"Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth."Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.
"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.
"The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.
"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.
This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.
"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism.
"The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!
"My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate antisemitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and a revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled--as others have been--into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to these heartfelt principles that you and I share.
Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."
From M.L. King Jr., "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend," Saturday Review XLVII (Aug. 1967), p. 76.
Reprinted in M.L. King Jr., "This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
62 comments:
From the website static1.squarespace.com an article is headlined "10 Questions for Black Hebrew Israelites"
by Dumisani Washington and Masimba Musodza the article says:
"Generally speaking, the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) are a sect of largely Messianic/Hebrew Roots Black Americans who believe that only they are the true Israelites of the Bible, and that other ethnic groups of Jews — especially White Europeans — are impostors, or “fake Jews.” There have been several groups in Africa and America that claim Jewish identity. They include the Jews of Rusape (Zimbabwe) who claim an ancient Hebrew origin, and the Igbo tribe of West Africa. Unlike the sect of BHI in America, they do not deny others a Jewish heritage, but in fact, they see the Jews of Europe as kindred.
While not all BHI believe that only they are the real Israel, the group that does seems to be growing quickly in the US, and some have very strong anti-Semitic, anti-Israel feelings. Also, the racially divisive rhetoric and attitudes have caused much strife within churches and families.
As a preview of his upcoming book, Ten Questions for Black Hebrew Israelites, author Dumisani Washington provides a brief overview of the main BHI themes.
(Note: The terms Israelite, Jew, and Hebrews are used interchangeably.)
1 If the “real Jews” are black (and brown), which shade of black is authentic?
Skin tone is not an accurate way of determining a person’s ethnicity. This is especially true for the Jewish people who have been scattered literally all over the world for some 2,700 years. So, if the BHI believe that only people of Black African descent — as well as West Indians and Native Americans — are true Israelites, how dark does a real Israelite have to be? How much melanin is genuine Hebrew?
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If the “real Jews” are only from Africa, why does the bible speak of God gathering the Israelites, “from the four corners of the earth?” (Isaiah 11.12)
The Jewish people call the worldwide ingathering of the Israelites, The Redemption. The Redemption is spoken of repeatedly throughout the Bible, as lands in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe are specifically named. There is simply no biblical evidence to support claims that Jews are exclusively of African descent.
If the Jews were scattered all over the world, why are the Jews from Europe “fake”?
As stated in Question No. 2, Jewish presence in Europe is recorded in the bible (Joel 3.4-5; Acts 2.5-11). According to Jewish history, the Roman destruction of the Second Temple eventually saw Jews scattered across, “Africa, Asia, and Europe.”
Why does your movement never address the Mizrahi Jews of North Africa and the Middle East (Persia, Babylon, Libya), or the Sephardim of Latin America and the West Indies?
Almost million Mizrahi Jews were expelled from the Arabized lands of North Africa and the Middle East where they live for over 2,000 years. Jews who suffered persecution in Spain and Portugal in the 16th century fled to the Americas and the West Indies. The BHI generally ignore these historical facts about Israelite history, as they don’t perpetuate the myth of a solely African Israelite identity.
Black Hebrew Israelites"
the article continues :
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Why do you question the legitimacy of the Jewish state of Israel (as a White European construct), when over half of Israel’s Jewish population is Mizrahi?
There are some 7 million Jews who live in Israel. Over 50% are from North Africa and the Middle East. There are also over 125,000 Ethiopian Jewish Israelis. As a nation, Israel has people from some 100 countries – Jewish and non-Jewish, making it the most ethnically diverse nation in the region.
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Why do you use the term “Edomite” for White people, when Edom (Esau) was the brother of Jacob (Israel)? Aren’t you in essence (errantly) saying that White Europeans descended from Israel’s brother?
Historically, the term “Edom” has been used in Judaism to refer to Roman or Christian enemies of the Jews. It is a metaphor, as “Edom” (Esau) was not Roman but a Semite descended from Abraham, just like his twin brother, Jacob. But many within the BHI use “Edom” to literally describe White Europeans. This is both factually incorrect as well as illogical.
In attempting to prove African Hebrew identity, why does your movement only address the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and never the Jews enslaved at the hands of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Tyre, Sidon, and Rome? Or the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade led by Arab Muslims?
One of the most oft-used scriptures within the Black Hebrew Israelite ideology is Deuteronomy 28.68. It describes God’s punishment for Israel’s idolatry being a return to Egypt, “on ships,” and being sold as slaves. While an increasing number of scholars believe that the Igbo of West Africa are an Israelite tribe that was indeed included as human cargo during the slave trade, the Jewish people were enslaved many times throughout their history. Further, Tyre and Sidon were famous, wealthy seaport cities who sold Hebrew slaves to the Greeks (Joel 3.4-5).
Why do you blame European Jews for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade when it was Arabs, Europeans, and Africans who were all responsible?
Centuries before Europeans engaged in the African slave trade, Arab Muslims had conquered and enslaved all many of the indigenous peoples of North Africa. It is also historical fact that warring African tribes helped European slavers capture their African enemies. A small percentage of Jews in the American south owned slaves, as did Native Americans and some Black Americans.
One of the most prominent claims that Jews ran the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is in a book produced by the Nation of Islam, THE SECRET RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BLACKS AND JEWS that has been debunked by several scholars including Dr. Henry Louis Gates. [1] From its inception, the Nation of Islam has been hostile to Jews and bitterly opposed to Zionism the State of Israel."
& lastly says:
"Why do you call European Jews the, “synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and do lie,” when that passage of scripture could just as easily be used against you?
If Deuteronomy 28.68 is a favorite BHI scripture, Revelation 2.9 is a close second. When the Apostle John used the term, “synagogue of Satan,” to refer to Jewish impostors, he was literally referring to Gentiles who falsely claimed a Jewish birthright. There is nothing in the verse that implies the wholly Blackness of the Jews, or that the perpetrators were such because they were White. This is a classic case of reading modern, confused notions of race into an ancient text.
Why do you have to attack other Jews in order to discover biblical truth for yourself?
There are many Black Christians who are discovering the Hebrew roots of their faith in Jesus (Yeshua). This includes more serious study of the Jewish Law (Torah) and Prophets, as well as the history of the Jewish Diaspora. In so doing, some are also discovering the history of African Jewish communities such as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), the Lemba Jews of Southern Africa, and the Igbo of West Africa. However, true Torah study should not lead one further into hatred and divisiveness. If it does, then one is not truly studying Torah.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/20/opinion/black-demagogues-and-pseudo-scholars.html "
On YouTube a good video on the Black Hebrew Israelite False Prophets is titled "Black Hebrew Israelites Refuted - 119 Ministries"
May 24, 2019 The Description of this video says:
"There is a growing group today that believes and teaches that the only “true Israelites” are the Black Hebrew Israelites. This group also teaches that those who live in Israel today are “fake Jews” among other things. Join us as we take a brief look at their doctrine and expose some of the lies and holes it contains.
We have shut down comments on this thread due to the vile racist sentiments being expressed by many.
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Please note that we will not be closely monitoring nor responding to many comments on YouTube.
Please join the discussion of this teaching on our website at: http://119ministries.com/blackhebrews
or reach us privately through the Contact Us form on our website: http://119ministries.com/contact-us
Thank you so much for your continued and prayerful support. May YHWH bless you and keep you.
Shalom"
From Amazon.com a good book to order is titled
"Black Hebrew Israelites: Debunked, Deflated & Exposed" by C.L. Willis
the Description of the book says
"In many cities across America, The Black Hebrew Israelites stand on street corners preaching their false doctrine that black people in America are the true Israelites. In order to get to this conclusion, they must misinterpret scriptures and ignore significant elements of history. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, they often preach hatred for Europeans and other ethnic groups, salvation is only for Israelites, and adherance to the Law of Moses is the only way to be saved. This book is a practical guide to understanding some of the Black Hebrew Israelites fundamental teachings and how to refute them using the Bible, history, and logic."
From Amazon.com Another good book to read is titled "THE BLACK HEBREW ISRAELITE'S TEACHING EXPOSED."
by Marquis X (Author), DaBlack Nation (Author) The Description says "This book reviews core teachings and beliefs that is held by the Hebrew Israelite community in the United States. We view them, then bring forth the opposing view which is the profound truth. Our prayer is that this book open the eyes of those that is in the darkness and bring awareness to those that is unaware of the rising tide of such bible false teaching."
The website firefromheaven.org has an article headlined "Black Hebrew Israelites Refuted" the article says
"Recently there was a huge story in the news about some high school kids “taunting” and “surrounding” an elderly Native American man in front of the Lincoln Memorial. This story was based on a short video clip that went viral, resulting in harsh condemnation of these kids as racists.
But as it turns out, the whole story was a fabrication. Full footage of the incident surfaced, showing that the high school kids didn’t “taunt” or “surround” the Native American man at all. They were singing school-spirit chants as the man pushed himself into the middle of their group. The kids continued their pep rally-style cheers and one kid nervously smiled as the Native American man played his drum inches away from the kid’s face. For this, the kids were called racists.
Basically, these kids were smeared with a false narrative contrived from an out-of-context video clip...but why were these kids randomly singing school spirit chants in front of the Lincoln Memorial to begin with?
As we can see in the full footage of this controversial encounter, there was a group of black men screaming taunts and insults at the children as the children waited for their bus. So the kids apparently decided they would sing their school chants to drown out the hateful insults being hurled at them by this group.
That’s right—this entire controversy was sparked by a small group of black men harassing these high school kids. This group was later identified as the “Black Hebrew Israelites.”
Since this story broke, a lot of questions have arisen about this group, what they believe, and their cause. In this teaching, we’re going to attempt to offer some clarification as well as address their errant and dangerous teachings.
The first thing to be aware of is that this group is apparently not monolithic, and they go by different names. For instance, they might be called African Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, or Black Israelites.
Sects within this movement differ widely in their beliefs. For instance, some reject the Messiah and the
New Testament altogether while others claim to follow the Messiah and the New Testament. Among those who follow the New Testament, some groups reject Paul’s letters. Some groups believe that the KJV version of the Bible is the authoritative English translation.
So there are a lot of differences. However, the one thing that they all seem to have in common is the belief that African Americans are the true descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Other ethnicities, such as Puerto Ricans and Native Americans, might also be descended from the tribes of Israel according to some Black Hebrew Israelite groups. The primary goal of Black Hebrew Israelites is to reach out to those whom they believe to be descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel and convince them of their heritage.
One Black Hebrew Israelite community known as the House of Israel writes:
Our chief mission is the uplifting of the so called Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans; who are the 12 Tribes of Israel. Through edification, news, and practical knowledge sharing."
the article continues
"We currently are expanding throughout continental U.S. bringing the word of the Lord to our brothers and sisters. We are told to go only to the lost sheepe of the House of Israel and bid them to the marriage. Which is coming back to the fold and raising up a nation under the law, statutes, and commandments of The Most High.
-House of Israel, “About Us,” www.awakenisrael.info
Many of the more radical members of these Black Hebrew Israelite groups relentlessly proclaim that the Jewish people aren’t true Jews but imposters from the “Synagogue of Satan.” They will promote racist views against white people and Jews, often standing on streets and sidewalks and yelling at anyone who walks by.
