Rabbi Funnye’s Sukkot Plans
While President Barack Obama spent Labor Day weekend at Camp David, his wife Michelle’s cousin, Rabbi Capers Funnye, is heading out for a very different kind of camp experience over Sukkot.
While Obama and his diplomatic team will work (thanklessly in some quarters) through a historically intractable conflict to spread a sukkah of peace over Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Funnye will be focusing on bringing Jews of diverse backgrounds and cultures together under a single metaphorical roof to celebrate the Jewish Thanksgiving.
Funnye, leader of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, is scheduled to be scholar-in-residence at the Be’chol Lashon Family Sukkot Retreat at the Walker Creek Ranch in Petaluma, Calif. Over the course of the September 24-27 weekend, he will be teaching, leading prayers and preaching, “just as one might expect a rabbi to do,” said Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, the organization’s on-staff rabbi. “But at the same time he is an inspiration and a role model in so many ways. He is committed to social justice for the African-American community and to connecting the white Jewish world with the richness that his congregation offers,” she continued.
Be’chol Lashon, an offshoot of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, founded by the late Dr. Gary A. Tobin, seeks to grow and strengthen the Jewish people through ethnic, cultural, and racial inclusiveness. It works in the areas of research, community-building and education in North America, Africa and South America. According to Abusch-Magder, Be’chol Lashon is the only professional organization operating in this field.
Rabbi Funnye , who serves on the Chicago Board of Rabbis, is the Associate Director of Be’chol Lashon. With all his efforts to bridge the African-American Jewish community with other Jews, the first lady’s first cousin should be better known as engaged than once removed.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
