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Founded by Ben Ammi in the 1960s, The African Hebrew Israelite movement is a rejection of American culture and materialism.
Like Elijah Muhammad and W.D. Fard, Ben Ammi (born Ben Carter), founder of the African Hebrew Israelite movement, was not so much an innovator as an expansionist and opportunist. African American sympathy with a Jewish identity is not new. With roots in Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad and slave spirituals, the Jewish history of slavery, dispossession and suffering has long resonated with the oppressed black population. Scholars note slave revolt leaders who looked toward Biblical heroes such as Samson, and stories, such as Exodus and the siege at Jericho for inspiration. Ben Ammi will later teach that black Hebrews were among the diverse peoples captured from Africa during the slave trade and brought to America. Young Ben Ammi, influenced by a small handful of Black Hebrew leaders, particularly a man by the name of Eliyahoo Buie, as well as Black Nationalist leaders such as Marcus Garvey, began his religious career in Chicago neighborhoods in the early 1960s. Preaching to groups of followers often in private homes in Chicago's south side, Ben Ammi taught that American blacks were direct descendents of the Biblical Hebrew leaders, that is, sons and daughters of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were themselves black. Ben Ammi taught a simple religion, with a heavy emphasis on social restructuring. He encouraged and inspired people to strive for self sufficiency, to practice cooperative economics and natural health and to improve their economic and social status. In 1967, at just 27 years of age, Ben Ammi led a group of approximately three hundred followers to Liberia, where they settled for several years before moving on to Israel. The small community at Dimona, Israel initially struggled for economic stability and political acceptance. In recent years however, under the continuing leadership of Ben Ammi and with support from the United States, the Dimona community has grown and flourished. Today it is home to 2000 emigrants, hundreds of indigenously born youth, a large organic farm, a school and a restaurant and is the locale for the processing and exportation of many raw goods that the community produces, such as soy milks and products, cotton clothing and other items. Devotees in urban centers throughout the United States, England and Jamaica seek to emulate this utopia achieved in Israel at home, and may visit the community at Dimona from time to time. Insisting that they follow not a religion but a way of life, devotees nonetheless turn to the Old Testament for social guidance and reject many mainstream cultural values. Conservative cotton clothing and head coverings are worn by all followers, and a vegan diet of organic foods is eaten, in order to maximize health and as a rejection of imposed culture. Though worship and ritual is minimalized, members seek to create a lifestyle that is in accordance with the desires of God, and thus aim to be in a reverent and worshipful state at every moment. The New Testament, and particularly Revelations, is also cited from time to time. Jesus, it is taught, and to whom Ben Ammi occasionally compares himself, was a black Israelite prophet, teaching the ways back to the true God. Although they recognize the Old Testament, followers continue to reject the Talmud as a later and superfluous development and don't adhere to traditional Jewish festivals, having developed their own. Unsurprisingly then, they have not been accepted by orthodox Jews, who insist that this acceptance will come only with formal conversion and community adherence to halachah, the requirements of the law of the Torah. Black Hebrews in turn have responded that they are the original true Jews and have no need to convert. Further, it is stated that the halachah, in originating from a white tradition, is innately oppressive, and is an attempt to "exclude blacks from their 'rightful heritage'". It must be duly noted that the African Hebrew Israelits are only one particular group of Black Hebrews in the United States. But, as groups don't necessarily associate strongly with one leader over another, there is much overlap, and media and academic sources often refer to the "Black Hebrews" in general.
The copyright of the article African Hebrew Israelites in Alternative Spirituality is owned by Jolinda Cary. Permission to republish African Hebrew Israelites in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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