Since many Black Hebrew Israelites spout extreme violent, racist, and anti-Semitic rhetoric, organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League have classified some Black Hebrew Israelite groups, like the House of Israel, as “hate groups.”
Lastly, and unfortunately, because Black Hebrew Israelites hold to a belief that they are the true descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, many of them practice aspects of the Torah, such as the Sabbath and dietary laws.
We say “unfortunately” because nothing about the theology or actions of this group reflects the true heart of Torah observance. So the fact that they claim Torah observance, hurts the reputation of those who keep Torah out of love for God and our neighbor.
A good comparison would be the Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group out of Topeka, KS, who travels around the country to protest at funerals. Through their false doctrine and hateful actions, they give all Christians a bad name. Because of the actions and beliefs of a few hypocritical bigots in a fringe cult, genuine believers are smeared as bigots as well.
It’s the same case with the Black Hebrew Israelites. They are not genuine believers. They don’t really keep the Torah. The Torah is based on loving others and loving YHWH. They are employing racist behaviors, sadly exposing them as frauds."
& continues
"Before we move forward, it’s important to clarify that the Black Hebrew Israelites have no connection historically or theologically with Ethiopian Jews, who are legitimate Jews.
So where do the Black Hebrew Israelites get this idea that they are the “true Jews” or the true descendants of the lost tribes of Israel?
This belief is primarily based on a misinterpretation of Deuteronomy 28:68. Black Hebrew Israelites assert that this verse is a prophecy about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which was the transportation of African slaves to the Americas on ships between the 16th to 19th centuries.
Deuteronomy 28:68
And the Lord (YHWH) will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.
What’s ironic about the use of this verse by Black Hebrew Israelites is that it completely undermines their entire theology. What do we mean?
First, there’s no reason to assume that every single curse listed in Deuteronomy has come to pass. But even if we grant that premise, Africans are the one group of people we know this verse cannot apply to.
The verse says, “You will sell yourself.” The African slaves in the trans-Atlantic slave trade didn’t sell themselves. They were horrifically kidnapped and then sold against their will. The verse also says, “But there will be no buyer.” Obviously this does not apply to Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade since they had buyers from all around the world!
Who and what could this verse apply to, then? The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament offers a couple possibilities:
Assyrian kings of the seventh century coerced their vassals into supplying troops for their military campaigns. One way then for Israelites to return to Egypt in ships would be in the Assyrian campaigns launched from the Phoenician coast in which they were obliged to take part. This represents continued oppression by foreign enemies, as the curses have detailed. Another possibility would include falling victim to Egypt’s slave trade in Syro-Palestine, where the slaves were often transported by ship.
-John Walton, Victor Matthews, & Mark Chavalas, “The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament,” p. 204
The entire foundation of Black Hebrew Israelite theology is undermined by their own proof-text! If we take Deuteronomy 28:68 seriously, then it cannot apply to African slaves during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It simply doesn’t work according to the text.
But why is this even an issue? Why do Black Hebrew Israelites try to find some sort of Scriptural basis for identifying themselves as physical descendants of the lost tribes of Israel? Do they think it gives them some kind of superior status in God’s Kingdom—that God loves them more or something? Do they think it gives them some sort of justification for hating and condemning others on the basis of their race?"
& continues "While it is not likely that everyone who investigates the possible identities of the lost tribes of Israel do so for racist reasons, it would appear that the more extreme and radical members of the Black Hebrew Israelites certainly are motivated in part, by racism. The vile rhetoric spewed by some members of this group on street corners and on their websites, calling white people “white devils” and spreading baseless conspiracy theories about Jews, leaves no doubt about that.
One of the passages that Black Hebrew Israelites misuse to support their hostility toward the Jews is Revelation 2:9 and 3:9:
Revelation 2:9
I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:9
Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
“See!” say Black Hebrew Israelites, “Those who are regarded as Jews today are lying! They’re not really true Jews but are actually from the Synagogue of Satan!”
The problem with this argument is that it’s utterly false on every level. Just like we saw with Deuteronomy 28:68, this is a case of eisegesis —that is, reading one’s own agenda and bias into the text instead of properly interpreting it in context.
When John spoke of the synagogue of Satan, he was referring to a group of faithless Jews in his day that did not believe in Yeshua and who even opposed and persecuted Messiah followers. John, being Jewish himself, rebuked his fellow Jews with harsh language much in the same way that the biblical prophets in the TANAKH rebuked Israel. The Dead Sea Scroll community likewise used similar language to describe Jews who opposed their sect.
New Testament scholar, Dr. Craig Keener, writes:
Some other Jews (especially those who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls) condemned the rest of Israel as apostate, calling them even “the congregation of Satan.” John applies this harsh language only to the believers’ direct opponents. This is not a model for how Gentile Christians should address synagogues; this was the sort of intra-Jewish challenge that characterized strong debates about Jewish identity among various competing Jewish groups in this period.
-Craig Keener, “NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture.”
Paul—also a Jew—does something similar in his letter to the Romans. He defines a “true Jew” as one who is not only Jewish on the basis of outward appearance alone but who also follows God’s Law:
Romans 2:25-29
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically
uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
The point is this, if you’re Jewish, you better do what a true Jew does—follow the commands of the God of Israel. Otherwise your Jewishness is meaningless, spiritually speaking."
& continues
"It’d be like a Christian preacher saying, “A true Christian lives in accordance with Christ’s teachings. Anyone who claims Christ but rejects his teachings by persecuting other believers is a liar—they’re not Christian at all but are being used by Satan.”
Regardless, it’s clear that these verses are not talking about the Jewish people today supposedly “lying” about being physical Jews. Black Hebrew Israelites are reading that idea into the text.
It should also be mentioned that many Black Hebrew Israelites hold to the Serpent Seed Doctrine in an effort to disparage Jewish people. We address this doctrine in our teaching, Testing the Serpent Seed Doctrine.
To give a quick summary, it’s asserted that the serpent in the Garden of Eden had sexual relations with Eve, and the offspring of their union was Cain. Black Hebrew Israelites are among several racist groups who will claim that the Jews, and any other race of people that they don’t like, are descendants of Cain and therefore literal children of Satan.
When you test it out, it becomes obvious that this doctrine is a little absurd and without biblical basis. All of the supposed proof-texts are only possible if you are trying to force the belief onto the text— again, eisegesis.
For instance, it’s claimed that when Eve says, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” in Genesis 3:13 that the word “deceived” actually means seduced—therefore Eve is saying that the serpent seduced her into having sex with him. But the Hebrew word for “deceived” is used sixteen times in the Hebrew Scriptures and never once does it indicate anything sexual.
Not only that, but Genesis 4:1 clearly states that Cain was the offspring of Eve’s union with Adam:
Genesis 4:1
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
Again, see our teaching, Testing the Serpent Seed Doctrine, for a full treatment of this issue.
Another idea often promoted by Black Hebrew Israelites is that the Ashkenazi Jews are not “true Jews” because they come from the 8th century Khazar Empire, which supposedly converted in mass to Judaism. The Khazar were a Turkic nation whose semi-nomadic empire stretched from Southern Russia to the Caucasus Mountains. Some have proposed that the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe had fled from Khazaria, and therefore they came from the Caucasus, not the Middle East, and thus have no physical connection to the “true” people of Israel. They are not true Jews by blood but are “imposters.” “Fake Jews!” Black Hebrew Israelites will say."
& Continues
"Again, the problem with this argument is that it’s utterly false on every level. There’s simply no evidence that some unique Khazar race randomly woke up one morning, declared itself Jewish, and then moved to Germany. It’s a baseless conspiracy theory.
In his article, “Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s the Proof,” Alexander Beider outlines several points debunking this theory.
1) There’s no evidence of a large Jewish presence in the Khazer Empire. Beider writes:
As any historian will tell you, generations of Jews, like generations of any people, leave historical traces behind them. These traces come in multiple forms. For starters, people leave behind them historical documents and archaeological data. Predictably, archaeological evidence about the widespread existence of Jews in Khazaria is almost nonexistent. While a series of independent sources does testify to the existence in the 10th century of Jews in the Kingdom of Khazaria, and while some of these sources also indicate that the ruling elite of Khazaria embraced Judaism, the Khazarian state was destroyed by Russians during the 960s. In other words, we can be confident that Judaism was not particularly widespread in that kingdom.
The next historical record of Jews—in a few cities that today belong to western Ukraine and western Belarus—shows up in the 14th century, when Jews are regularly referred to in numerous documents. And yet, no direct historiographical data is available to connect the Jews who lived in Eastern Europe in the 14th century with their co-religionists from the 10th century Khazaria.
-Alexander Beider, “Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s the Proof.” www.forward.com 2) Linguistics, particularly the study of Yiddish, rule out a Khazarian ancestry for Ashkenazi Jews.
Beider writes:
Since the 17th century, Yiddish was the vernacular language of all Jews of Eastern Europe. All its main structural elements are German, though during the past few centuries, they also underwent a strong influence of Slavic languages.
-Alexander Beider, “Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s the Proof.” www.forward.com
3) Onomastics, or the study of proper names, rules out a Khazarian ancestry for Ashkenazi Jews. Beider
writes:
-Alexander Beider, “Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Khazars. Here’s the Proof.” www.forward.com 4) Genetics rules out a Khazarian ancestry for Ashkenazi Jews.
According to a major study conducted by several scientific researches at Wayne University, Ashkenazi
Looking at names, both first names and surnames, gives us a sense of how a community saw itself, its language and its origins. And in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe over the past six centuries, not a single Turkic name can be found in documents listing Jewish names. Even in documents from the 15th to 16th centuries dealing with Jews who lived in the territories of modern Ukraine and Belarus have no such names."
& lastly says
"Jews share genetic ancestry with other Jewish populations, and there is no evidence of a connection with populations from the Khazar region. The entire study is available on the Wayne University website. Here was the conclusion:
Employing a variety of standard techniques for the analysis of population-genetic structure, we find that Ashkenazi Jews share the greatest genetic ancestry with other Jewish populations, and among non-Jewish populations, with groups from Europe and the Middle East. No particular similarity of Ashkenazi Jews with populations from the Caucasus is evident, particularly with the populations that most closely represent the Khazar region. Thus, analysis of Ashkenazi Jews together with a large sample from the region of the Khazar Khaganate corroborates the earlier results that Ashkenazi Jews derive their ancestry primarily from populations of the Middle East and Europe, that they possess considerable shared ancestry with other Jewish populations, and that there is no indication of a significant genetic contribution either from within or from north of the Caucasus region.
-Behar, Doron M.; Metspalu, Mait; Baran, Yael; Kopelman, Naama M.; Yunusbayev, Bayazit; Gladstein, Ariella; Tzur, Shay; Sahakyan, Havhannes; Bahmanimehr, Ardeshir; Yepiskoposyan, Levon; Tambets, Kristiina; Khusnutdinova, Elza K.; Kusniarevich, Aljona; Balanovsky, Oleg; Balanovsky, Elena; Kovacevic, Lejla; Marjanovic, Damir; Mihailov, Evelin; Kouvatsi, Anastasia; Traintaphyllidis, Costas; King, Roy J.; Semino, Ornella; Torroni, Antonio; Hammer, Michael F.; Metspalu, Ene; Skorecki, Karl; Rosset, Saharon; Halperin, Eran; Villems, Richard; and Rosenberg, Noah A., "No Evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews" (2013). Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints. Paper 41. http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/41
All of the evidence is against the Khazar myth. But again, you have to wonder why so much effort is put into trying to disparage the Jewish people. Why are these conspiracy theories so prevalent within the Black Hebrew Israelite communities?
