Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main
Institut für England und Amerikastudien
Proseminar: Black and Jewish Women Writers and their Mothers
3. Semester

Black, jewish, interracial - a contradiction?

von: Alina Polyak

I. Introduction 4

II. Defining an identity. 4

II.1 Who is Jewish 5
II.2 Who is ‘black’ 5
II.3 Choosing an identity – Elena Khanga, Rebecca Walker and Ruth BcBride. 6

III Antisemitism: Black and white. 7

IV Your people – my people? 8

V. Conversion in Judaism. 8

V.1 Definition. 8
V.2.Historical overview. 9

VI Ethiopian Jewry 9

VI.1. History 9
VI.2. The origin 10

VII. “Juden aller Länder- vereinigt euch! “ 11

VI Bibliography. 12

I. Introduction

During the semester we read a lot of texts by different authors. There were a lot of questions that we raised in class about race, gender, identity and religion. We found out that there was a lot of prejudice on both the Black and the Jewish sides. It was important for me to know whether it is possible to unite both black and Jewish parts of one’s identity or one has to give up one part of his or her heritage in favour of the other. In my paper I would like to try to find out if there is a contradiction in being both black and Jewish from the point of view of the Jewish religion. I want to try to show that there is no contradiction to be found and that the prejudice against people of colour does not come from the Jewish tradition. As a Jew it is important for me to try to understand why many partners in interracial relationships were rejected by their families, what played the most important role – the race or the religion, and why many of them felt compelled to throw away their Judaism. Why could not they be both black and Jewish? Is it only the race issue that made them abandon their Judaism, or was it only a kind of justification or excuse? When parents refused to keep contact with their children was it because of race or because they were marrying a Gentile person? Would there be any difference if the non Jewish person were white? Would it hurt less? Or maybe it would be easier to hide? On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of Black converts to Judaism. It is very hard to convert and for a black person even harder – so what makes them do it? I do not hope to answer all the questions that I have raised but I would like at least to touch some of the points in this sensitive issue.

II. Defining an identity.

Identity designates something like a person’s understanding of who they are, of their fundamental defining characteristics as human being. (Taylor, 1992, p.25)

According to Katya Azoulay (p. 178), in the United States the possibility of a Jewish or Black identity has been suppressed on the one hand and cultivated on the other. Whereas the Black identity is visible, the Jewish one is invisible. One can get rid of the traditional markers of Jewish identity like names, dress and language more easily, apart for the visible mark of the circumcision. Today even the most secular Jews circumcise their sons to show that they belong to the Jewish people. Discrimination against Jews and against Blacks was not the same because one group was always visible by skin colour and the other could conceal its background if needed. (Azoulay, p. 65) Sartre said: “ a Jew, white among men, can deny that he is a Jew, but from black skin there is no escape” (p.47).The fear of assimilation makes many Jews seek partners for marriage inside of their community. Many immigrants to America wanted to discard their old identities. Intermarriage was a way to discard the Jewish identity (p.73). Not incidentally, the reaction of Black or Jewish community to individuals who marry out of the community is a charge of disloyalty (p.74) The percent of intermarriages among the Jews in the Diaspora is so high that there is a serious danger of disappearance. The children of such marriages are much more likely not to be raised as Jews. (p.80)

II.1 Who is Jewish

According to http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm
‚A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion to Judaism.’ If a person has a Jewish mother he or she is considered Jewish no matter who the father is. Once a person has converted to Judaism, he is as much a Jew as anyone born Jewish. A Jew can be defined by religion, by nationality (as it was done in the Soviet Union), by culture, by customs or by Nürnberg laws. According to Linda Shires, Jews do not constitute a race. They do not share genetic characteristics of skin colour or facial features (p.29). There are also many ways to observe Judaism, but all of them agree that a Jew believes in one G-d, Creator of the Universe, who made a Covenant with the people of Israel and gave them commandments. There are differences in definition between different religious groups. Also, Judaism is a unique religion being both a religion and a nation. From the religious point of view one has no choice: a born Jew who is not religious always remains a Jew. Also a convert who stopped observing the tradition remains Jewish forever. A huge emphasis is put on the line of tradition coming from father to son. As rabbi Adin Schteinsalz put it : ‚A Jew is someone whose granchildren are Jewish‘. Being Jewish means belonging to a minority, being different.

II.2 Who is ‘black’

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