The Hebrew people, the descendants of the first Hebrew Abraham, went down into Egyptian slavery. I believe that the single purpose of their enslavement was to make them knowledgeable of the one true God. While in slavery they witnessed the intervention of God to know firsthand of his miraculous power. He delivered the Hebrews from Egypt and brought them to the mountain of Sinai. It was at Mount Sinai that the Hebrew people were given and accepted the Torah. By so doing, the Hebrew enclave became The Nation of Yisrael.
As the old axiom reminds us, “What goes around, comes around”, history repeats itself as the Hebrews were enslaved a second time and brought back into metaphoric
Egypt a second time doing the North Atlantic Slave trade as prophesied in Deuteronomy 28:68.
During the post-slavery century, an exponential leap forward in Black American spiritual identity was achieved. What is more, the influx of ancient consciousness continues into the nation. The prophetic redemption is dawning, the daybreak, an insight into the will of God has been cognized, The God of Yisrael that presented himself at Mount Sinai is today awakening the seed of the ancient Israelites in the diaspora. The Hebrew mandate for holiness has been reinstated. Holiness means, set apart from the mundane realms of human small-mindedness and egocentrism. Holiness means a 100% commitment to purity and righteousness. The Israelite priesthood in the diaspora became impure during the course of slavery to foster the rapid ascension into God consciousness, Lashon Ha Kodesh, the holy tongue is given. The Hebrew Language imperative is placed on the mind and heart of the awakened. The study of Ivrit’s (Hebrew) acceptance of the Davidic yoke, along with the daily recitation of the Shema is also the commitment to rectify the Brit through sexual purity. This awakening instantaneously unlocks the doors to the elimination of mental slavery, and spiritual, intellectual, and socio-economic poverty. The Holy Tongue is the “sin que non” of spiritual life; the one thing necessary for ascension into holiness. The Hebrew soul, it says in the writing of the prophet Zephaniah 3:9, will be given this, “pure language.” The Hebrew soul has an affinity with Lashon Ha Kodesh because each Hebrew soul stood with the Nation at Mount Sinai when the Torah was given in Lashon Ha Kodesh; an indelible impression was made which allows the Hebrew soul to regain literacy. Moreover, because Lashon Ha Kodesh is the language of creation, as well as the language of prophecy there is nothing that is purifying unto the soul. In this redemptive cycle, Ha Shem awakens that affinity that resonates within the Hebraic soul (Nefesh). Daily interaction with the Hebrew letter will open their mystical powers essential to fluency. Lashon Ha Kodesh is the supreme technology for soul rectification.
This awakening is the long-awaited coming! The Hebrew Nation has survived the brutal, crushing degradation of slavery, the on-slough of violence, and dehumanization. However, the knowledge of self however, was never extinguished; the soul knows its identity. The smoldering fire of the love of Ha Shem can never be extinguished in his sons and daughters! There are many Hebrew communities here in the States and throughout the diaspora. Each community celebrates the Shabbat, enkindling the Shabbat candles to welcoming the Shekinah into their homes. Afterward, they recite the Shema, and ritually wash hands before Kiddish; the recitation of Hebrew blessings over Bread (Challah) and a cup of wine. I have been fortunate to celebrate Shabbat in the Caribbean Islands, Mexico, South and Central America, Ethiopia, and the Dimona Israel with different Hebrew communities. Nevertheless, it was not until 1991 after the Israeli Government conducted the operation “Mitzvah Shlomo” which air-lifted 14,000 Black Ethiopia Jews to Israel, that there were any references to Black- Jews. Jews, or more accurately, “Judeans. Jews” have been thought of as White. However, Moses, the father of prophets, was a black Hebrew. I draw this conclusion from the Torah in Exodus 2:19, where Moses was easily mistaken for a black Egyptian. The Historian and Roman Senator, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, wrote,” Among the Romans, the consensus was that the Jews were descended from Ethiopia.” The media, in concert with the motion picture industry, have tacitly reinforced the idea that the ancient Jews were white. Shlomo Sand, the renowned Jewish scholar, and author, ignited an international controversy with his international bestseller, “The Invention of The Jews.” The book questions the very idea of a Jewish people” and argues that the foundations for the concept of a Jewish people arise from a theological myth. He ultimately refutes the idea