may come from in this regard. Groups who call themselves "Black Hebrews" claim that they are the only true descendents of the biblical Jews and that European Jews are frauds, Khazars, etc. I’m guessing that, especially in the older generations, some Jews are worried that today’s black Jews think the same as the black Hebrews, even though they’re completely different groups.

     

    Anyway, monkey taunts or the sch-word are definitely for d-bags. 

  • Hebrewzzi

    I need to address an implication in veganesther’s comment.

    There’s a serious problem in the observant Jewish community of grouping non-religious Jews with evil. 

    I haven’t been observant for at least 13-14 years. While I identify and appreciate Jewish culture, I do not practice spiritually.

    I resent the implication that if you don’t follow the Torah you merely look at Judaism as a racial identity and "get hung up on the color of a Jew’s skin."

    If you’re raised properly – regardless of your religious affiliation – race shouldn’t be an issue for you. It has never been an issue with me and I will instill the same values in my future children.

    On the contrary, one of the subjects of the NY Times article is a close friend of mine. It was heart-wrenching to here the vile things that were said to him throughout his conversion and attempted assimilation in the Chasidic society – not to mention his nearly futile attempts to procure a place to live or a job within the community. So for you to say that people who follow the Torah aren’t racists is completely false — apparently you’ve never been to Boro Park. 

    The sooner we abandon race or gender as the basis to do anything we desire to do, the sooner we will progress as one race – the human race. 

  • veganesther

    racist Jews. jews who care about spiritual journeys and devotion to G-d love all their fellow jews. Jews who have abandoned the Torah and cling to the concept of Jews as a race identity get hung up on the color of a jews skin. but that is not how I am raising my family and that was not the way i was raised.