(Sally Ryan/The New York Times)
Niko Koppel* authored a pretty dope article in the NYT spotlighting the work of Capers C. Funnye, Jr., the rabbi of the 200-member Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Far Southeast Chicago, which is made up predominantly of black Jews.
(Nah, not the weird Hebrew Israelites who dress up like samurai and stand on various Manhattan corners yelling at passers-by. But an actual congregation full of African-American Jews who fall somewhere between Conservative and Orthodox, read the Torah, and sing the Black National Anthem in a synagogue.)
Their rabbi, Capers C. Funnye, Jr. is reaching out to the larger Jewish community, which has treated them with suspicion or rejected them outright.
As the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and of numerous mainstream Jewish organizations, Rabbi Funnye (pronounced fun-AY) is on a mission to bridge racial and religious divisions by encouraging Chicago’s wider Jewish community to embrace his followers — the more than 200 members of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.
“I am a Jew,” said Rabbi Funnye, “and that breaks through all color and ethnic barriers.”
Funnye grew up in an A.M.E. church, which might explain some of the gospel-ish influences in his congregation’s music.
*The obligatory little disclosure jawn: Niko Koppel is a colleague and friend.