of a “Jewish People.” He credits Flavius Josephus’s book; Antiquities of the Jews for the invention of the Babylonia exile. According, to a paper by Rabbi Shlomo Ben Levy, European Jews are descendants of converts whose ancestry goes back to the uplands of Anatolia and Armenia, the Caucasus, and the steppes of Central Asia. European Jews are not the lineal descendants of the patriarchs. Nevertheless, Jews and their descendants are the keepers of the Torah; and the progenitors of holy traditions linked to the practices of Hebrews/ people in North Africa. The revivification, of the Land, and preservation of the Hebrew Language, culture, and Name of God (יהוה) is owned to Judaism! Rebbe Nachman of Breslov defines a Hebrew as one who has “crossed over” from philosophical speculation or intellectual reasoning to faith and resolute knowing. Being a Hebrew (Ivri) has absolutely nothing to do with skin color, rather it has to do with Emuna (faith), and yet, at this critical and historic juncture, an evolutionary momentum is gained knowing that the Patriarchs were men of color. But what is more important, is the miracles and wonders performed for Israel. Just as Ha Shem delivered Israel from Egypt, he is delivering the seed of Abraham from secular mentality, immorality, money lust, and sexual impurity. Accepting the Davidic yoke means, living an exemplary life in unity with the object of our worship.
According to Andre Key’s typology, the Hebrew Israelite group falls into four- classifications in the United States: (1) Pentecostal Holiness Sects, (2) Black-Rabbinic sects who adopt most of the normative Jewish practices while refusing conversion or integration into the normative Judaism, (3) Torah “only” Sects, who reject Rabbinic and New Testament text, (4) Messianic Hebrews” who accept the messianic status of Jesus (Yeshua). How did the Hebrew Israelites come to America? One plausible scenario to account for Hebrew Israelites in America is that following the Assyrian invasion in 721 B.C.E. the Hebrews migrated into western Africa and merged with indigenous groups incorporated into the Atlantic slave trade. The Black Hebrews have always been submerged in a heterogeneous Black populous, but it was not until after the First- world war that Hebrew organizations began to proliferate. For example, Beth B’nai Abraham Congregation was founded by Arnold Josiah Ford in New York. A luminary in the Marcus Garvey-led United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Rabbi Ford offered Hebrew lessons and religious instruction to laypeople. Wentworth Arthur Matthew founded the “Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew congregation in 1919. Rabbi Matthew was an international scholar and one of the leading Black Israelites in Harlem. According to Key’s topology, Rabbi Matthew would be classified into the second category of Andre Key’s Hebrew Israelites; the Black Rabbinic who adopt most of the normative Jewish practices while refusing conversion or integration into the normative Judaism. Rabbi Matthew’s orientation, yet pervasive among Black Israelites was seeing himself as returning to Judaism as true Hebrew. Subdivisions of the Commandment Keepers existed in several cities; Ohio, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Chicago, Virginia, and New Jersey. The Moorish Zionist Congregation was led by Mordecai Herman in the 1920s. The “House of Judah” was founded by William Lewis in Wetumpka, Alabama in 1965. In 1967 a native of Chicago was visited by the angel Gabriel and instructed to initiate a modern exodus back to the Holy Land. After prayerful discernment and miraculous intervention, Abba Ha Gedolah, Ben Ammi, led a faction of Hebrew Israelites from Chicago to Liberia west Africa where they were purified for two years before journeying on into the Holy Land. This group of Hebrews have reclaimed their birthright to the Holy Land, and currently reside in the city of Dimona Israel where they have lived and contributed for more than fifty years. Who are the Hebrews the answer is controversial and only Ha Shem knows. I believe that they are those who are set apart quietly studying Lashon Ha Kodesh.
This overview is prime facia evidence that the light of God cannot be extinguished; even under the most horrific conditions. From we emerge to say, “God who is good, and does good.” It is my hope that you will hear the voice of Ha Shem, and answer the call to righteousness to love your neighbor and plant your banner with alacrity in the name of righteousness, the name יהוה. The House of Israel is an international, ethnically diverse, spiritually unified community. God is One and his name is one Zachariah 14:9.
Dr. Yisrael teaches an individualized introductory Hebrew course! Interested parties’ contact: Babayshua@gmail.com.