Racism in Jewish communities is a source of concern for
people of color
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
, particularly for
Jews of color
Jews of color (or Jews of colour) is a neologism, primarily used in North America, that describes Jews from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, whether biracial, adopted, Jews by choice, or part of other national or geographic populations (or a ...
. Black Jews, Indigenous Jews, and other Jews of color report that they experience racism from white Jews in many countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Kenya, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
and
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...
also report experiences with racism by
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
. The centering of Ashkenazi Jews is sometimes known as
Ashkenormativity. In historically white-dominated countries with a legacy of anti-Black racism, such as the United States and South Africa, racism within the Jewish community often manifests itself as anti-Blackness. In
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, racism among
Israeli Jews
Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis ( he, יהודים ישראלים, translit=Yehudim Yisraelim) are Israeli citizens and nationals who are Jewish through either their Jewish ethnicity and/or their adherence to Judaism. The term also includes ...
often manifests itself as
discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
and
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
against Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews,
Ethiopian Jews
The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...
,
African immigrants, and
Palestinians
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
.
Jews of color
Jews of color are Jewish people who are Black, Asian, Indigenous, or otherwise
non-white
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
. Hispanic and Latino Jews may be of any race. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews may or may not be Jews of color. While it is sometimes assumed that Ashkenazi Jews are white and Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews are Jews of color, there are both Ashkenazi Jews of color and white Sephardi and white Mizrahi Jews.
The Multiracial Jewish Network has published a privilege checklist which details the marginalization which is faced by Jews of color. Congregation Beth Israel of Portland, Oregon has also published a "White-Ashkenazi Awareness Checklist", detailing the
white privilege
White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. With roots ...
that white Ashkenazi Jews have over Jews of color and non-Ashkenazi Jews.
LGBT Jews of color face unique issues when they navigate through the
intersections of racism,
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
,
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
, and
transphobia
Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...
. The Multiracial Jewish Network has created a Queer Jews of Color Resource List in order to aid LGBT Jews of color. The Queer Mikveh Project is a grassroots project to create
safe space
The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...
that centers LGBT Jews of color.
Issues
Colonialism and slavery
Some Jews participated in the
European colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short ter ...
, particularly Western European Jews with origins in Portugal, Spain, England, the Netherlands, and Germany. Some Jews also owned Black slaves in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, most notably in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
, but also in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
, and elsewhere.
Especially in Suriname, white
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
owned many large plantations. Most Jewish slave owners in the United States and the Caribbean were white Sephardim of
Spanish and Portuguese
Portuguese and Spanish, although closely related Romance languages, differ in many aspects of their phonology, grammar and lexicon. Both belong to a subset of the Romance languages known as West Iberian Romance, which also includes several othe ...
descent. However, a small number of white
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
also participated in slavery, most of whom were of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
descent. The
Mordecai House
The Mordecai House (also called the Mordecai Plantation or Mordecai Mansion), built in 1785, is a registered historical landmark and museum in Raleigh, North Carolina that is the centerpiece of Mordecai Historic Park, adjacent to the Historic Oa ...
in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
is a notable example of a plantation owned by an Ashkenazi slave owner. The Moses Mordecai family were of
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
descent. Populations of Black Jews have been found throughout the Americas for centuries, with the most significant population living in Suriname. White Jewish male slave owners often converted their slaves to Judaism or fathered children with enslaved Black women. While many Black Jews during the colonial period were converts, including
patrilineal Jews who were converted as children, many Black Jews were Jewish from birth for multiple generations by the late 18th century. Black Jews who are descended from enslaved people, as well as non-Jewish Black people of Jewish descent, have lived for centuries in Jamaica,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. Black Jews have experienced discrimination and exclusion in multiple countries, including the United States, Suriname, and elsewhere.
Discrimination against non-Ashkenazim
Ashkenormativity is a form of Eurocentrism within Jewish communities that privileges Ashkenazi Jews (often white Ashkenazi Jews of European descent), over Sephardim, Mizrahim, and other Jews of non-Ashkenazi background. Ashkenormativity is not synonymous with whiteness, as many Jews are Ashkenazim of color and many Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews are white.
Jewish intelligence and race science
Some Jews have claimed that Jewish people as a whole, or Ashkenazi Jews in particular, are innately more intelligent on average compared to non-Jews or Sephardi Jews. Jewish intelligence and Jewish IQs have been widely discussed in the context of
scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies ...