Black Hebrew Israelites are often looking for anything to justify their concerning views, and they think that discrediting the Jewish people as authentic Jews somehow gives them justification for declaring themselves to be the “true” chosen people because of their race. Such thinking is rather disturbing, and lead to racist thoughts and behaviors.
Yeshua and the apostles didn’t share the views of the Black Hebrew Israelites. While they certainly honored the Jewish people for their role in preserving the oracles of God, they didn’t teach that any race was superior to another. The gospel is to go forth to all nations. God’s heart is that everyone, regardless of ethnicity or lineage, would come to know Him. In Messiah’s Kingdom, Jews and Gentiles are one in Him (Ephesians 2). Furthermore, the kingdom is made up of people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).
Instead of trying to convince people that we are the “true descendants of the lost tribes of Israel”— something that can’t be proven—we should focus on what Yeshua said to focus on: making disciples of all nations. In the end it doesn’t matter whether you are Jew or Gentile. The real question is, do you know Yeshua? All of us need a Savior, regardless of our race. All of us are called to repent and to keep God’s commandments. Let’s focus on that.
We pray you have been blessed by this teaching.
Remember, continue to test everything. Shalom!
For more on this and other teachings, please visit us at www.testeverything.net " We at this Blog all know that the
Great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, if he wa alive today, he would denounce the Black Hebrew Israelite Cult as the the Losers, Hatemongers & Clowns that they are, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would realize that they are Obnoxious Toxic False Prophets
From the website askdrbrown.org a good video to watch is titled
"Are Black Hebrew Israelites a Dangerous Cult?" Dr. Brown says YES they are a Dangerous Cult, We at this blog would also like to add that they are a Dangerous Satanic Demonic Diabolical Cult
Posted May 11, 2020 by Staff
Topic: Apologetics
Playlist:
Q&A
Also from askdrbrown.org Another Video is titled
"Were the Ancient Israelites Black?"
Posted Jun 13, 2016 by Michael L. Brown
Dr. Brown responds to some black Hebrew Israelite arguments claiming that the ancient Israelites were black.
Also from askdrbrown.org Another Video is titled
"Deuteronomy 28 and Black Hebrew Israelite Deception"
Posted Aug 09, 2018 by Caleb
Dr. Brown exposes some of the gross misinterpretations in many Black Hebrew Israelite circles and answers your Jewish-related questions.
The Black Hebrew Israelites are full of Lies and False Information, they are Losers
From the website for the American Zionist Movement azm.org an article is headlined
" REMEMBERING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR." the article states:
JANUARY 12, 2021
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"American Zionist Movement Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Honors His Statements on Israel
This weekend, as the United States celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the national holiday in his honor, The American Zionist Movement (AZM) remembers Dr. King and his accomplishments and takes proud note of his important statements in support of Israel.
Dr. King was a dreamer, and he is famously remembered for his “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at a moment and in a place where not only the country, but the world heard his message and joined in his commitment to build a better life, and to work for a better day, for all. Theodor Herzl, the founder of our modern Zionist movement in 1897 was also a dreamer who famously proclaimed, “If you will it, it is no dream”.
In a 2016 article “Was MLK the Herzl of the Americans?” Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer stated that “Dr. King understood the moral imperative of Israel and admired Israel’s values”. Rep. John Lewis, a colleague of Dr. King and himself a noted civil rights leader, has also penned an essay entitled “‘I have a dream’ for peace in the Middle East / King’s special bond with Israel”.
When Dr. King lived in Chicago in 1966 his home was just blocks from the Theodor Herzl Public School, established in 1914 in the then predominately Jewish community of North Lawndale. The school remains in the neighborhood and at a 2017 event the Herzl School principal noted that “We are the living legacy of both Theodore Herzl and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
In Jerusalem there is a “Martin Luther King Street” with a sign stating that he was an “American Leader and Fighter for Universal Human Rights”. Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King are both memorialized with forests of trees planted in Israel in their memory. Mrs. King and Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. were among the founding members in 1975 of BASIC – Black Americans to Support Israel Committee, which was led by the legendary civil rights leader Bayard Rustin.
On the occasion of the annual national Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday the American Zionist Movement is proud to highlight here some of the notable remarks and writings of Dr. King:
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ON ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE:
"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality"
“I cannot stand idly by, even though I live in the United States and even though I happen to be an American Negro, and not be concerned about what happens to my brothers and sisters who happen to be Jews in Soviet Russia. For what happens to them happens to me and to you and we must be concerned.”
“Israel’s right to exist as a state of [with] security is incontestable.”
“The whole world must see that Israel must exist, and has the right to exist, and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.” (see video clip)
"I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews -- because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all."
From blogs.timesofisrael.com Another article is headlined
"Two Hebrew Israelite Biblical Verses Examined"
NOV 8, 2019,
"Humiliating White people who happen to stop to hear them preach on the street is a favourite pastime of the Hebrew Israelites. (Screenshot from a Youtube video entitled “Israelites- White man Cries and Accepts his fate according to the Scriptures”
It is a scene that has played out often on the streets of many large cities in the United States. Now, it is increasingly becoming a common occurrence in the large cities of the United Kingdom. A group of Black men stand in the street, preaching in loud voices what at first appears to be a group of Christian street preachers. But, they are dressed in outlandish costumes, an eclectic mix that echoes Afrofuturism and post-apocalyptic American movies. They always seem to have a Bible verse ready to explain their ideology, or respond to questions. They shout. They use profanities. They are the Black Hebrew Israelites. Their videos are seen by thousands of viewers across the world on YouTube.
They claim that they represent the ancient Twelve Tribes of Israel and have been sent to inform all the other Israelites of their identity ahead of the imminent Second Appearance of Jesus. These Twelve Tribes, after a long history of being enslaved and oppressed by every nation on earth, are today known as African Americans, Hispanics, Caribbeans and Native Americans. Any ethnicity outside these groups cannot claim an Israelite ancestry or identity. In reality, The Black Hebrew Israelites are a latter day manifestation of the Black Jewish movement established by Wentworth A. Matthew, William S. Crowdy etc. There are many religious communities who have adhered to the teachings of the aforementioned Matthew et al, but these new groups distort the Bible to teach racial hate, particularly antisemitism.
Sometimes, a member of their street audience identifies themselves as Jewish. Their response is to shout, “Ata goy, lo Yehudi !” Often, this has to be repeated before the Jewish person realises that they are trying to speak Hebrew and meant to say, “You are a Gentile, you’re not Jewish!” Sometimes it takes longer for the Jewish person to realise that the preacher is serious.
The Black Hebrew Israelites teach that , according to the Bible, they are the physical descendants of the ancient Israelites, and that the people we know as Jews are impostors who usurped their identity thousands of years ago.
The Black Hebrew Israelites teach that, according to the Bible, they are the physical descendants of the ancient Israelites, and that the people we know as Jews are impostors who usurped their identity thousands of years ago. To support their views they cite one verse from the Jewish Bible and a second verse from the Christian Bible. There are two main passages they use to base their belief system: Deuteronomy 28:68 and Revelation 2:9. In this essay, I am going to examine these verses and their Hebrew Israelite interpretation. I will demonstrate that their interpretation is based on eisegesis and historical errors .
Before we analyze these verses, it is important to understand, exegesis is the critical explanation or interpretation of a religious text. In contrast, eisegesis is the process of interpreting a religious text in such a way as to introduce one’s own presuppositions, agendas or biases. The Hebrew Israelites force their own ideas onto the text to promote their own agenda, which serves no purpose at all except to engender antisemitism in Black communities in western countries."
the article continues
"Into Egypt with ships.
And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you- Deuteronomy 28:68
The Hebrew Israelites say that this verse clearly points to them (and no one else) as the true Jews, since they are descended from people who were kidnapped from Africa and taken to the New World in ships to be sold as slaves. When were the people we know as Jews ever sent back to Egypt to become slaves? they ask, rhetorically. Why would they be sent back to Egypt in ships, given that the Land of Israel and Egypt are neighbours? Since it was only Black people who have ever been taken into slavery in ships, this verse clearly demonstrates that only African Americans and Hispanics and West Indians and Native Americans are the true House of Israel, right? And Egypt is clearly a metaphor for America, right, since Egypt means House of Bondage? Clearly, these interpretations are completely wrong, they are based on forced metaphors rather than historical reality.
Obviously, Black people are not the only people in the history of the world to have experienced slavery, whether as slaves or owners. Roman society had no problem at all with one man owning another as his property, and slaves came from different parts of the Roman Empire to be traded in like cattle. Slavery is not a uniquely Black experience, nor does it form the essence of any Black history or identity."
& continues
"Were Jews ever put on ships to be sold into slavery? Did they ever go back to Egypt as slaves. Oh, yes. This happened after the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans and the Bar Kochba Revolt. Josephus records:
Because the soldiers were now growing weary of bloodshed, and survivors appeared constantly, Caesar orders to kill only those who offered armed resistance and to take alive all the rest. (415) The troops, in addition to those covered by their orders, slaughtered the aged and infirm; people to their prime who might be useful they herded into the Temple area and shut up in the Court of the Women (lcl. (416) Caesar appointed one of his freedmen as their guard, his friend Fronto, to decide the fate appropriate to each. (417) All those who had taken part in sedition and brigandage (they informed against other) he executed. He picked out the tallest and handsomest of the lot and reserved them for the Triumph (418). Of the rest, those who were over seventeen he put in chains and sent to hard labor in Egypt while greet numbers were presented by Titus to the provinces to perish in the theaters by sword or by wild beasts; those under seventeen were sold- Josephus, The Jewish Wars, Book 6, Chapter 9:2
Innumerable was the multitude of those who were sold away as slaves. At the Annual Market of Terebrinth of Hebron they were offered for sale in such numbers that a Jewish slave was of no more value than a horse. –Emil Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ.
This means that when Moses told the Israelites that they would be sold into slavery in Egypt if they disobeyed the Covenant that they had made with the LORD, he literally meant Egypt. The claim is made that “Egypt” in the verse does not refer to the land that we know as Egypt, but rather metaphorically to the Americas. This interpretation is based on the idea that the Bible calls any land where the Israelites have been taken into captivity “Egypt”, because this word can also figuratively mean “bondage.” The problem is that the Bible does not always use the term “Egypt” in a metaphorical sense. For example, the Israelites were taken into captivity to Babylon and at no time in the story of this terrible event is Babylon called “Egypt.” Although it is true that Jewish people sometimes use the word “Egypt” poetically to mean “captivity,” it is not true that the word “Egypt” can always be metaphorically interchanged with the word “captivity”. It comes to us from the Greek a-ku-pi-ti-yo , which in turn comes from the Egyptian ḥ wt-kȝ -ptḥ , i.e., “The land of the temple of the ka of Ptah.” The original Hebrew name in the Bible for Egypt is Mizraim, an ethnonym based on the belief that descendants of Mizraim, son of Ham (Genesis 10:6) settled in that land after the Flood. A Hebrew reader would have never imagined that Mizraim could mean anywhere else besides the land settled by the descendants of Mizraim, son of Ham, son of Noah."
