Dinah Abrahamson (1954December 17, 2013) was an American author and politician. A native of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, Abrahamson was a member of the Nebraska State Central Committee as well as an active member of the Republican Party. She was also known for her appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Network special on the lives of

Hasidic Jews Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

. Abrahamson and her family were most memorable for being one of few

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

families associated with the

Chabad Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups ...

movement.

Early life

Abrahamson was born in

, in 1954, the daughter of immigrants. Her father was of

Afro-Panamanian Afro-Panamanians are Panamanians of African descent. The Afro-Panamanian population can be mainly broken into one of two categories "Afro-Colonials", Afro-Panamanians descended from slaves brought to Panama during the colonial period, and "Afro-A ...

descent and her mother was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent from Germany. Raised by her mother and maternal grandparents, Abrahamson grew up in a secular Jewish household and would only attend synagogue on events within the Jewish community.

Religious views

In 1993, Abrahamson and her two children joined the Hasidic Jewish dynasty, Chabad Lubavitch. After being raised in a secular household, Abrahamson became religious as she grew older and got to know herself better. The Abrahamsons were one of few Hasidic families, let alone black Hasidic families, in the Omaha area. Her daughter Sarah eventually moved to Brooklyn, New York to work at a Hasidic Jewish day school. Shortly afterwards, Abrahamson and her son Yosef joined Sarah in New York City in order to be closer to a larger Jewish community. The family ultimately settled in Crown Heights, a neighborhood known for both its large African-American and Hasidic Jewish communities who live side by side in the area.

Politics

Abrahamson was an active member of the Republican Party. She was a member of the Nebraska State Central Committee, as well as a supporter of Nebraska politician

Lee Terry Lee Raymond Terry (born January 29, 1962) is a former American politician and a senior law firm adviser. From 1999 to 2015, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for as a member of the Republican Party. Since 2015, Terry ...

, who was a family friend of Abrahamson.

Writing

At the time of her death, Abrahamson had self-published a book on race relations in America.

Death

Abrahamson died on December 17, 2013. She was survived by her children, her sister and a granddaughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahamson, Dinah 1954 births 2013 deaths African-American Jews African-American women in politics African-American women writers American Hasidim American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Panamanian descent Jewish women writers Jewish women politicians Nebraska Republicans Politicians from Omaha, Nebraska People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn African-American people in Nebraska politics Jewish American people in Nebraska politics Writers from Omaha, Nebraska Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim