They wore white garments and buttons proclaiming, “Ben Ammi lives in me.” They sang his favorite songs. They performed his favorite dance routine. They spoke directly to him, extolling his good looks, virtues and leadership.
This is how the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem paid tribute to their late spiritual leader, Ben Ammi Ben Israel, Sunday night at the Dimona Community Center. Knesset Speaker Yuri Edelstein also participated in the ceremony, along with other local elected officials and religious leaders. Thousands in Israel and abroad watched a live stream of the event on YouTube.
“No one, Abba, had eyes like yours,” Prince Gavriel Ha’Gadol, a childhood friend of Ben Ammi’s from Chicago, said, using the Hebrew word for “father.” “You could see what no one else could see. We needed a way out of America. You manifested that way. Is there anything that you cannot do?”
Ben Ammi, born Ben Carter, led an exodus of African Americans to Israel via Liberia in 1967 after experiencing a divine revelation. He passed away last Saturday at the age of 75 from an undisclosed illness.
Yashua Ben Ben Ammi, the leader’s 24-year-old son, delivered a stirring eulogy in Hebrew and English. “These are trying times for us all,” he said. “But tonight I stand before you to testify of the greatness of my father, our Holy Father, Ben Ammi HaMashiach [the Messiah].”
During his lifetime, Ben Ammi preached that humans are capable of achieving physical immortality, and his son reiterated this message without addressing the apparent contradictions. “We have been given the keys to immortality,” he said, “so that our anointed father can live through us forever.”
The mayor of Dimona, Benny Biton, recalled how excited Ben Ammi was to receive Israeli citizenship in 2013—thanks, apparently, to Biton himself. (The mayor revealed that he called in a favor to then-Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who fast tracked Ben Ammi’s application.) According to Biton, Ben Ammi said: “I can’t believe that I’m alive and I succeeded in getting an identity card! Now I ask you to help those [in the community] without them.”
Biton vowed on Sunday to work with the Interior Ministry “until everyone here receives an identity card.” There are dozens of Hebrews without legal status in Israel, most of them youth who were born in the country or who were brought over by their parents, according to a community spokesperson.
Biton also used the occasion to announce plans to construct a new neighborhood in Dimona especially for the community, which has outgrown its current compound. He said the neighborhood will consist of 61 houses and will be named in honor of Ben Ammi.
“He wasn’t able to move to the new neighborhood, but we will carry on his legacy, everything that he invested,” Biton said. “We will move the entire community, God willing, within two years.”
In his remarks, Edelstein called the Hebrew Israelite community “a meaningful part of the mosaic” of Dimona and of the state of Israel. He highlighted their contributions to Israeli society, including their service in the Israel Defense Forces and their promotion of veganism and a healthy lifestyle.
“Look at the trend today,” he said, noting that the Knesset cafeteria offers extra vegetarian and vegan options on so-called “Meatless Mondays.” “These things came about slowly, bit by bit, as a result of your influence.”
Sheikh Ayid, a representative of the Bedouin community in the Negev, described Ben Ammi as “a diamond among the stones” and praised him for reaching out to other non-Jewish communities in Israel.
“I’m grateful for what he produced for us, especially that he brought all the ethnic family—the Hebrew community, the Bedouin community, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Eritreans, Palestinians in Jericho and the Palestinian Authority—together,” the sheikh said.
The tribute ceremony, which lasted nearly four hours, included performances by the community’s renowned New Jerusalem Fire Choir and Spirit of Israel dance troupe. Photographs of Ben Ammi with Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and other high-profile guests who have visited Dimona over the years were projected on a screen above the stage.
While the Hebrews avoid discussions of death and funerals, preferring to focus on more positive matters, a community leader confirmed that Ben Ammi’s body was buried on Monday in the Dimona cemetery in the presence of his immediate family. Community members are currently observing a 14-day “spiritual fast” from Western music, television, parties and wine.
There was no indication at Sunday’s ceremony that a successor had been appointed, or that one would be in the future.
Prince Immanuel Ben Yehuda, who had assumed many of Ben Ammi’s public duties while he battled his illness, offered reassurances to community members in Dimona and around the world. He said: “For all those who wondered what comes now and what comes next, I only have one thing to say, ‘Be at peace.’”