& continues
"OK, what about ships? Egypt and Israel are geographical neighbours, so why would the Romans need to use ships to transport slaves? Yes, the two lands are neighbours, but the Roman Empire found it easier to use ships of its vast navy to link the different parts of its domain that were located around the Mediterranean Sea. And it is documented that Jewish slaves were taken to Egypt in ships. The aforementioned Schürer continues from above:
What could not be disposed of there was brought to Gaza and sold or sent to Egypt, on the way to which many died of hunger, or of shipwreck.
Another source records:
Now that Betar had been captured, everything came under Human control, while Palestine [Judah] was reduced to a desolate mound. Captives were sold into slavery in numbers too great to count. First they were brought to the grand annual market at the Terebinth-Eloh tree in Hebron, or in the words of Hyranumous, to the Tent-Ohel of Abraham near Hebron. Each slave sold for the price of a horse. Those captives who were not sold there were brought to the market place in Azza [Gaza] which, because of the great multitudes of slaves who were sold there, was called Hadrian’s marketplace. And those who were still not sold there were herded into ships and were taken to Egypt. Many died in transit, whether by starvation or by shipwreck, while many also were killed by cruel masters.- Friedrich Münter, Primordia Eccl. Africanae
So, it is an historical fact that slaves from Israel (or the Roman Province of Judea) were transported to major Roman cities like Alexandria by ship. It is reported that the price of slaves dropped drastically, hence and no man shall buy you . In contrast, the Transatlantic Slave Trade endured for so long, the greater part of half a millenium, because it was that profitable for Europeans and Africans alike.
In contrast, the Hebrew Israelites falsely claim that there was a Kingdom of Judah established in West Africa by their ancestors. However, there is no proof for this claim, rather a fictional connection to the historical Kingdom of Whydah in West Africa. It was located in what is now the modern Republic of Benin, and its economy was founded on slave trading. Its name is from the Yoruba Xwéda, but Europeans distorted it variously to Whydah, Hueda, Whidah, Ajuda, Ouidah, Whidaw, and Juda. It is that last version of this name that Hebrew Israelites have erroneously seized on to claim that there was a Kingdom of Judah established by their ancestors in West Africa, after they fled Israel following the Destruction of Jerusalem. The only primary source to support this claim of a mass migration of Jewish refugees to Africa that I have come across is a book called From Babylon To Timbktu by Rudolph R. Windsor, first published in 1969. Mr Windsor claims that millions (p84) of Jews fled into Africa following the Destruction of Jerusalem, but is shy with his sources. Contemporary Roman sources however have it that 100000 Jews were taken to Egypt in ships to be sold as slaves. More were sent to other parts of the Roman Empire.
The history of the Kingdom of Whydah’s history is adequately documented. It was founded around 1100 C.E. (the Fall of Jerusalem happened in 70 C.E, what were the Jews doing in West Africa for a whole thousand years before finally being sold to European slave traders?)"
& continues
"Thus, it can be established as a historical fact that, contrary to the teaching of the Black Hebrew Israelites, that the people we know as Jews have at some point in their history been transported in large numbers in ships to be sold as slaves in Egypt, and that their presence created a glut in the slave markets and many were unsold. This ignoble chapter of Jewish history would actually be closer to the prophecy of Deuteronomy 28 than that of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
By the way, Native Americans and Hispanics did not get to the New World on slave ships, except those who today have some African ancestry…..
And, by the way, there is no Arab record of kidnapping and enslaving Jewish people out of West Africa. Given that the Arab Slave Trader was longer and captured people, it is quite remarkable that there is no mention of Hebrews at all. They documented Christians and Jews everywhere else they met them, including other parts of Africa.
Now, let us move onto the second verse upon which the ideology of the Black Hebrew Israelites is based on:
The Synagogue of Satan.
I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan-Revelation 2:9
From this comes the notion that Jews are not really Jews, but evil impostors. Further “proof” is found in the famous but discredited Thirteenth Tribe by A.Koestler, and then the wild claim leaps into texts loved by antisemites the world over. I am not going to list them here because I do not wish to make them any more famous. Besides, once we understand that this verse does not validate them in any way, they can go back into the dustbin where they belong.
With the first part of the verse, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, they make the rhetorical leap into the conclusion that this indubitably speaks of African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Caribbeans because they are experiencing tribulation and poverty. As with the Biblical reference to slavery, the Black Hebrew Israelites hold the assumption that poverty in America and Europe is a uniquely Black experience, and Jews and other people have never known poverty. In the video I cite as a source below, the preacher states that this verse could not possibly be referring to Jews, because Jews are rich and control the financial system. Once again, antisemitic tropes are brought in to play.
A Jewish street dealer in old clothes, London, late 1700s. “During the eighteenth century the popular feeling ran very high against the Jews, although to the masses they were almost strangers, except as men employed in not-very-formidable occupations of collecting and vending second-hand clothes.”- Henry Mayhew
Jewish history, on the other hand, paints a very different picture. Jews have experienced
poverty in their long history in Europe and America. Jews in America and Europe may enjoy the status of a model minority today, but that was not always the case. Britain’s first Jews are believed to have come with the Normans. There were subsequent migrations, but mostly wealthy merchants. However, the Ashkenazi Jews who came in the eighteenth century as refugees from eastern Europe were mostly poor, lacking in skills and unable to speak English. The website The Ultimate History Project says “Christian Landowners saw only the poverty and “foreignness” of these Jewish immigrants and the mainstream press as well as many Christians themselves routinely blamed these newcomers for a host of different ills, including London’s high levels of unemployment and poverty.”
& continues:
"In London: The Biography , Peter Ackroyd quoting Christian Charles Booth, records, “the old settlers [the wealthy, mostly Sephardim Jews] held aloof from the newcomers, and regarded them as a lower caste fit only to receive alms.” Henry Mayhew also writes about the poor Jews of London in his London Labour and the London Poor: Volume I, which came out in 1851, which demonstrates that poverty was still an issue among Ashkenazi Jewish migrants a century after they came to the UK. For a long time, Jews were forbidden from becoming apprentices to Christians, which denied them access to acquiring important skills. There were even Jewish criminals, such as the internationally notorious Isaac “Ikey” Solomon, who many scholars believe to have been the inspiration for Charles Dicken’s even more internationally notorious Fagin. Surprisingly, at this time, there were many rich Blacks and poverty was not considered a natural attribute of Black people. ( Ironically, the Hebrew Israelites contradict themselves and like to recall these Black aristocrats when claiming that Europe was once ruled by Black Israelites.)
Even in the United States, the desperate poverty of Jewish immigrants from Europe is documented. Golda Meir describes the difficult circumstances her family faced in their native Ukraine, the United States and Israel. TV mogul Aaron Spelling grew up in poverty. There are very few biographies about successful American Jews that do not mention the poverty endured by the first and second generation to migrate to the United States endured. So, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty cannot honestly point to only Black people in the ghettos of the United States , or the inner cities of the United Kingdom and deny the historical poverty of the Jewish people. That Jewish people have become successful in many of the countries that they have settled in is a testament to the power of a set of ethics that other minorities have emulated and achieved similar results. Social media is full of accounts of how the various Hebrew Israelites leaders shun actual work, preferring instead to live off female members of their sects, moving from one woman’s house and wearing out her hospitality before going to the next.
and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan
It is this last part of Revelation 2:9 which gets the Hebrew Israelites quite excited. Presto chango, the people we know as Jews are not Jews, but blasphemers and are in fact the synagogue of Satan. Nothing could be plainer, right? If you see a person who calls themselves Jewish but is not descended from people who came to America on slave ships, that person is either lying or deluded, and is in fact a worshiper of Satan, right? This interpretation of the verse propels the hate speech that we see directed at Jews by Hebrew Israelites. Ancient and discredited antisemitic canards are exhumed and brought to bear. In one tirade, a street preacher told a stunned Jewish member of the audience that it was “fake Jews” who were responsible for the Transatlantic Slave Trade. His evidence was, of course, the Nation of Islam’s The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews."
& continues
"So, why does the Book of Revelation describe a group of Jews in the city of Smyrna as “the synagogue of Satan”? Well, in Greek, the word “synagogue” has two meanings: it can either refer to a place of worship for the Jewish people, or it can mean a gathering of people. So it can also be translated as “assembly.” But, some critics hold that the King James translators intentionally chose to target the Jews by using the word “synagogue,” when “assembly”or “church” had been used throughout the rest of the book for the same word. I think that the translators understood that it was not only Jews who gathered in “synagogues” or Christians in “churches,” and the context in which “synagogue” was used in Revelation 2:9.
Minister Ernest Martin explains the background:
It is often assumed, because most Gnostic groups had Christian beliefs associated with them, that the Gnostics would have called their meeting places ekklesias (churches) and not synagogues. But the contemporary evidence from Irenaeus and other sources show that Gnostics were conducting their meetings in synagogues (even though ekklesia and synagogue meant practically the same thing in this early period). This shows that any archaeological discovery of an ancient synagogue should not automatically justify the conclusion that the synagogue was a mainline Jewish building. It could very well be a Samaritan synagogue, or even a Gnostic synagogue – The People That History Forgot.
The early church historian Iraneus of Lyon writes about the “synagogue of the heretics” (Against Heresies 4, Chapter 18:27), while making a clear distinction between these heretics and Jews. So, another possibility is that “synagogue of Satan” could quite easily refer to a heretical sect in the city of Smyrna, which claimed to be Jewish, and was giving the Christians a hard time. The whole Book of Revelation was written to comfort and strengthen various Christian communities which were facing brutal persecution from the Roman Empire rather than act as a prophetic book, and assure them that if they endured bravely, they would see the Messianic Age that they believed Jesus would bring in their lifetime. Even the poverty that the writer highlights when speaking of the Christians at Smyrna is linked to the persecution; Christians endured poverty because they could not join the various guilds as they were associated with the veneration of various pagan gods in that city."
& lastly says
"The “blasphemy” was not the claim to a Jewish identity as such, but their overall doctrine. It is hard to trace this “synagogue of Satan” because, although they might have been significant enough to warrant a mention in the Book of Revelation, they eventually became extinct when the Christianity that we know ascended to supremacy and suppressed the movements it regarded as heretical. There are other such groups mentioned in Revelation we know next to nothing about either, such as the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6). There are several commentaries on Revelation, but it is only with the rise of antisemitic movements that claim that the Bible supports their ideologies that Revelation 2:9 came to be used to deny the Jewish people their identity.
The most vocal elements of the Hebrew Israelite movement have distorted the Bible (both Jewish and Christian) to give antisemitism a place among Black people. I hope this information will equip members of the public of any background to challenge these distortions. There must be some way to explain the conditions that many Black people in western countries are facing, and a way to chart a better future. But hating Jewish people and denying their history and identity is not it.
