Nissim Black has a minhag before he performs: The Orthodox rapper recites a blessing on stage. The custom is a way to make amends for his past as a gang member and gangsta rapper in Seattle who “used to do the opposite of making blessings.”
When she graduates next year, Asher will become the first Black American woman ordained as a cantor — and one of only two Black cantors in the country, according to the other one, Cantor David Fair.
To mark the release this week of “Bob Marley: One Love,” a biopic about perhaps the most famous Rastafarian, J. spoke with two local Black Jews who found their way to Judaism through Rastafari.
“God’s Gang” features Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Hindu characters, each with a unique superpower associated with their religion, squaring off against mad scientists and aliens.
In the year following the Ye and Kyrie Irving antisemitism controversies, some heartening progress was made to repair the historical Black-Jewish alliance.