. The supposed superior intelligence of Jewish people is sometimes referred to as "Jewish genius". The idea that biology determines Jewish intelligence has been criticized as dangerous, pseudoscientific, and racist. Some Jewish intellectuals including
Bret Stephens
Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative journalist, editor, and columnist. He began working as an opinion columnist for ''The New York Times'' in April 2017 and as a senior contributor to NBC News in June 2017.
...
and
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.
P ...
have promoted the idea that Ashkenazi Jews tend to be more intelligent.
White supremacy
A small number of Jewish people and people of Jewish descent have affiliated themselves with white supremacist, white nationalist, pro-Confederate, and neo-Nazi ideologies.
Michael Levin
Michael Levin (; born 21 May 1943) is an American philosopher and writer. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at City University of New York. He has published on metaphysics, epistemology, race, homosexuality, animal rights, the philosophy ...
and
Michael H. Hart
Michael H. Hart (born April 27, 1932), is an American astrophysicist, author, amateur historian, researcher, and white separatist/white nationalist. Since 1978, he has published five books, most notably of the best-selling work, '' The 100: A Ra ...
are prominent white nationalists, among the few Jews who openly affiliate with the movement. Much of the white nationalist movement endorses
racial antisemitism
Racial antisemitism is prejudice against Jews based on a belief or assertion that Jews constitute a distinct race that has inherent traits or characteristics that appear in some way abhorrent or inherently inferior or otherwise different from ...
and does not welcome Jews as movement members due to the belief that all Jews are collectively non-white, even if they are of European descent. However, some strands of white nationalism are inclusive of white Jewish people. Some white supremacists who are Jewish or of Jewish descent, such as Michael H. Hart and
Lawrence Auster
Lawrence Auster (January 26, 1949 – March 29, 2013) was an American racialist, conservative essayist who wrote on immigration and multiculturalism.
Personal life
Auster grew up in New Jersey, and was a cousin of the novelist Paul Auster. ...
, have denounced antisemitism within the white supremacist movement and have pushed for antisemites, Holocaust deniers, and neo-Nazis to be banned from white nationalist conferences. The white supremacist
Harold von Braunhut
Harold Nathan Braunhut (March 31, 1926 – November 28, 2003), also known as Harold von Braunhut, was an American mail-order marketer and inventor most famous as the creator and seller of both the Amazing Sea-Monkeys and the X-ray specs. His gra ...
, born Harold Braunhut, added "von" to his name to sound less Jewish and affiliated himself with the KKK and the Aryan Nations.
Dan Burros was a member of the
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National ...
and the
United Klans of America
The United Klans of America Inc. (UKA), based in Alabama, is a Ku Klux Klan organization active in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in membership in the late 1960s and 1970s,Abby Ferber. '' White Man Falling: Race, Gender, ...
; killing himself with a gun several hours after his Jewishness was publicly exposed.
[Ted Robert Gurr. '' Violence in America: The History of Crime''. Sage, 2004. pages 142–143]
Because antisemitism was not a core value of the first iteration of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, some white
Southern Jews were members of the KKK. The revival of the KKK in the 1920s, which in part was tied to the lynching of
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national at ...
, intensified antisemitism within the KKK. Bernard Postal of the
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...
noted the presence of Jews within the KKK in his 1928 ''Jewish Tribune'' article "Jews in the Ku Klux Klan". The presence of Jews in the first KKK has been highlighted by antisemitic propaganda, such as the ''
The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews
''The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews'' is a three-volume work of pseudo-scholarship, published by the Nation of Islam. The first volume, which was released in 1991, asserts that Jews dominated the Atlantic slave trade. ''The Secret ...
'', to falsely allege that white Jews played a dominant role in racist movements.
According to Ilana Kaufman, the executive director of the Jews of Color Alliance, discussions of white supremacy and white nationalism can be uncomfortable for white Jewish people who may have a perception that the Jewish community has been largely supportive of people of color. According to Kaufman, discussions about "bias" or "racism" are more palatable to white Jews, while addressing white Jewish complicity in white supremacy and acknowledging the erasure of Jews of color are often considered provocative.
By country
Canada
In 2022, the Ontario Jewish Archives and the No Silence on Race organization created a multi-media exhibit called "Periphery", which highlighted the voices of Jews of color and discussed racism within the Jewish community.
France
Black
Jews in France
The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsio ...
report facing both racism from white people, including white Jews, as well as antisemitism from non-Jews, including Black non-Jews. Guershon N’duwa of the Black-Jewish Federation in Paris has criticized the erasure and silencing of Black-Jewish perspectives in discussions about antisemitism and racism. N’duwa has stated that the voices of white Jews are prioritized in France over the voices of Black Jews, and that Black Jews are not sufficiently recognized within the French-Jewish community.
The book ''In the Shadow of Moses'' includes a chapter titled "The Color of Judaism", written by Aurélien Mokoko Gampiot and Cécile Coquet-Mokoko, which describes the challenges Black Jews in France face in normalizing "their presence in Jewish spaces in France by becoming visible" because "their identification with the Jewish people is inseparable from the issue of visibility."
Israel
Kenya
The
Jewish community
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, Kenya, has historically been predominantly white. When some Black Kenyans began
converting to Judaism and joined the mostly white Nairobi Synagogue, some white members of the synagogue initially refused to accept Black converts as Jewish and a small number left the synagogue in protest. Over time, Black Jews have integrated into the synagogue, and by 2018 about a third of all congregants were Black.
New Zealand
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
Jews in New Zealand report experiencing racism within the
New Zealand Jewish community, often feeling erased or excluded due to "prejudiced feelings and attitudes that are based upon signifiers of their Otherness such as skin colour and facial features." Dark-skinned Māori Jews may experience less acceptance within the Jewish community compared to light-skinned Māori Jews. Māori Jews who can
"pass" as
Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...
are treated more favorably, but may have their Māori identity erased or questioned.
South Africa
While many
white South Africans
White South Africans generally refers to South Africans of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, they are generally divided into the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of the Dutch East India Company's original settlers, ...
involved in the
anti-apartheid movement
The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by the policie ...
were
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, few white Jews overall were actively involved in opposing apartheid. Most white South African Jews were bystanders who were not actively involved in anti-apartheid activism, and some were supporters of apartheid. The
South African Jewish Board of Deputies
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies is an organisation formed in 1912 from the merger of the Board for the Transvaal and the Board for the Cape. It serves as the central representative institution of most of the country's Hebrew congregat ...
officially condemned apartheid in 1985, having previously maintained a neutral position. As early as the late 1950s, Jewish anti-apartheid activists had brought anti-apartheid resolutions to the Board of Deputies that were routinely voted down.
''The Jewish Chronicle'' has alleged that the board had "played toadying and inglorious roles over the years in defending Israel’s ties and in support of the apartheid government."
United Kingdom
Black Jews in the United Kingdom face racism within predominantly white Jewish spaces, including
racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
. Black Jews may be stared at, have their Jewishness questioned, be called racial slurs, be refused entry into a synagogue, have the police called, or be followed by security guards working for the
Community Security Trust
The Community Security Trust (CST) is a British charity whose purpose is to provide safety, security, and advice to the Jewish community in the UK. It provides advice, training, representation and research.
Founding and mission
The Community Sec ...
.
In April 2021, the
Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...
published the Bush Report on racial inclusion in the
British-Jewish community. The report was written in light of the
George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom
Protests were held across the United Kingdom following the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, by police officers while under arrest in the United States on 25 May 2020. Immediately following his murder, protests and r ...
and "highlighted the false assumption that all Jews are essentially white and European and sought to investigate discrimination against Jews of colour within the Jewish community." The commission was chaired by
Stephen Bush
Stephen Kupakwesu Bush (born 21 March 1990) is a British journalist. He is columnist and associate editor at the ''Financial Times'' and has also written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Telegraph,'' '' i'' and ''New Statesman''.
Early life and educ ...
, a Black-Jewish journalist and editor of ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
''.
United States
In Cleveland, the anti-racist Mitsui Collective was founded to "build a resilient community through embodied Jewish practice and multiracial justice". The collective provides programming for Jews of color and multiracial Jewish families.
Anti-Black racism
=Baltimore
=
In majority white Jewish spaces in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, white Jews are sometimes accepted while black Jews and other Jews of color may face skepticism and questioning of their identity. Rabbi George McDaniel, founder of the majority-Black Beth HaShem synagogue, claims that white
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
of
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and
Eastern European
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
descent are not questioned about their Jewishness because they are white whereas "If you're black and you say I'm Jewish, now you have to prove your Jewishness...Sometimes people walk up to us and ask: are you Jewish?...You're questioned to the point of – prove you're Jewish." Black Jews in Baltimore experience both racism for being black and
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
for being Jewish, with some Black Jewish Baltimoreans reporting being called the slur
schvartze by non-black Jews as well as being harassed by gentiles for wearing a
kippah
A , , or , plural ), also called ''yarmulke'' (, ; yi, יאַרמלקע, link=no, , german: Jarmulke, pl, Jarmułka or ''koppel'' ( yi, קאפל ) is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish males to fulfill the c ...
