The rapper Shyne in now an Orthodox Jew. The Sean Combs protégé served almost nine years in New York prisons for opening fire in a nightclub in 1999 during an evening out with Mr. Combs and his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez. His legal name is now Moses Levi.
The Interior Ministry’s controversial Oz immigration police unit has been accused of beating and verbally abusing members of an African-American family from Kansas City whose members converted to Judaism several years ago, and are living in Ashkelon pending a decision on their citizenship request.
African-American Orthodox Jews are a rare cross-cultural hybrid that seems quintessentially Brooklyn. It received little notice until last week, after Yoseph Robinson, a Jamaican-born convert, was killed during a robbery attempt at the kosher liquor store where he worked.
Paul Golin: Ultimately I believe the guidelines of “Who’s a Jew?” must be expanded if the Jewish community — particularly the American Jewish community — is to remain relevant well into the 21st century.
Casa Hillel-Beit Hamadrij is a humble group of roughly 50 Christian-born converts who, unlike members of the country’s longer-established and more prosperous Jewish communities, come from Guatemala City’s struggling working class.
While African American converts often report that they are well-accepted by other members of their adopted religion, there is no doubt that the color of their skin is forever a reminder to Caucasian Jews that their history appears different.
By RUTH EGLASH Born Ellen Peters, Skolnik, who was raised as a Protestant in a “colored,” or mixed-race, family under apartheid, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that she had always felt a connection to Judaism and that one of her earliest memories was reciting the first chapters from the … Continue Reading >>