—
REFERENCES
Videos viewed
A.O.C. Israelites General HaShar Real Jew vs Fake Jew- https://youtu.be/xRyvmRZDwms
2. A.O.C. Israelites General HaShar 44th Street Legend (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USREK8AHM9E&t=914s (from 27:28ff)
Websites
http://ultimatehistoryproject.com/church-synagogue-mosque-ii.html
http://www.museeouidah.org/xweda/History.htm
Primary Texts
1. Ackroyd, P., London: The Biography, pp-706-707, Chatto-Windus, 2000
2. Iranaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 18:27
3. Martin, E. L., The People That History Forgot, Academy for Scriptural, 1994
4. Mayhew. H., London labour and the London poor; a cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work, Vol. 1, The London Street-Folk, George Woodfall & Son, 1851
5. Münter, F., Primordia Ecclessae Africanae, Hafniae Prostant in Libraria Schubothiana,1829
6. Schürer, E., A history of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus Christ, Scribner, 1891
7. Windsor, R. R., From Babylon To Timbktu, Windsor Golden Series; Reprint, Subsequent edition (1 Sept. 2003)
From Christianitybeliefs.org an article is titled
"Is The Black Hebrew Israelite Movement A Cult?" the article says:
This End Times Deceptions Bible study focuses on the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
On Facebook I keep seeing black people proclaim that they are the Hebrew Israelites, that they are God’s Chosen People. Many of them change their names, or add middle names that are Hebrew.
The problem that I’m seeing with their proclamation is two-fold:
A. The Scriptures they’re citing to justify their proclamation are taken out of context.
B. Some of them are making racist statements, elevating themselves above whites.
Here are the verses that I’ve seen people use, with an explanation of the true meaning.
Job 30:30, “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.“
The ISR 98 literal translation reads, “My skin became black upon me, and my bones burned with heat”
Job was noting an odd condition caused by his infirmities, as there is no reason to proclaim that his skin was black if he was a black man.
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me; – It had become black by the force of the disease.
My bones are burnt with heat – The bones, in the Scriptures, are often represented as the seat of pain. The disease of Job seems to have pervaded the whole body. If it was the elephantiasis (see the notes at Job 2:7-8), these effects would be naturally produced.
John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible on Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me,… Either through deep melancholy, as may be observed in persons of such a disposition, through grief and trouble; or rather through the force of his disease, the burning ulcers and black scabs with which he was covered, as the Jews were through famine, in their captivity, Lam. 4:8;
and my bones are burnt with heat; with the heat of a burning fever; which not only made his inwards boil, but reached to his bones, and dried up the marrow of them.
Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible on Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me; either by his dark-coloured scabs, wherewith his body was in a manner wholly overspread; or by grief, as before.
My bones are burned with heat; the effect of his fever and sorrow, which dried up all his moisture, and caused great inflammations and burning heats within him.
Revelation 1:14, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” KJV
The ISR 98 reads, “And His head and hair were white as white wool, as snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire.”
Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites cite the reference to wool as pointing to their hair type."
& Continues
"But the text is declaring that both His head and His hair are white. The words wool and snow are describing the color, not the texture.
Messiah is the spotless lamb of Elohim and the color white symbolizes His purity. It is not pointing out His race.
Isaiah 1:18 makes this clear, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.“
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Revelation 1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. Exceedingly or perfectly white–the first suggestion to the mind of the apostle being that of wool, and then the thought occurring of its extreme whiteness resembling snow–the purest white of which the mind conceives. The comparison with wool and snow to denote anything peculiarly white is not uncommon.
Revelation 1:15, “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.“
The ISR 98 reads, “and His feet like burnished brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters”
Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites cite that His feet are black.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says that fine/burnished brass is polished and glossy. Burning/heating the brass in the furnace removes the impurities. It’s not saying that they are burnt looking, as in black.
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible on Revelation 1:15
As if they burned in a furnace. That is, his feet were so bright that they seemed to be like a beautiful metal glowing intensely in the midst of a furnace. Any one who has looked upon the dazzling and almost insupportable brilliancy of metal in a furnace, can form an idea of the image here presented.
Revelation 3:9, “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.“
Black people who claim to be Hebrew Israelites rightly cite that most of the Jews in Israel are not the DNA descendants of Abraham, and that they are.
But the DNA studies have never shown that blacks are the Israelite descendants of Abraham. Read this study: Jews Who Are Not Jews
Some blacks cite the false religion of Roman Christianity as ‘white supremacy propaganda‘.
Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VIIt is true that the Roman Bishops and Emperor Constantine created the Roman religion of Christianity, when they gave their Roman gods and traditions, a ‘christian‘ veneer.
And they have pushed the face of white Jesus, which is based on the portrait of Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI.
Groups such as the KKK use the guise of Christianity to promote their ideology, but that doesn’t mean that it was created to promote white supremacy. Satan had them create it to remove people from Scriptural truth.
Read this study series to see how far the Roman Bishops pushed people away from the will of the Father: The Falling Away of 2 Thessalonians 2
So though black people rightly point out that Messiah wasn’t Caucasian, they have gone to the other extreme and proclaim that He is black.
Conclusion:
I’m not seeing Scriptural evidence that black people are the Hebrew Israelites.
At best, it seems to be a ‘feel good‘ concept for blacks, who are blindly trusting their Pastors.
At it’s extreme, some are looking down on white people as a ‘lower-class‘ people, which makes it dangerous, as they want to hold it over ‘whitey‘.
Either way, it seems to be a cult because it has manipulated Scriptures to justify a ‘special’ people group.
Interestingly enough, that is what the Israelite/Jews were chastised for, proclaiming to be a superior race.
If you have other verses or another perspective, I would love to hear them."
From the website descendantsofnoahh.wordpress.com an article is headlined
"The Black Hebrew Israelite Cult, EXPOSED!!!!"
Posted by chrishaig444 on April 26, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 15 Comments
IMG_3864 the article says:
"The Black Hebrew Israelite fallacy is a virulent poison within the body of Christians that has to be treated immediately, the flame of lies must be extinguished and so I have took it upon myself to study their claims diligently in order to completely expose and debunk the fraudulent claims of these false prophets. In this post I will be reviewing the alleged claims of the Black Hebrew Israelites who have attempted to monopolize salvation itself, that which Jesus Christ (Yahshua) offers to everyone freely, aside from exposing the various fallacies I will also examine the method of justification used, these methods basically consist of revisionism, taking lines out of context, fraudulent claims and threatening fear tactics. So let us divulge into the beliefs of what is likely the most disturbingly preposterous and vicious cults that has ever sprouted out of Christianity, The alleged Black Hebrew Israelites.
Before I begin let me be the first to say, that indeed there were black Hebrews in the days of old, however the aforementioned cult in question today have taken that truth and have persuaded many into believing an extremely atrocious lie, that being that blacks, Hispanics and native Indians were and are the only true Hebrews and that allegedly Jesus Christ only offers salvation to them, a ridiculous notion that only the most delusional or deceived minds would deduce from reading the gospel, but when taking lines out of context to suit the wicked desire of a hate filled heart, anything is possible. Let’s jump right in with a brief summary of their beliefs, followed by quickly dismantling and dissecting their flawed logic and impossible claims. First let us observe the alleged claim of the black Hebrews Israelite cult that there were no white Hebrews and that all descriptions of Hebrews depict men and women of color.
Now then, one of the common cases they make in regards to ancestral heritage is with king Solomon. Here in song 1:5 Solomon states, “I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.” The black Hebrew Israelite movement uses this quote tirelessly to prove that Solomon was black, but if he actually was, is most certainly debatable, let us elaborate and observe the FULLNESS of the word, not just a verse taken out of context as the black Hebrew Israelites tirelessly do. In the VERY NEXT VERSE, Solomon sates, song 1:6 “Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”
Here we can clearly see the color of his skin becomes debatable, why you ask? Its abundantly evident to see and yet its overlooked, in this verse Solomon says “ I am black because the SUN HATH LOOKED UPON ME”, tell me since when does a black man need a tan in order to be black? However I can honestly tell you in truth, as a middle eastern man, if I am in the sun for over a month, my skin gets dark brown to nearly black at times.. Right about now you may be thinking, your argument seems possible but not probable, considering in the line before he said he was black and yet why did he clarify why he is black if he was always black, would that not be logically irrational if blackness was not his normal state of being? Psychologically what black man would clarify the reason he has become black if he was always black? At this point I could already see the black Hebrew cult coming up with numerous rebuttals, so let’s put a nail in the coffin of this argument shall we? Here it is made abundantly evident that it is far more likely that when Solomon said he was black he was indeed, referring to his tan."
the article continues
"In song 5;10 ‘My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.’ Here one of Solomon’s lovers, calls Solomon, WHITE AND RUDDY. Once more as a middle eastern man, I could tell you in all honesty, if I see no sun, I will become relatively white, I’m not so ruddy, but with sun it is easy for me to become extremely dark and with the lack of sun, I become white and Im considered a middle easterner with light features which is rare, I have dirty blonde hair, green eyes.. My dad however, his body gets dark brown/black and ruddy, let me clarify though, I am not making the ridiculous blood claim to Jacobs lineage because in truth IT IS LOST, nobody can truly claim it with any bit of tangible evidence. But back to the point, Tell me, what black man, goes from BLACK, TO WHITE? Unless Solomon was some majestic and magical being who somehow achieved the art of shape shifting or color changing, I have yet to meet a black man who will become white and ruddy with the absence of sunlight, however all of the middle east is a testament to the undeniable truth that middle eastern men can become extremely dark with large periods of time under direct sunlight or white with no sun..
Once again I AM NOT making the claim they are the true Israelites. Now the evidence has been put before you, the fullness of the word will always enlighten us to the truth. With that being said, am I so stubborn and simple minded that I am to say that it is without any doubt that Solomon was white? No and to me it is irrelevant, but what is relevant is that the black Hebrew Israelite cult, either covets knowledge or unknowingly takes lines out of context and aggressively preaches half-truth’s. Now let’s continue once more, the claim of the black Hebrew Israelite cult is that NO WHITE HEBREWS, EVER EXISTED..
Let’s now focus on another verse. Lam 4:7 “Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:” Here, the Nazerites are described as WHITER THAN MILK, and more ruddy than RUBIES. Once more let us examine the next verse followed with a juxtaposition from beginning to end, Lam 4:8 “Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.”
For those of you who are familiar with this part of Lamentations know they’re speaking about the before and after tense of Gods favor, so here it is once again made clear that either they had become blackened by famine, or perhaps filth from being on the streets or a curse of sin. However, once more it is made more than sufficiently clear that indeed there were white Hebrew Israelites, which brings me to the next nonsensical claim of the black Hebrew Israelites. Another common claim of the black Hebrew Israelites is that white skin is an alleged curse from God. They use this verse in order to justify this farcical claim. Exo 4:6 “And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.”
& continues
"Apparently the black Hebrew Israelites, in their vast and rich abundance of knowledge, don’t know what leprosy is, so I shall provide the exact meaning. Leprosy: a chronic, mildly infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, affecting the peripheral nervous system, skin, and nasal mucosa and variously characterized by ulcerations, tubercular nodules, and loss of sensation that sometimes leads to traumatic amputation of the anesthetized part.
It seems black Hebrew Israelites are unaware that exceedingly and strikingly pale white skin is only 1 small part of the affliction of leprosy. However, if we are to use their own logic and hate speech tactics against them, can we not make the same claim against black skin when taking lines out of context? Let me clarify once because my heart demands me to. I have multiple black friends, some who are like brothers, I have even met 2 black friends over IG, whom in a short period of time I have come to love and genuinely whole heartedly embrace them as brothers, they don’t even know it but I would take a bullet for them. I am IN NO WAY, making the claim, that black skin is a curse, I’m simply destroying the black Hebrew Israelites argument with a taste of their own medicine and my brethren, if you aren’t caught up in the hazy disconcerting spirit of hate that surrounds their preaching, you could easily see through their argument and discern the truth through the actual LITERAL word of the bible, not what they change it to be, which by the way I will also speak on.."