.
=Ohio
=
Black Jews in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio, experience both antisemitism and racism. Haya Mayaan, a Black Jewish woman from Cleveland, has said that she is often mistaken for a janitor, nurse, or nanny when she attends services at the B'nai Jeshurun Congregation.
=South Carolina
=
A long history of anti-Black racism against Black Sephardi Jews exists among the white Sephardi Jewish community in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. The 1820 constitution of
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim ( he, קהל קדוש בית אלוהים, also known as K. K. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim) is a Reform Synagogue located in Charleston, South Carolina. Having founded the congregation in 1749, i ...
, an historic Sephardi synagogue founded by Sephardim of
Spanish/Portuguese and
Moroccan descent, prohibited Black converts and other converts of color from membership. Rule XXIII stated: "This congregation shall not encourage or interfere with making proselytes under any pretense whatever, nor shall any such be admitted under the jurisdiction of their congregation, until he or she or they produce legal and satisfactory credentials, from some other congregation where a regular Chief
abbior Rabbi and Hebrew Consistory is established; and, provided, he, she or they are not people of color." There is historical evidence of at least one Black Jew who was respected by the community and allowed to attended the synagogue, Billy Simmons, one of the few well-known Black Jews in Southern Jewish history.
The synagogue was built by enslaved Black people. Rabbi Burton Padoll, who served as the synagogue's rabbi during the 1960s, was an outspoken activist for the
rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...
of
African-Americans
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 ...
. Rabbi Padoll was forced to resign as rabbi after prominent members of the congregation objected to his support for the civil rights movement. Inside the synagogue, there is a mural which includes a
Jewish Confederate soldier sitting with a broken sword, an artistic depiction of the
Lost Cause of the Confederacy
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an History of the United States, American pseudohistorical historical negationist, negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil Wa ...
.
Like other white people in Charleston, most white Jews owned slaves. According to one study, 83% of Jewish households in Charleston owned slaves, compared to 87% of white households overall. Following the
South Carolina Declaration of Secession
The South Carolina Declaration of Secession, formally known as the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, was a proclamation issued on December 24, 1860, by the governm ...
in 1860, the white Jewish community of Charleston rallied to the support of the Confederacy. 180 Charleston Jews fought for the Confederacy.
=Washington, D.C.
=
Racial covenants
A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a se ...
were used in real estate in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, between the 1920s and the 1960s to exclude Black people, Jews, and other racial and religious minorities from
white Christian neighborhoods. White Christian neighborhoods that excluded Black and Jewish people included Chevy Chase in both
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
(developed by the avowed white supremacist and antisemite
Francis G. Newlands
Francis Griffith Newlands (August 28, 1846December 24, 1917) was a United States representative and Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party.
A supporter of westward expansion, he helped pass the Newlands Reclamation Act of 19 ...
) and
Rock Creek Hills in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
. White Jewish real estate developers in D.C. began developing thriving Jewish neighborhoods in the Maryland suburbs of
Montgomery County and
Prince George's County
)
, demonym = Prince Georgian
, ZIP codes = 20607–20774
, area codes = 240, 301
, founded date = April 23
, founded year = 1696
, named for = Prince George of Denmark
, leader_title = Executive
, leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...
, where they could be free from the antisemitic discrimination they had experienced in the city. These white Jewish real estate developers - including
Sam Eig
Samuel Eig (c. 1899 – 1982) was a Russian-American real estate developer active in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.[Morris Cafritz
Morris Cafritz ( - June 13, 1964) was a Washington, D.C. real estate developer, and philanthropist. As CEO of the Cafritz Company, he was Washington, D.C.'s largest private developer from the late 1920's to the early 1960's.
Early life and educa ...]
