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Blue, White, and Ebony

Meet the black Orthodox Jews

by
Marc Tracy
August 30, 2010
Shais Rison (left) and Yitzchak Jordan.(NYT)
Shais Rison (left) and Yitzchak Jordan.(NYT)

Your other favorite daily magazine of Jewish life and culture reported on the growing number of black Orthodox American Jews over the weekend. While a 2005 book estimated that seven percent of (all) American Jews were black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American, nearly all experts agree that number is likely to grow via marriage/conversion, and the article specifically highlights black converts to Orthodox Judaism (though one of the subjects married a black woman whose family was Orthodox as early as the 19th century).

Seriously, this one is not to be missed. (And nor, presumably, is the gefilte fish prepared by one subject’s mother, “seasoned with Jamaican peppers and spices.” Recipe, anyone?)

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.