Tagged black Jews

Calls to defund the police put Jewish institutions in a tough position

New York police officers stand guard at the door of the Union Temple of Brooklyn after it was vandalized with graffiti, Nov. 2, 2018. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
June 15, 2020 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — When Rabbi Capers Funnye attends a synagogue that’s not his own, he must brace himself for the reaction that he knows will follow after he walks through the door. Even though he comes in wearing a kippah and holding a prayer shawl, Funnye knows that if a… Read more »

‘Believe us’: Black Jews respond to the George Floyd protests, in their own words

Top left, clockwise, April Baskin, Anthony Russell, Yitz Jordan and Tema Smith. (Baskin: Jill Peltzman; Russell: Courtesy of Russell; Jordan: Courtesy of Jordan; Smith: Courtesy of Smith)
June 1, 2020 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — As Enzi Tanner participated in an online havdalah ceremony marking the end of Shabbat Saturday night, his city — Minneapolis — was being torn apart during a fifth night of unrest following the death of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody there last week. Tanner,… Read more »