, Jack and
Abraham S. Kay, Harold Greenberg,
Albert H. Small, and others - removed antisemitic language from the racial covenants but retained racist language that excluded Black people and other people of color, including Jews of color. Historically Jewish communities in Montgomery County developed by white Jewish real estate developers include
Indian Spring (Abraham S. Kay) and
Franklin Knolls (Morris Cafritz) in Silver Spring,
Rock Creek Forest
Rock Creek Forest is a mostly residential neighborhood in Silver Spring / Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is bordered by Chevy Chase to the east, Silver Spring to the west, Maryland Route 410 to the north, and the border with Washington, D.C., to the s ...
in Chevy Chase (Sam Eig),
Greenwich Forest in Bethesda (Cafritz), and
Kemp Mill in Wheaton (Jack Kay and Harold Greenberg). In 1966, anti-racist Jewish socialist activists in Washington, D.C., founded
Jews for Urban Justice to protest against anti-Black racism within the D.C. Jewish community.
Anti-Palestinianism
In her 1990 essay "Israel: Whose Country Is It Anyway?", the Jewish-American writer
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
wrote that American Jews are raised with anti-Palestinian sentiment, which she describes as "a deep and real prejudice against Palestinians that amounts to race-hate."
According to a 2021 survey published by the Jewish Electorate Institute, 34% of Jewish-American voters believe that "Israel's treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States", 25% believe that "Israel is an apartheid state", and 22% believe that "Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians." 9% of Jewish-American voters believed that "Israel doesn't have a right to exist", with 20% under the age of 40 agreeing. Young Jewish Americans are more likely to agree with these sentiments than older Jewish Americans.
In 2021, a group of rabbinical and cantorial students published an open letter titled "Rabbinical and Cantorial Students Appeal to the Heart of the Jewish Community". The letter compared the plight of Palestinians to that of African Americans, called for a "
racial reckoning" in the Jewish-American community, and denounced "racist violence" in Israel and Palestine.
Asian-American Jews
Asian-American Jews are often perceived as not "
looking Jewish" and as a result, they may face skepticism and
otherization in white Jewish spaces. Ava Rigelhaupt, a Chinese-American Jew, has written that while she "never felt unwelcome or purposefully ostracized", she never felt like she "naturally belonged" either. Yoshi Silverstein, an Asian-American Jew who founded the Mitsui Collective, had said that Asian Jews are often "forgotten about".
Sephardim and Mizrahim
When
Syrian Jews
Syrian Jews ( he, יהודי סוריה ''Yehudey Surya'', ar, الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون ''al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn'', colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syri ...
first began to arrive in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
during the late 1800s and early 1900s,
Eastern European
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
who lived on the Lower East Side sometimes expressed their disdain for their Syrian co-coreligionists by referring to them as ''Arabische Yidden'',
Arab Jews
Arab Jews ( ar, اليهود العرب '; he, יהודים ערבים ') is a term for Jews living in or originating from the Arab world. The term is politically contested, often by Zionists or by Jews with roots in the Arab world who prefer ...
. Some Ashkenazim did not believe that
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
/
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...
from the Middle East were really Jewish. In response, some Syrian Jews who were deeply proud of their
ancient Jewish heritage, derogatorily dubbed Ashkenazi Jews "J-Dubs", a reference to the first and third letters of the English word "Jew".
See also
*
African American–Jewish relations
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
*
Anti-Palestinianism
*
Curse of Ham
The curse of Ham is described in the Book of Genesis as imposed by the patriarch Noah upon Ham's son Canaan. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness o ...
*
Cushi
The word Cushi or Kushi ( he, כּוּשִׁי colloquial: ) is generally used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to a dark-skinned person of African descent, equivalent to Greek "'' Aithíops''".
Etymology and biblical use
The word is a derivation ...
*
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of t ...
*
Jewish ethnic divisions
Jewish ethnic divisions refer to many distinctive communities within the world's ethnically Jewish population. Although considered a self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinct ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the ...
*
Jewish views on slavery
Jewish views on slavery are varied both religiously and historically. Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civ ...
*
Racism in Israel
Racism in Israel encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in Israel, irrespective of the colour or creed of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status.
More specifically in the Israeli con ...
*
Racism in Muslim communities
*
Schvartze
Schvartze (from ; cf. German: ; OED) is a racial slur for black people in the Yiddish language.
Etymology
''Schvartze'' is derived from the Yiddish word ''schvarts'', which means "black". An article for the Washington Jewish Week refers to it as " ...
*
The Jewish Confederates
*
Zionism, race and genetics
References
External links
Asian Jews Deserve BetterJews of Color CanadaJews of Color InitiativeMitsui Collective
{{Racism topics
Intersectionality
Jewish culture
Racism
Religion and race