& continues
"With that being said in the quote above in laminations could we not take those words out of context and say that blackness is a curse? If we were to lower ourselves to the level of the hate filled cultist, it would be all too easy to. Let me give you another example. In Job; 30:30 when Job speaks of the curses that God had allowed Satan to place on him, one of them is “My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.” , once more why would he speak of his skin turning black, if that were his natural color? Furthermore, this is a CURSE that he is speaking of. So is black skin a curse? Hell no, I wouldn’t mind if I woke up tomorrow and I were black, maybe I would inherit the skill to dance if I woke up black because I can’t even two step, but if were to take lines out of context using the same vile tactics of the black Hebrew Israelite, we undoubtedly could.
And yet they have the audacity to change the word and claim that the dictionary definition of leprosy was changed by the white man in order to surreptitiously hide the truth from people that white skin is in fact Gods curse of leprosy, and we are the seeds of edom and esau. I lie to you not, I have actually said this… and yet even if they insist on rejecting the dictionary, we could use the Bible, because the most high God, foresees all and gave us undeniable clarity as to what leprosy is. Leviticus 13:2 “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:’ So any man from the black Hebrew Israelite cult that preaches that white skin is God’s curse of leprosy, can read God’s actual word and be enlightened in it/s brilliant luminance and yet they chose to dwell in the darkness of hatred and have the audacity to attempt to even change the biblical word, which brings me to my final points.
The black Hebrew Israelites are constantly changing the actual literal word to suit their interpretation and persistently spreading hate. First let’s look to more of their claims. The black Hebrew Israelites claim that they are the only people who allegedly fit the given requisites of the curse but there are gaping holes in their logic. They claim that in Jeremiah and Deuteronomy the numerous curses mentioned pertain only to them. Let’s review shall we? One of the claims of this curse is that they shall have no land of their own and they use the black slaves in America as proof of this and yet the flaw in their theory is right under their nose, how you ask? It’s simple, the claim of the black Hebrew Israelite cult is that blacks, LATINOS and native Indians are the only true Hebrew Israelites. I’m sure by now some of you may have connected the dots, it amazes me how a hate filled and filtered perception could blind so many from the truth. If the claim is, that the Hebrew Israelites have no land of their own, then tell me, how are Latinos/Hispanics also Hebrew Israelites, when they DO have lands of their own? American Indians are somewhat logically arguable, even though they do have lands given to them that they and only they have jurisdiction and rule over, they have their own laws on reservations, that is technically a land of their own, even though I won’t argue that they were robbed of much and the acts against them are disgusting, but what about latinos? Shall I name their lands? Yes lets name them, Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Republica Dominicana, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Luisiana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nueva Escocia, Nuevo Brunswick, Estado de Nuevo Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Uruguay, Venezuela."
& continues
"Seems to me, like a good portion of the world, is actually latin/Hispanic speaking and ruled. If their ridiculous claims were true they would have no lands amongst them, so the claims in their totality prove untrue and thus are ALL false! Why don’t they just move to their brethren and fellow Hebrew Israelites land, let them go take refuge with their brethren and have a land of inheritance, they say Hebrews have no land, but indeed they do, if latins/Hispanics are Hebrews then in actuality they have a large portion of this world, so their theory is only somewhat true based on black Americans, however in the fullness of their false teachings, they have shot themselves in the foot and it is all too evident that they are just attempting to rally any minority who feels wronged by America or the white man to their cause by giving them a false and fake baptismal in lies and a fraudulent inheritance that never belonged to them, but belongs to those who accept God and Jesus Christ and make an earnest effort to keep their laws and precepts, with love and faith in them.
Also in Deuteronomy, in this curse that they claim proves their inheritance, God says in deu 28:64 “And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, evenwood and stone.” Its sad, yet again another truth under their nose, but they are blinded by their ego. When the slaves were brought to America, what religion were they taught? Granted they were taught by tyrannical slavers who should never even have uttered one word from the Lords gospel and they used the gospel in the opposite way of which is intended, to enslave when in reality Gods word is used to break free of bondage. But what were they taught? They were taught the Bible, they were taught the gospels, they were taught to worship God and Jesus.
I’m sorry but reverting back to the original Hebrew name of Yahuah and Yahusha or Yahshua does not change the God, it simply is a different name, as English is a different language, so in fact, they never did worship any other Gods here in America, in reality they worshipped the one true God or at the very least were taught to, the sad part is they also fail to realize that all these curses they name, were spoken in the OLD TESTAMENT, had they truly believed in Jesus, they would realize that by accepting him, all these curses are broken and our salvation is found in him, we are fulfilled by him, we are covered in the precious blood of the lamb and made immaculate, how then can these curses exist when Jesus offered himself to become accursed himself and bear all our sins? They are all paid in full, by Jesus Christ, so in actuality, to believers, these curses are no more.
Which brings me to my next point and one of the most outrageous claims is that salvation is only for the Hebrew Israelites (blacks, Hispanics and American Indian). Let us turn first observe Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” First they make the claim, that allegedly, Greek, means only the Hebrew Israelites that are in the greek mind state, changing the word to suit their racism. However they overlook the line just before, “ salvation is to EVERYONE THAT BELIEVETH”. And yes, AT THAT TIME, Christ came first to the Jews, why? Because the Jews were the only ones worshipping his father and keeping his laws, at THE TIME, there were no other believers in him and his father, but let’s continue with the actual literal word in its bountiful plentitude. In mark 16:15 after Christ had died and appeared and the Jews had rejected salvation, who did he extend it to? What was Christs command to his apostles? in mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’."
& continues
"Once again, he makes it clear, go into the WORLD and preach the gospel to every CREATURE, not even every man, but EVERY CREATURE! Once again, Christ chose his words with the great wisdom of his Foresight, knowing there would come the time that false prophets would attempt to rob salvation from man so we were given incontestable evidence to his will and as far as Gods promise to his people goes, to whom is it promised? Here in Gal 3:29 “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” So anyone who has given themselves to Jesus Christ, is considered Abrahams spiritual seed and heirs according to his promise. By whose will is this done? By Gods will it is done and can you guess why?? Because as were taught in John 3:16 we are taught “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
& continues
"So lets review, first the black Hebrew cult changed the word leprosy to white skin. Then they changed the word Greek, to greek mind set, now believe it or not, they have even attempted to claim the word world, does not mean world. This next harebrained augmentation of the literal word they’ve made to suit their belief system is honestly laughable. I have had them tell me, that by world, God never meant world, but in fact he meant something more along the lines of “sea world” or “hip hop world” meaning he never meant the actual definition of world. So apparently by their logic, if I’m a dolphin I can be saved by Jesus, but if Im a dog, Im doomed… No but all joking aside, this is the ridiculous tactics of the black Hebrew Israelites. Which brings me to my final point, well in honesty, it’s not even close to my final points, I could go on and on, but for today at least, I feel I could bring this to a close, let me finish this and their ridiculous foolery at the same time.
We were warned all warned, believers and nonbelievers and sadly by preaching falsehoods of curses and salvation in a futile attempt to break a curse that they believe God has placed over them, have in actuality only moved closer to being cursed than when they started.. for we are taught here in revelation 22:18 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:” . This includes, changing leprosy to white skin, greek to a greek mind state, world to sea world (HAH) and salvation for all, to salvation for few.. In closure, I think its safe to say, that anyone with logical and rational mind can now rest easy knowing that their claims are nothing more than the fallacies of the black Hebrew Israelite movement, and now have been debunked and destroyed, utterly… If by chance, you need more information, than ask and I shall provide, either here in this post or in a pm. God bless you all and to you who belong to the black Hebrew Israelite cult, your love for the God is welcome within the true body of God and I personally would embrace you as a brother if you wished to accept the true words of God. God bless you all."
From pulpitandpen.org an article on December 13, 2019 is headlined
"Four Important Things to Know about the Black Hebrew Israelites" One person typed the following comment in reply to this article regarding the Black Hebrew Israelite Cult
Nosebot Press typed
"this is what stupid looks like. i have debated these guys before. the level of stupid is uncomprehendable. and the irony of them saying they are jews and hating the real jews!! these guys are another manifestation of progressivisms `what-you-feel-is-what-you-are' reality relativity. "
nosebotpress.blogspot.com
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From askdrbrown.org an article is headlined
"The Truth About White Jesus Statues"
Posted Jun 25, 2020 by Michael L. Brown the article says:
What, exactly, did Jesus look like? Was he black? Brown? White? Red? Yellow? We know that he was a first-century, Galilean Jew. But, beyond that, no reliable description of his appearance has been left for us.
There is a statement recorded in the Mishnah, the earliest code of Jewish law (compiled roughly 220 A.D.) attributed to Rabbi Ishmael, who lived from 90-135 AD. He said, “The children of Israel . . . are like boxwood, neither black nor white but of an intermediate shade” (m. Negaim 2:1).
So, according to a rabbi who lived within one century of Jesus, the Israelites are “like boxwood,” neither black nor white but somewhere in between. This would be in keeping with other Middle Eastern peoples of the past and present.
As for the notion that Jesus was black, based on Revelation 1:14-15, that is a complete misreading of the text. Describing John’s vision of a glorious Jesus, the text states that, “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.” (Revelation 1:14)
But the text does not say that Jesus had wooly hair. Rather, it pictures his hair as “white like wool, white as snow.”
This is not speaking of the texture of his hair (any more than the texture of hair is being compared to snow). Rather, it is speaking of the color of his hair. And even so, this is a glorious vision not meant to be taken literally – unless, of course, you believe that a sharp, double-edged sword came out of his mouth and that his face shone like the sun.
That being said, Jesus was certainly not white. (For the record, many translations of the Bible, including the King James Version, render Revelation 1:14 with, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.” From this you could argue that Jesus was lily white, since it says his head was white. That, too, is a gross misunderstanding.)
How, then, did we end up with a white Jesus in Europe and America?
There are two answers to this question, one quite innocent and the other not nearly as innocent. (You might be in for a surprise. Keep reading!)
The innocent answer is that it is common for other people groups to imagine Jesus to be just like them. Just do a search for “images of Chinese Jesus” or “images of Eskimo Jesus.” You will see a Jesus who looks Chinese or a Jesus who looks Eskimo.
This is no surprise. After all, according to the gospel, the Son of God took on human flesh and became one of us. It’s only natural that we envision him to look like us.
Back in the 1970s, I attended a black megachurch in Brooklyn with a friend I had met in college, himself an African American.
The first thing that struck me was the mural on the wall, depicting Jesus and his disciples as black."
the article continues
"When I asked my friend about it, he said to me, “When you look at a class picture, what’s the first thing you look for? It’s your own face in the crowd. It’s the same with people coming here. They’re looking for a Jesus they can identify with.”
That’s also why many pictures and statues of Jesus depict him as white. The white artists conceived of a Jesus who was just like them. That’s also why some of the medieval depictions of Jesus portrayed him and his followers as wearing medieval garb. That was the garb that they knew.
