Yid Vid: Michelle Obama’s Rabbi Cousin Has Some Advice for the President
Rabbi Capers Funnye, Jr., a cousin of First Lady Michelle Obama, is calling on President Obama to make Middle East peace “a top priority” of his administration. Funnye appears with a handful of other rabbis in a five-minute video, created before the inauguration by the organization Brit Tzedek v’Shalom – Jewish Alliance for Justice & Peace — pleading with the new president to promote a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. “There is no time left to walk softly and hope for the best,” Funnye, who attended his in-law’s inauguration Tuesday, says in the video.
On behalf of Brit Tzedek, Funnye, adds: “As Jewish clergy, we pledge to mobilize our people behind your leadership for a mutually acceptable two-state solution. We pledge to support you through difficult, trying times and to celebrate with you when the job is done.”
Funnye is the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago.
Other rabbis in the video ask President Obama to move quickly to appoint a high-level Middle East Envoy.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture This Jewish New Yorker survived the Holocaust and the Hungarian Revolution, and is still helping others today
-
Fast Forward Trump says he and Netanyahu are ‘on the same side of every issue’ following talks on Iran, tariffs
-
Fast Forward California school board members accused of antisemitism during contentious meeting
-
Fast Forward Over 100 Chicago-area rabbis and cantors condemn Trump’s campus crackdown
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.