When I was growing up, I thought that I was related to Sammy Davis Jr. Whenever people would find out I was Jewish they would instantly ask, “Like Sammy Davis Jr.?” It was as if he was the only Black Jew in the world — besides me, of course. Yet we had nothing in common…
Walk by Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem and you’ll notice something interesting. A Star of David can be seen atop each of the four fluted Ionic columns at the main entrance, leaving a subtle trace that it was once used a synagogue. It’s a familiar story often told in cities both large and small…
Torah teaches Black lives matter. Torah teaches all lives matter. This truth has resonated around the world with non-Jews and Jews who are Black, indigenous and people of color and Jews who aren’t. Movements and political positions come and go, but the truth of Torah is eternal. While the truth of Torah is beyond time…
As the country reels from the assault on the Capitol, Georgia’s election of two Democratic senators — one Black, one Jewish — is creating waves of nostalgia for a more hopeful, optimistic time. “I think Abraham Joshua Heschel, the rabbi who said, when he marched with Dr. King, he felt like his legs were praying,…
In 1961, the story of the Freedom Riders captured the American imagination: young, mostly white Northern students teaming up with Southern, mostly black civil-rights activists to stage acts of civil disobedience by simply riding together on segregated buses. Traveling through the South in Integrated groups, the activists faced violence and arrests, followed by weeks-long stays…
Editor’s note: In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Forward is resurfacing some of our recent coverage related to the Black-Jewish experience and racial justice. This article originally appeared in June, 2020. I converted to Judaism because I fell in love with Judaism. I also naively believed that once I converted to Judaism,…
The exodus of Black residents from La Cienega Heights reflects a broader trend of Black migration out of L.A.’s core
Editor’s note: In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Forward is resurfacing some of our recent coverage related to the Black-Jewish experience and racial justice. This article originally appeared in July, 2020. As an offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Zach Banner is paid to throw all six feet, eight inches and 350…