The problem is when that image is now exported to other cultures, and so the Jesus we preach in India or Africa is a white Jesus. That can lead to spiritual and cultural confusion, especially if the white race is also associated with conquest and colonization. Now the issue becomes thornier. (To help you relate to some of the challenges, if you’re a white Christian, ask yourself how you would relate to a black Jesus. Or an Indian Jesus.)
But here’s the big surprise when it comes to white images of Jesus. The historic contrast was not between a white Jesus and blacks. It was between a white, Gentile Jesus and Jews.
This was graphically illustrated by Prof. Bernard Starr in his book Jesus, Jews, and Anti-Semitism in Art: How Renaissance Art Erased Jesus' Jewish Identity & How Today's Artists Are Restoring It. (For relevant articles by Starr, see here and here.)
Starr pointed to famous medieval and renaissance paintings of Jesus, where he was depicted as a handsome, fair-skinned, Gentile European, surrounded by devilishly-ugly, hook-nosed Jewish teachers. Those evil Jews!
If you think I’m exaggerating, just look at this one painting, Christ Among the Doctors, by Albrecht Dürer. (By “doctors” Dürer meant “doctors of the law,” as in rabbis and Jewish teachers.)
Interestingly, Starr also pointed to artists in Africa and other dark-skinned cultures who depicted a dark-skinned but also non-Jewish Jesus. How interesting!
So, a major reason that white artists depicted Jesus as white was because they forgot about his Jewish (and Middle Eastern) roots. Not only so, but since the Jews were viewed as demonic and evil, Jesus had to be different than them, hence a white, non-Jewish Jesus. (Or, in other cultures, a black, non-Jewish Jesus.)
BLM activist Shaun King, who ridiculously called for the removal of statues depicting a white Jesus, tweeted, “Experts have long since said this is likely the most accurate depiction of Jesus.
“White Americans who bought, sold, traded, raped, and worked Africans to death, for hundreds of years in this country, simply could not have THIS man at the center of their faith.”
King included in his tweet an image created in 2001 by forensic anthropologist Richard Neave. As the BBC reported, Neave “created a model of a Galilean man for a BBC documentary, Son of God, working on the basis of an actual skull found in the region. He did not claim it was Jesus's face. It was simply meant to prompt people to consider Jesus as being a man of his time and place, since we are never told he looked distinctive.”
So, contrary to King’s claim, this is not what, “Experts have long since said . . . is likely the most accurate depiction of Jesus.”
This is simply a 2001 image created by one expert, and it was not of an African man but of a Galilean Jew.
As the BBC also noted, “And what about Jesus's facial features? They were Jewish. That Jesus was a Jew (or Judaean) is certain in that it is found repeated in diverse literature.”
So, the real question for the cultural iconoclasts of our day, including the likes of Shaun King, is this: Would you be at home with a Jewish Jesus? With Yeshua, the son of Miriam, called rabbi rather than reverend? Would you be at home with him?
This is also a great question for Christians worldwide. Do you follow the Jesus-Yeshua of the Scriptures or a Jesus whom you have created in your own image?" The Black Hebrew Israelite Fools are Wrong in their Biblical Interpretations,
Jesus was and is Jewish
From the NYDailyNews.com an article is headlined
"Rebuilding Black-Jewish solidarity"
By Jacqui Lewis and Joshua Stanton
New York Daily News
January 16, 2023 this article says
"Moses could never have become Moses without beloved community — a fierce love that transcends difference and brings people together in new relationships. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could never have transformed America without beloved community. On this national day of remembrance to honor Dr. King’s life and teachings, we need to rebuild it again, most especially between Black people, Jewish people, and Black Jewish people.
Perhaps the oldest example of beloved community comes from the Torah portion that Jews around the world read this weekend. It tells of how Moses fled Pharaoh and into an emotional and physical wilderness, only to encounter a family of Moabites quite different from his own — that of Jethro the priest. Despite their differences in belief and belonging, Jethro saw Moses’ compassion and rewarded him with love, family, and mentorship. Only after this embrace by another community could Moses find himself and uncover his higher purpose — as he did at the burning bush in the Moabite desert.
Leaders in a Vietnam war protest stand in silent prayer in Arlington National Cemetery, Feb. 6, 1968, including Rabbi Abraham Heschel, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Harvey Georges/AP)
Dr. King saw the potential of beloved community between Black people, Jewish people, and Black Jewish people. He decried antisemitism, empowered rabbis and Jewish leaders as organizers against segregation, and marched side by side with great Jewish luminaries as allies with a common goal of justice and equality for all Americans, regardless of race or creed. He understood that striving for freedom starts at home, but quickly moves beyond the bounds of any single place or group. Liberation is a collective endeavor. We must renew his vision and rebuild beloved community.
Our communities, along with others across the country, are taking important initial steps. Our communities have already found warm embrace. East End Temple took in Middle Collegiate Church in the wake of a devastating fire two winters ago and provided it with a Tabernacle — a temporary place to pray, learn, and gather until it rebuilds. Together, we are working to ensure that cohabitation is just the start."
The article continues
"This year, East End Temple joined Middle Collegiate Church for its annual King Day Teach-In held yesterday, on King’s birthday, in the heart of New York City. We learn and organize against the dual white supremacist threats of racism and antisemitism. We deepen relationships that can lovingly hold our differences and begin rebuilding the transformational Black-Jewish coalition of the Civil Rights era.
To that end, we have surfaced three guiding principles, which may well serve as guideposts for relationship, dialogue, and common action among Black, Jewish, and Black Jewish folks.
First, we need to lead with love. That starts with love of oneself and one’s own multifaceted identities. Rather than feigning sameness, we can share of our own stories in a way that exudes self-respect and, we pray, a growing love of who we are as individuals. Only when we feel affirmed in ourselves can we make space in our hearts and our minds for each other and each other’s fullness of being.
Second, we need to hear each other’s pain, not evaluate whose pain is worse. The dynamics of racism and antisemitism are different in an American context, even if they both come from the same white supremacist sources and continue to have deadly consequences. This is not a contest — an “oppression Olympics” — but a conversation from which everyone can learn.
Third, in the words of Rabbi Hillel, “If not now, when?” — or in the words of Dr. King, “The time is always right to do what is right.” There are far too many conversations bemoaning tensions between Black folks and Jews and far too few about what we can do now. Yes, we have a storied history going back decades. But it is meant to inspire us, not ensnare us. If we only look back, things will never look up.
We are living through a time filled with racism and antisemitism of a kind we have not witnessed since Dr. King walked the Earth and changed our world. This year, we would do well to look beyond platitudes and superficial shows of solidarity or efforts consigned to a single day of the year. It is time to rebuild the relationships that bring us together so that we can once more overcome the vicissitudes of history. Our suffering is real. So, too, is the potential to rebuild beloved community. It was the answer in the ancient times of Moses and in the far more recent times of Dr. King. And it remains the answer today.
Lewis is senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church. Stanton is spiritual leader of East End Temple and director of leadership and formation at the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership."
michaellaitman.medium.com has an article headlined
"I Too Have A Dream… A World Free of Anti-Semitism"
Nov 17, 2018 by Michael Laitman
A person recently typed online about BLM
"A FRIENDLY REMINDER.
Without a doubt, the group owning the deceptive name Black Lives Matter is the most vicious, hateful, racist, and destructive, anti-Semitic group in America. Every decent person believes that Black Human Beings matter as much as anyone else matters. However, this hate group's name shields their nefarious militant Islamic Jihadi mission of turning American Blacks against America, Christian support for Zionism, The State of Israel, and The Jewish People. BLM supports the economic boycott of Israeli Jews, targets Jewish students on university campuses to cause fear and intimidation. BLM supports the vandalizing of Synagogues and Jewish owned businesses for disruption and closure. BLM speaks out hatefully against Jewish American citizens and incites violence, mistrust, and hate aimed at all Jewish People. Just imagine if there was a group that targeted Black citizens in the same way that BLM targets Jews; the media would go crazy. The Islamic Minister Farrakhan directs their severe hypocrisy laden hate campaign, shielded by their innocent, reasonable-sounding name and a co-operative American News Media. Because a person is named Jesus or Moses, it doesn't mean they can't commit brutal crimes. Do not be duped by a deceptive name. BLM is a hateful, destructive, group. You are not a shallow moron that can't see past a name. Certainly, you know that it's one's inner, loving character that counts and not merely one's outer name or physical appearance. A human being or a group's value is the totality of what they stand for and not simply for what their name is. Don't be duped. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do that and it won't matter what color your neighbor is."
medium.com has an article headlined
"Refuting the Black Hebrew Israelites (IUIC)" by
Aquila and Priscilla
on
Dec 16, 2019
Yet Another good article is from
jewishunpacked.com on February 8, 2023 headlined
"Refuting four antisemitic claims of the Radical Hebrew Israelites"
By Yirmiyahu Danzig
A person typed online after
October 7th, 2023
"I'd like to know where are the Afro American leaders like Jesse Jackson ,AL Sharpton, Cory Booker and others?
Jews marched with Dr. King to help his people get the civil rights they deserved to have. Two Jews were killed in Mississippi attempting to help people register to vote in 1964 along with a young black man. Schweizer and Goodman along with Chaney were murdered by the KKK.
I'm sure if Dr. King was alive today there would be no enmity aimed at Jews by groups like BLM.
I've yet to see on black person marching with Jews to protest the horrific murders of 1400 or more innocent civilians including babies.
Where are you now?. Food for thought. We are a small minority who are reaching out for assistance to combat the hate being leveled at us worldwide.
You should know your history and realize that we were there for you now it's your turn to step up for us."
A person typed online earlier today
"Sadly, that beautiful sentence in MLK 's I Have a Dream, has been forgotten.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character."
What these leftists are doing today is the opposite; they judge by the color of one's skin. And the problem is even worse, they decide what color the skin is. Jews are wrongly perceived as "white" Palestinians as "brown", so Jews are "bad", Palestinians are "good" . What about character, you ask me??? Character doesn't seem to matter. Those who idolize Palestinian radical Islamic terrorists killings , who celebrate death are the "good" and those who idolize life are the "bad", because it's the perceived color of their skin that is judged nowadays."
theisraelbible.com has an article headlined
"Martin Luther King Jr.’ Stance on Antisemitism" on
Jan 16, 2023
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
A Must Read article
danspapers.com has an article
headlined
"Op-Ed: What Would Martin Luther King Jr.'s Response be to Current Antisemitism?"
By Rabbi Marc Schneier
On January 17, 2024
adnamerica.com has an article headlined
"After Hamas atrocities, MLK's embrace of Israel and disdain for antisemitism confronts liberals"
By John Solomon
January 15, 2024
A person typed online earlier today
"ADL polls show black Americans remain considerably more likely than white Americans to hold anti-Semitic views.
They are nearly four times as likely as whites to fall into the most anti-Semitic category, which believes in the most anti-semitic tropes about Jews.
And this after the Jew led the black rights movement.
No good deed shall go unpunished."
Mr. Whitehead , as we all Know
Rabbi Meir Kahane was tragically assassinated on
Monday November 5, 1990 . Meir Kahane was 58 Years Young
The infamous Crown Height Riots took place less than a year later in August of 1991
Many People have asked that if Rabbi Kahane was still alive , would the
Crown Heights Riots would have still Taken Place ?
