Israel as Africa, Africa as Israel: "Divine Geography" in the Personal Narratives and Community Identity of the Black Hebrew Israelites

"Food for Peace": The Vegan Religion of the Hebrews of Jerusalem

“…17 Many studies have dealt with the Black Hebrews (Du Bois 1970[1920-19631970), (Washington 1972), (Jones 1988) (Fauset 1980(Fauset [1944) (Ben Ammi 1982Ammi , 1994Ammi , 2004Ammi , 2005Ammi , 1994, (Markowitz 1996), (Hoffman 2002), (Rucker 2002), (Israeli Foreign Ministry 29 September 2006), (Markowitz, Helman, Shir-Vertesh 2003), (Grossman 2007), (Rofeh 2007), yet no diachronic study was done with reference to the Jewish roots of their tradition. 18 Vegetarianism as an ideology is rare among Jewish communities.…”

Yah’s Exemplary Soldiers: African Hebrew Israelites in the Israel Defense Forces

“…While Israelis often speak of them dismissively as a cult, the AHIJ are best described as a spiritual community who were led for many years by a charismatic leader, Ben Ammi Ben Israel (1939-2014. The African Hebrews identify as descendants of the Biblical Israelites and consider Israel to be their ancestral homeland, which they locate in northeastern Africa, not the Middle East (Markowitz 1996). They do not practice Judaism, nor are they recognized as Jews by Israel's religious authorities, but they worship the God of Israel-whom they refer to as Yah, a shortened vocalization of the Tetragrammaton-and adhere to a Torah-based lifestyle.…”

Diaspora and Belonging

“…In 1969, however, he received another vision in which he was told that the community should live in eastern Africa instead of western Africa -Israel, specifically (Markowitz 1996). The AHIC website says, "In today's world, man has created so many diversions from and substitutions for the true worship of God that the people have lost their way.…”

“…Things I had always felt but never heard. I thought, 'This is it,' and I was ready then to join the community (Markowitz 1996).…”

“…Unlike traditional Judaism, there are no coming of age Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremonies (ibid., 60) and polygyny is practiced widely (ibid., 61). They also observe New World Passover and Sisters Day, which have no equivalents in the Jewish calendar (Markowitz 1996). As Prince Asiel, the highest-ranking prince and second-in-command to Ben Ammi, explained in an interview with American Jewish Life magazine, the community followed all written law as found in the five books of Moses, but did not abide by the oral law of the Talmud.…”