African-American // Current

The Circus Comes to Tha Town

Deep in West Oakland, at the Prescott Elementary school, kids are learning about themselves, life, and juggling. The Prescott... more

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Why Barack Won The Election...

History has been made and regardless of your political disposition. The problems of the past are not ones to be forgotten but in... more

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McCain Concedes

Senator John McCain delivered this concession speech in front of supporters in his home state of Arizona.

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Obama Wins!

On Tuesday, November 4th, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America. In his acceptance speech Obama... more

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President Obama must lower America's expectations

Since campaigning began in earnest nearly two years ago, the economy has gone from boom to bust. Obama will have to tell his... more

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A black president: From fantasy to fact

There are years of politics and policy before Obama will be judged. But what is clear is he is now the personification of a... more

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Barack Obama wins!!!

The euphoric reaction of the crowd in Oakland at the moment that Barack Obama's victory was announced. Glad to be there... more

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CHICAGO - When Rabbi Capers Funnye Jr. first met Barack Obama, he judged him to be a little shy. To be fair, Obama wasn't yet an international celebrity or even running for president. He was just Funnye's cousin Michelle's husband, being dragged to family events filled with her relatives, including Funnye, her grandfather's nephew.
Rabbi Caper Funnye Jr.

Funnye describes Obama at those encounters as curious about his Judaism, since he knew many white Jews but wasn't familiar with the African-American Jewish community.

"He said he wanted to visit," Funnye relates from his office at Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago's South Side. Before Obama had a chance, though, he got caught up in campaigning.

Had Obama come to Beth Shalom, he would have found himself in the nation's second-oldest predominantly African-American synagogue, one with 220 members and a thriving religious and communal life.

He would have found a Shabbat service that mixes traditional Ashkenazi and Sephardi elements, with lengthy Hebrew davening from a Sephardi prayer book preceding a Torah service and then Kiddush. And he would have seen a range of observance - some Orthodox, like adherence to kosher laws, and some outside of what's permissible at a Reform congregation, such as collecting money from members during the service.

But he also would have found a Shabbat experience all its own, with distinctively black cultural accents - after reading from the Torah and returning it to the ark, a choir sings a James Weldon Johnson poem, followed by men in prayer shawls thumping rhythms on African drums and a sermon delivered by Funnye with the soulful cadence and full-body animation of a black preacher.

Though Funnye was raised in the black church, he clearly takes umbrage at such comparisons - in part because others have mistaken such similarities for a shared theology - and stresses that his synagogue practices rabbinic Judaism.

To those who believe such differences in practice raise question marks about the sincerity or authenticity of the congregation's Jewishness, Funnye counters that Judaism has taken on many forms and customs in the various places in which it has thrived.

"Judaism as it is has evolved," he declares in his rich, deep voice, noting that some haredim wear a uniform adopted from the gentiles they once lived among in Eastern Europe. "If you're going to tell me that the beaver hat and knickers and long black coats are inherent to Judaism, I beg to differ. It's Jews who took the dress of the aristocrats. I don't believe that Abraham wore a beaver hat."

And he quotes Psalm 150 from memory to make the point that musical instruments were once a part of religious ceremonies at the ancient Temple in Jerusalem ("...praise Him with drums and dancing..."). During services, he tells the swaying congregants: "We drum to invigorate the eternal inside us."

click the link to read the rest of the story.CHICAGO - When Rabbi Capers Funnye Jr. first met Barack Obama, he judged him to be a little shy. To be fair, Obama wasn't yet... more