By Dr. Y’shua Yisrael
I have noticed a pattern on social media, where several groups that identify as Black Hebrew Israelites espouse a myopic, vitriolic discourse that militates against the historic unity between American Jews and African Americans. A number of these groups claim that mainstream Jews are impostors and that only people of color are true Israelites. Consequently, this has led to racialized theology, street preaching, and bitter online rhetoric. It has become commonplace to see African American men who identify as Hebrew Israelites on social media, in inner cities, marketplaces, and street corners verbally assaulting the descendants of Eastern European Jews.
How did these views emerge when most Black Hebrews have never set foot inside a synagogue? To call their houses of worship a synagogue of Satan does not demean the Jewish faith; it demeans those who are disadvantaged and deprived of the profound sanctity of Jewish worship. Perhaps it is they who are imprisoned to Satan! Fortunately, by the grace of Ha Shem, I have visited several Ashkenazi Synagogues in America, Mexico, Ukraine, and the Holy Land of Jerusalem. I am writing to counter such rubbish and state without equivocation that every synagogue I have visited was awe-inspiring, filled with reverberating energy, and the divine resonance of Hebrew letters.
Hebrew Israelites, Christian enthusiasts, or anyone who associates the Jewish House of worship with Satan is underexposed, short-sighted, and frankly, mistaken. Hebrew factions have, in my view, misappropriated Revelation 2:9 to justify replacement theology and fuel antisemitic ideologies.
In Kabbalah, Geulah is the restoration of divine unity, when the fragmented sparks are gathered back into coherence, released from exile, and ego separation. Geulah is the vibration field of the Olam Haba, where the divine will align human consciousness to become the embodiment of the Shema, which is a vibratory field of unity. The Shema proclaims the Oneness of God; it is another way of saying that diversity is based in unity; Ha Shem is indivisible.
The Israelites were taken into the galut, which is separation, displacement, and concealment. However, in this cosmic redemption, we are no longer in the galut, or a place of bitterness and racism, but resonance and coherence. The espousal of division and hatred is incompatible with the frequency of the new humanity, the denigration of one group by another is prima facie evidence of the galut, exile, a darkness, where racism and antisemitism thrive. Not all Black Hebrew Israelites hold racialized theories; I certainly do not. As a spiritual cartographer, I must reclaim Revelation 2:9 as a call for discernment, not division. Concerning the conspicuous half-truths, distortions, misinterpretations, and misuse of sacred scriptures filtering through the mainstream of society, it must be ignored, discarded, and understood for what it is: oppositional impedance.
Let us consider the verse in question. This verse was written in a letter to the early Christian community in Smyrna, who were facing conflict. This was not a blanket condemnation of the Jews, but a reference to an internal conflict. Certainly, this is not a blanket condemnation of the Jews, and not a license for antisemitism. According to scholars and Jewish-Christian historians, the phrase “synagogue of Satan” was a symbolic critique of certain groups opposing the early Jesus followers, not a condemnation of Jews as a people. It reflects the tension in the first entry between the Christian sect and the Jewish communities under Roman rule.
I have explored Judaism and been blessed to enter the hollowed grounds of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform synagogues. Visiting Jewish synagogues made a positive impression that will always resonate and inspire me to higher degrees of holiness. If you are presented with the opportunity to visit a Jewish Synagogue, do not hesitate, you will be intrigued by its enlightenment.