ChoosingJewish

Julius Lester died on January 18, 2018, at age 78. The following interview is adapted from an article by Lester in Reform Judaism magazine. His analysis remains just as relevant today as it was in 1989.

ReformJudaism.org: Would you say that Jews and Blacks share a common historical experience of persecution?

Lester: While in the broadest sense that is true, many Blacks find it offensive and historically inaccurate.

“How can that be?” I can hear many white Jews asking. “Look at all that Jews have suffered throughout history. There are no two peoples in Western history who have suffered as much as Jews and Blacks.”

Yes, Jews and Blacks have been among the most oppressed peoples in history. But when one looks at Blacks and Jews in the context of American history, that commonality of experience ceases. White Jews came to America seeking freedom from religious persecution. Blacks were brought to America to be enslaved. From the very beginning, America represented diametrically opposed value systems to white Jews and Blacks.

Saying this is not to disregard the antisemitism to which Jews were subjected in America. But I doubt that anyone would say that antisemitism in America was equivalent to 200 years of slavery and its legacy.

Do Jews and Blacks experience oppression in significantly different ways today?

Yes. For most Blacks, oppression is physical and manifests itself first economically. The simple truth is that most Jews are among the “haves” of American society; Blacks comprise a significant portion of the “have-nots.”

For Jews, oppression is social and psychological. It is a feeling of not quite belonging, of not quite being an American like all other Americans. Other Americans regard Jews as being different in some indefinable way. They see us as “Jews” and not as persons. They hold us personally responsible for every action of the Israeli government.

The Black response to the social and psychological oppression of Jews is a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say, “So what?” On a crowded street, most Jews are not identifiable as Jews. Blacks are always identifiable. The social and psychological oppression to which Blacks are subjected is of a different order.

Was there a time in American history when it was easier for Blacks to regard Jews as fellow victims?

With the rise in Jewish affluence and Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, the image of Jew-as-victim ceased to match the reality.

Many Jews, however, continue to see themselves as victims. So important is this self-image that some Jews borrow it through identification with Holocaust victims or with American Blacks.

Blacks in America do not need to borrow suffering from the past or from other groups. Anti-Black racism stalks the land daily. Jews in this country are fortunate enough that they do not have to live on terms of intimacy with antisemitism.

What can the Jewish community do to improve relations with the Black community (noting, of course, that these communities are not necessarily mutually exclusive)?

White Jews will create new possibilities for relationships with the Black community by ridding themselves of prior assumptions.

Rather than assuming that they know what Blacks and Jews share, it is wiser for white Jews to assume that they know nothing and are willing to listen and learn. What they will hear may be painful, and it might take much effort to learn a new truth or two.

Listening is very central in Judaism and as Jews, we know that it is not only a physical act; it is an act of attentiveness to that which is without and that which is within. Listening is a way of expressing the sacred and receiving the sacred.

I finally learned I can sing 3 octaves C to C — untrained.

So what’s happened? Pre-conversion, I’d make a comment in a Facebook group that was no where near anti-Semitic, but would be accused of anti-semitism, until someone (Jewish) would come to my rescue, and say I wasn’t being anti-Semitic, they were being anti-Black. I’ve had Jewish people accuse me of being anti-Semitic for posting about the Pink Triangle, saying it was “erasure” of the Jews in the Holocaust.

Fall 2020 was when I finally decided to make the decision to search for a Shul. My first step: to Google if there were any Black Rabbis near me. I’m in the South. Fuck. Ok next step: Google the most liberal affiliation. Well in Tx, I felt Reform may be as liberal as I may get. I eventually set work to find a reform congregation near me. I spoke to a set of Rabbis that duel-taught their Intro class, but had their own congregations. The first Rabbi, I made the mistake of mentioning my interest in mixing African based spirituality into my Judaism, and he proceeds to tell me of my own culture and how it cannot mix with Judaism at all. But he sends me to his colleague, we meet for lunch and sit down to talk — getting to know me and resting a file for me for the class. During the conversation he suddenly mentions “…we’ve had Black congregants…” l felt that was odd, and not the only red flags that I kept getting there and eventually left within a few months because I simply did not feel welcomed.

Since June 2021, I’ve found a place I love and I wanted to share my love of singing with them, and decided to join the choir. I didn’t want to ask the choir director straight out, out of fear of being disrespectful and asked how appropriate for me to sing Psalms. Their reaction to my questions were racist — again, I expect that, but this level: telling me I had abandon my culture, how they “don’t want [my] Christianity in [their] Judaism” (my biggest and most annoying reaction). And I’m like y’all sound real stupid for that, as if you don’t have “Let my People Go” in your siddurim! Meanwhile, I asked the same question on Blewbook and was recommended to rewrite some of the hymns I grew up with, to add Hebrew (even replace that completely if Jesus is mentioned), receive recommendations for Jewish Gospel singers; one girl in the other group said “for obvious reasons” you can’t call Black Jews gospel singers. I told her that’s funny because that’s what they call themselves.

Music is very important to me, and to put it simply — it really hurt my feelings. Like really bad.

But then I remember, I’m not here for your anti-Blackness; you will not ruin this for me. Therefore you and your anti-blackness, can kindly make your way to the blackest part of my ass, kiss it, and dig for chocolate while you’re there

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