Leader of Israel’s Black Hebrews Dies at 75
Image by haaretz
The spiritual leader of an influential group of African-Americans who moved to Israel died Saturday.
Ben Ammi Ben Israel, the Chicago-born leader of the African Hebrew Israelites group that lived in Dimona, Israel, was 75. There was no immediate cause of death, Haaretz reported.
“It was an honor and a blessing to have known him,” Yafah Baht Gavriel, a spokesperson for the community, told the paper. “We will continue to live our lives according to his teachings.”
The death of Ben Israel, known as “Abba Gadol” (Great Father), plunged his followers in Dimona and around the world into a state of shock.
As news spread of his passing, Black Hebrews expressed grief and uncertainty about the future of the community. School was canceled as a sign of respect at the community’s school in Dimona.
Ben Israel was born Ben Carter on October 12, 1939 in Chicago. He led the community to Israel in 1969 after a failed effort to relocate in West Africa.
Ben Israel was the second prominent black spiritual leader to die in recent weeks. Last month, Rabbi Hailu Moshe Paris died in New York at 81.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
