“Black Hebrew Israelites are not Jewish”: Tova the Poet unpacks the dangers of the extremist fringe group posing harm to Jews
The poet Tova Ricardo, better known as Tova the Poet, whose poems speak from her perspective as a Black Jewish woman, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where she spoke at length on Black Hebrew Israelites.
The Black Israelite Hebrews are an extremist Black supremacist group that asserts that they are the “true” Jews. The group has harassed and intimidated Jews on the streets of the United Kingdom and the London Underground, and is thought to have been connected to the New Jersey kosher grocery store shooting in 2019.
“Black Hebrew Israelites are not Jewish,” Ms Ricardo said. “That is something that the Black community, the Jewish community, mainstream society, need to understand. There are Black Jewish people like myself. There are many Black Jewish people around the world, in America, and we have absolutely no affiliation with Black Hebrew Israelites.”
Explaining why the ideology of the Black Hebrew Israelites is so dangerous, she said: “It attempts to appropriate Jewish traditions and history in order to allow these people to deal with their sense of inferiority. These people have historically read themselves, seen themselves, in the Israelite story in the Bible. They’ve seen themselves as the downtrodden. Because of the history of slavery in this country and the ways in which Christianity and the Christian Bible was pushed on Black Americans. Some Black Americans have seen themselves in that story, and there are a lot of Black Americans who can sympathise with that story, but there are some who take it too far.”
In recent months, high-profile celebrities such as Kanye West and Kyrie Irving have both repeated rhetoric similar to that of the Black Hebrew Israelite teaching.
“Kanye West, people like him, are not Jewish,” the poet stated. “That is a figment of their imagination, and its an insult to actual Black Jewish people, particularly when the Black community is speaking about Black Jews and ‘why isn’t someone like Kyrie or Kanye allowed to call themselves Jewish?’ Kyrie, Kanye, they are not Jewish, and you are not working to build coalitions with actual Black Jewish people.”
Ms Ricardo would go on to describe the difficulties that Black Hebrew Israelites pose to Black Jews, like herself, specifically, and admitted that the group has, regrettably, had a negative impact on her own relationship with Judaism.
“Black Jewish people are trying to tell folks that Black Hebrew Israelite ideology is dangerous, and I will say this, and I haven’t really said this before, because Black Hebrew Israelites have attempted to appropriate Jewish traditions and language, and when people see a Black person who says the word ‘Hebrew’ or ‘Israelite’, they associate them with Black Hebrew Israelites, I, as an actual Black Jewish person, I don’t actually feel comfortable even calling myself, referring to myself, as a ‘Hebrew’ or as an ‘Israelite’.
“Within the Jewish community, non-Black Jewish people will use those terms whether they were talking about stories in the Torah, whether we’re speaking about our holidays, Jewish people will use that language is part of our tradition. But I don’t use that language, because I don’t want someone to associate me with Black Hebrew Israelites. I don’t want them to look at me and think ‘Oh, a Black person using these words. That must mean she’s like them.’ So, it’s causing distress in my life, also because Black Hebrew Israelites do not like actual Black Jews. We are a threat to their identity.”
Outlining the fact that Black Hebrew Israelites are considered an extremist group fringe group, Ms Ricardo continued: “Most Black people do not believe in this. I’m sure there are a lot of people who will go on social media and will see certain Black celebrities push this ideology or they will see a video of someone on the street pushing this ideology, and those people need to be condemned.
“But the majority of Black people…I’m Black, I’ve grown up around Black people. Most Black people do not believe this. And I would recommend that folks who don’t actually know Black people, or the Black community, not make generalisations, because that would make Black people mad, because most Black people have asserted that these are fringe groups. [Black Hebrew Israelites] are parts of fringe groups. They are not the norm in the Black community. They are actually very harmful to the Black community, specifically, Black [LGBTQ+] people and Black women have been speaking about the dangers of Black Hebrew Israelites…I just want to reiterate that. Most Black people don’t believe this.”
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Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.
Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.
