Jewish Superheroes in Pop Culture
6 min read
Who are the Black Hebrew Israelites and why are they attacking the authenticity of today’s Jews?
NBA superstar Kyrie Irving has never been one to shy away from controversy. He prides himself on going against the grain and "getting people to think".
Besides his other-worldly basketball skills, Irving is known for his puzzling views about the Earth being flat, telling the New York Times in 2018 that “I do research on both sides. I’m not against anyone that thinks the Earth is round. I’m not against anyone that thinks it’s flat. I just love hearing the debate.” He continued “Can you openly admit that you know the Earth is constitutionally round? Like, you know that for sure? Like, I don’t know.”
Irving's views about the Earth's shape weren't completely harmless. Science teachers were having trouble teaching their middle school students basic science since it went against what they were hearing from their favorite basketball idol.
Irving's most recent controversy is decidedly more dangerous and troubling. He posted to his 4.6 million followers on his Twitter account a link to a documentary called "Hebrews to Negroes". The film, and the book it's based on, contain classic antisemitic statements, like the notion that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust is "one of five major falsehoods", as well as quoting The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Adolf Hitler.
Irving refused to apologize for his antisemitic posts and disavow antisemitism, and has been suspended for five games by the Brooklyn Nets.
The core focus of the documentary, and seemingly what attracted Kyrie Irving to it, is its description stating that it “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel". The documentary states "The Jews today are Europeans whose ancestors converted from pagan religions to the Judaism religion". In short, that Jews today aren’t the “real Jews". Irving refused to apologize for his antisemitic posts and disavow antisemitism, and has been suspended for five games by the Brooklyn Nets. Nike has also suspended their relationship with him.
This same claim was made recently by Kanye West who stated that he can't be an antisemite since Blacks are the real Jews. West said that when he refers to Jews he means “the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are [sic],”.
Fans wear Fight Antisemitism shirts at Brooklyn Nets game.
The idea that today's Jews are really imposters, and that African Americans are the "true Jews", stems from the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
Black Hebrew Israelites originated at the end of the 19th century, when Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy both claimed to have received visions that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Bible. Cherry in particular propagated extreme anti-Jewish sentiments, denigrating white Jews as interlopers and frauds.
During the 20th century, a number of separate organizations formed under the Black Hebrew Israelite banner. Each have slightly different beliefs, and some are more extreme than others. But they all share a common belief that Blacks are the authentic descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and that white people or conventionally accepted Jews are not descendants of the Tribes.
The more extremist Black Hebrew Israelites assert that Jews enslaved Blacks to steal their identity and that Jews are Satanic, with Judaism frequently referred to as the “synagogue of Satan.”
The more extremist Black Hebrew Israelites assert that Jews are liars and false worshipers of God, and Blacks are racially superior and the only true “chosen people.” They accuse Jews for enslaving Black individuals to steal their identity and assert that Jews are Satanic, with Judaism frequently referred to as the “synagogue of Satan.”
These extreme views have led to deadly violence. In December 2019, two adherents to an extremist faction of the Black Hebrew Israelites killed a police officer and then three individuals in a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, NJ. Social media belonging to one of the killers linked to Black Hebrew Israelite and antisemitic beliefs, including messages calling Jews imposters and Satan worshipers.
To be clear, Black Hebrew Israelites are not the same as Black Jews or Jews of color. The vast majority of black people who identify as Jews have nothing to do with these groups; they adhere to the historical, cultural, and religious aspects of the Jewish People.
The slander that Jews are imposters is not the sole inheritance of Black Hebrew Israelites. Traditional white supremacist antisemitism also has roots in the claim that Jews are deceptively pretending to be something they are not. In 2017 in Charlottesville, white supremacists chanted "Jews will not replace us!" while some held banners reading “Jews are Satan’s children.”
One of the core Nazi beliefs was that Jews were aiming to dilute the pure Aryan race through intermarriage. As part of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Nazi Germany forbade sexual relations and marriages between Germans classified as so-called 'Aryans' and Germans classified as Jews. Such relationships were marked as Rassenschande ("race defilement") and could be punished by imprisonment — later usually followed by the deportation to a concentration camp.
The core claim is that Jews are deceptively evil and either have stolen someone else's identity (in the case of Black Hebrew Israelites) or aim to do so (in the case of Nazis and white supremacists).
Behind all this Jew-hatred and accusations of deception, various causes of antisemitism seem to be at play – from accusations of disproportionate wealth and control, to jealousy, to just being an easy target.
With the intensification and mainstreaming of antisemitism, now more than ever Jews need to understand what it means to be a Jew and to proudly stand up for being Jewish.
There is no doubt that our first reaction must be to stand up against hatred and defend the Jewish People. But Judaism always prods us to look a little deeper.
Perhaps this very challenge to the core identity of the “real Jews” will provoke in the minds and hearts of Jews everywhere the question: What, in fact, does it mean to be a Jew? If they are calling us imposters, then our response should be to ask ourselves, “What is my Jewish identity? What is the significance of being part of a people that descends from the Twelve Tribes, from King David, from Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Bible?” If others are challenging us on this, perhaps our answer isn’t strong enough.
With the intensification and mainstreaming of antisemitism, now more than ever Jews need to understand what it means to be a Jew and to proudly stand up for being Jewish.
