Posted on 03/15/2008 3:43:39 PM PDT by forkinsocket
CHICAGO — Having grown up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Capers C. Funnye Jr. was encouraged by his pastor to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he became a rabbi.
His congregation on the Far Southwest Side of Chicago is predominantly black, and while services include prayers and biblical passages in Hebrew, the worshipers sometimes break into song, swaying back and forth like a gospel choir.
As the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and of numerous mainstream Jewish organizations, Rabbi Funnye (pronounced fun-AY) is on a mission to bridge racial and religious divisions by encouraging Chicago’s wider Jewish community to embrace his followers — the more than 200 members of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.
“I am a Jew,” said Rabbi Funnye, “and that breaks through all color and ethnic barriers.”
As a teenager, Rabbi Funnye said he felt disconnected and dissatisfied with his Methodist faith. He embarked on a spiritual journey, investigating other religions, including Islam, before turning to Judaism. He said he found a sense of intellectual and spiritual liberation in Judaism because it encourages constant examination. “The Jew has always questioned,” he said.
Like their rabbi, a majority of Beth Shalom’s members came to Judaism later in life, after wrestling with contradictions and questions that they found in their own earlier beliefs. Many refer to their religious experience as reversion, rather than conversion, and feel a cultural connection to the lost tribes of Israel. They say that Judaism has renewed their sense of personal identity.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I don't remember why this inmate was at the county jail, but it turned out he was in the State prison for murder, and would be there for a very long time. He spoke and spoke to my stepson. He told him to look around him, and to see all of the faces of the other losers in jail. He said that most of them would end up in prison, like him. Why? Because they had no family. He told my son that he was lucky to have a family who loved him and he should work to make us proud.
My son then asked this man who is his family...the man replied, my family is God..I found religion in prison. My son asked, you found Jesus in prison? the man replied, No..I'm Jewish. My stepson was a bit perplexed and inquired, why Judaism? The man's reply - "HOW MANY JEWS DO YOU SEE IN PRISON????!!!!"
Ha! Awesome story.
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