Never Forget that when Meir Kahane was Killed in 1990
God Himself was Crying at the Death of Rabbi Kahane,
God Himself and All the Angels in Heaven were weeping and crying at the Death of
Rabbi Meir Kahane , on that Terrible Night
All the Countless Great Human Beings in Human History in Heaven the Night of
Monday November 5, 1990 were deeply Weeping and Crying over the Death of
Rabbi Meir Kahane ,
They knew that a Great Hero and Leader had Fallen
The Good News is that someday ultimately in the Future
Meir Kahane will Return to Earth !!!
Kahane is Coming Back !!!
A person typed online in August 2023 that
"Some things need to be known, if for nothing else but for the sake a balanced perspective.
Which is that George Floyd was a vicious hardened criminal therefore it's very wrong to make some kind of a "hero" out of hooligan was such criminal that he not was not only on drugs but was also involved in drug trafficking.
Mr. Floyd was so totally despicable that he even entered a pregnant woman's home under a false premise of deception to let his lawless ruffians lot her home , all the while he threateningly pointed a gun to that pregnant woman's stomached 'You better cooperate."
The list of crimes that Floyd was guilty of can to go on. It's absurd as well as wrong to make a "hero" out of heinously wicked thug. As the Bible reads "Woe to those who call evil good..." Isaiah 5:20. [N.K.J.V.]"
& also typed
"The police officer, Alexander Kueng, who was sentenced to prison by the politically correct court of “law” for the death of that hoodlum George Floyd completely refused to take into consideration everything that really mattered.
The PC court didn’t take into account that Mr. Floyd was both a drug trafficking and drug using hooligan and that one of the reason his died that night was not only that the officer used force on him, which is the only language that thugs and gangsters are able to understand because that will not respond to reason. Floyd died because of his drug abuse about with the force that officer used on him.
If Floyd hadn’t resisted the officer force then would not have been needed to control him.
In the light of Bible it’s wrong to resist of police officers or their orders. Romans 13:2.
Furthermore as this CP unjust prison sentence upon Mr Kueng is a reminder for Christians to pray for him since he was wrongly sentenced and that Bible also instructs in Hebrews 13 : 3. “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - Those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also.” [N.K.J.V.]"
&
"Just to think about it. How so many white people do support BLM they are worse than naive, they must be deluded ignorant fools to be unaware of how this BLM leader and other heads of actually think of them.
The leaders of BLM will manipulate those White people as their "useful idiots" meaning their stooges and tools to complete their goals and if that leader would ever accomplish their agenda, they wouldn’t think twice, after using them, about discarding them [eliminating them].
Furthermore, BLM is a pro-Islamic Marxist violent domestic terror group. This is also known as the "Red/Green Alliance." Those who are so despicable to engage in such a demonic alliance are fated to fail terribly in the end.
For the Bible informs its reader "Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished." Proverbs 11:21. [N.K.J.V.]"
A person typed online today
“I’d like to know where are the black people who were discriminated against while attempting to register to vote throughout the Southern states in the 1960s and many Jews marched with them to achieve their Civil Rights. Two Jews named Schwerner and Goodman were killed along with a young black man in Mississippi while trying to help. It seems to me that the majority of black people today like Jesse Jackson, AL Sharpton , Barack Obama aren’t there for us. Israel rescued many thousands of black Ethiopians who we believe are descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.”
A person typed online
On May 30, 2020
"Some random thoughts as parts of America burn and are looted once again:
"Never let a crisis go to waste" remains a key element of the enemy's playbook, augmented by: Where there is no crisis, create one.
The _____ Lives Matter movement is a complete lie. What matters to them is: Who does the killing. Sadly dozens of innocent bystanders are killed everyday by criminals yet there is hardly a peep.
All that has been happening this week and continues to happen -- the violence, looting, fires, vandalism, etc., -- is a likely a dress rehearsal for what may happen in November.
While the coronavirus/COVID-19 is very real and very deadly, Americans have been manipulated by some government officials/elected officials and the chief guessers they turn to for guidance. The corrupt media are the biggest manipulators of all. We encourage this by tolerating the abuse of freedoms.
The speed and ease with which Americans by and large have forfeited our rights as Americans should scare every American as it has put on display for all to see how truly vulnerable WE THE PEOPLE are.
Twitter, Facebook and the rest are businesses and each of us who use them are its products. They are not the items they produce in their factories, we are -- or rather our opinions and outlooks on any given news events are the products.
Each of us are manipulated by so many groups, special interests, companies, PR firms and lobbyists that it is impossible to know any more where one ends and the next one begins.
We can no longer fully believe or trust a single thing any more aside from the Tanakh, the Declaration and the Constitution.
Our nation is fractured into so many pieces that not even the surgeons who put Evel Knievel back together can repair it but it will take someone with the daring of Evel Knievel to try.
There are no longer any Americans "on the fence." Everyone is locked into their view on each and every topic.
Younger generations of Americans have been poisoned and it is the fault of every preceding generation -- with few exceptions.
Our enemies are winning because the rest of us have let them win. If you don't believe me, open your eyes and ears and then open your mouth -- but use it to say something intelligent.
George Soros is evil but many of you act as though he is the only evil. Each time something bad happens, many of you knee-jerk type his name. There are many mega-wealthy evildoers and you had best learn the other names.
We have until mid-October, when early voting begins, to work harder than any of us has ever worked to open minds, open hearts, open eyes, open ears, to fight the corruption and manipulation and indoctrination -- we are out of second chances and do overs.
Not everything that happens is a conspiracy and not everything is a partisan issue nor should it be. Things happen that threaten all of America -- Democrats and Republicans alike. They more we are divided, the easier we will fall.
Every second that you and I are not working to preserve our values and our way of life, we are losing ground."
observer.com has an article headlined
"Why Don’t All Black Lives Matter?"
By Judith Bergman June 7, 2017
The Fox News Channel tells the truth about Black Nationalist Terrorism in America , the numerous tragic Black Nationalist terror attacks in America.
Sadly in the New York City Homeless Shelter System, Some of the Black & Latino male residents are definitely lowlife Stalkers and Criminals who Stalk, Harass, Threaten, Intimidate people and beg for Money on a Daily basis, Not only in the Homeless Shelter Buildings, But in the areas around the Shelter System. They are two legged cockroaches, Criminal Psychopaths, Sociopaths, With no Morals, Conscience, Or Empathy within them. They stalk and harass Peaceful Homeless Residents in the Shelter Buildings on a daily basis, Asking to borrow money, Promising to pay it back, Yet these pieces of human excrement never pay it back.
Now, It isn’t “Racist” to say this, It’s a Fact, A sad fact, And while many, Most of the Black & Latino Homeless male Shelter Residents are decent people, The fact remains some of them are indeed lowlife Stalkers and criminal thugs, Dirtbags as described here. That’s the honest truth, And if you doubt that, Just ask people who used to be in the New York City Homeless Shelter System, They will confirm it.
Even more disturbing is that the certain
Black and Latino male Homeless Shelter Residents , these certain Black and Latino Shelter Residents would deliberately and intentionally target White Shelter Residents,
They would prey on White Shelter Residents, Big Surprise, Big Surprise ,
Now many of the Black and Latino Male Homeless Shelter Residents were decent people, however some of them were indeed two legged cockroaches who would Stalk, Harass and Intimidate White Shelter Residents, begging for money, giving people PTSD, many of the White Victims hope that in 2020 those lowlife Stalkers became infected with Covid-19 and died painful deaths .
The certain Black & Latino male
Homeless Shelter residents in New York City who
extort , stalk, harass, & beg people for money, they have no shame, no dignity , they literally follow Peaceful White Shelter residents in the Streets begging for money. They follow the White Residents into Grocery Stores aggressively begging for money .
While many of the Black & Latino male Homeless Shelter residents were decent people, some of them were indeed lowlife thugs who should have Never been born , who should have been Aborted ,
These certain lowlife thug Black & Latino male Homeless Shelter Residents, Let’s All Fervently
Hope and Pray that they Die from
Covid-19 , these lowlife Black & Latino Shelter residents , they are the Reasons Why many Homeless people prefer to Live on the Streets, feel Safer on the Streets than the Shelter System
These certain lowlife Black & Latino male Homeless Shelter residents who Stalked & preyed upon White Shelter residents, these lowlifes are the biggest Worthless Loser Racist Cowards to have ever crawled out of the sewers, they are Racist Cowardly Turds who unjustly targeted White Shelter Residents, let’s all hope that these certain lowlife Black & Latino male Shelter Residents who are the True Racists, we all wish they had died from Cancer when they were little children, so that they would never grow up to become Criminal Parasite Thugs who Traumatize Others , if only they had died from Cancer as little Children, if only
Even more disturbing is how these certain Black & Latino Homeless Shelter Residents who Stalked, Harassed, Extorted and preyed upon White Shelter Residents, is that when the White Shelter Residents got into housing, these lowlife Shelter residents months and years later actually started to Stalk & Follow the former White Shelter Residents on Social Media, really creeping out their Victims, that’s how Worthless, useless and Pathetic they were,
These certain Black and Latino, Hispanic Male Homeless Shelter Residents who Stalked and Harassed White Shelter Residents. The Government should definitely Forcibly Sterilize them , they should be Forcibly Sterilized so that they don’t have Criminal offspring.
They should be Forcibly Sterilized, Not because of their Race , but because of their Criminal Behavior.
Those certain Black and Hispanic, Latino male Homeless Shelter Residents who targeted and Stalked, Extorted, Threatened The few White Homeless Shelter Residents for money on daily basis , we all know that those certain Black and Hispanic, Latino Homeless Shelter Residents spent the money they extorted from the White Shelter Residents on Drugs, Alcohol , truly messed up
What is being done to Make the New York City
Homeless Shelter System Safer ?
Just Imagine the Public Outrage if
White Homeless Shelter Residents Stalked and Harassed, Extorted Targeted Black & Latino
Shelter Residents for Money, Just Imagine the Media Coverage it would create
Just Imagine , what is being done to Fix the Homeless Shelter System , Homelessness could happen to anyone
What is being done to Protect decent Homeless Shelter Residents from Stalkers , that are described here
A person typed online in
July 2023 about George Floyd
"Some things need to be known, if for nothing else but for the sake a balanced perspective.
Which is that George Floyd was a vicious hardened criminal therefore it's very wrong to make some kind of a "hero" out of hooligan was such criminal that he not was not only on drugs but was also involved in drug trafficking.
Mr. Floyd was so totally despicable that he even entered a pregnant woman's home under a false premise of deception to let his lawless ruffians lot her home , all the while he threateningly pointed a gun to that pregnant woman's stomached 'You better cooperate."
The list of crimes that Floyd was guilty of can to go on. It's absurd as well as wrong to make a "hero" out of heinously wicked thug. As the Bible reads "Woe to those who call evil good..." Isaiah 5:20. [N.K.J.V.]"
Still it's sad that George Floyd died , he should have repented and turned his life around and become a law abiding citizen like some criminals do
Some criminals Change
Some don't , Some Never Change
israelnationalnews.com has an article headlined
“The 30th anniversary of the Crown Heights Pogrom”
Tamar Adelstein
Aug 21, 2021
A Must Read Article
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