Dimona is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the south-east of Beersheba and 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of the Dead Sea above the Arava valley in the Southern District of Israel. In 2022 its population was 36,776. The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, colloquially known as the Dimona Reactor, is located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) southeast of the city.
Israelis are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jews and Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percent and 20 percent of the national figure, followed by other ethnic and religious minorities, who account for 5 percent.
The African Hebrew Israelites in Israel comprise a new religious movement that is now mainly based in Dimona. Officially self-identifying as the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, they originate from African American Ben Carter who later Renamed Himself to Ben Ammi Ben-Israel who immigrated to the State of Israel in the late 1960s. The community claims Israelite descent in line with the philosophy of the Black Hebrew Israelites, who believe that Black people in the United States are descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel and thus rightfully belong to the Land of Israel. As of 2012, their total population stood at about 5,000 people.
African Jewish communities include:
Schisms among the Jews are cultural as well as religious. They have happened as a product of historical accident, geography, and theology.
African-American Jews are people who are both African American and Jewish, whether by mixed ancestry or conversion. African-American Jews may be either Jewish from birth or converts to Judaism. Many African-American Jews are of mixed heritage, having both non-Jewish African-American and non-Black Jewish ancestors. Many African-American Jews identify as Jews of color, but some do not. Black American Jews from Africa, such as the Beta Israel from Ethiopia, may or may not identify as African-American Jews.
Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.
Several groups of people have claimed lineal descent from the Israelites, an ancient Semitic-speaking people who inhabited Canaan during the Iron Age. The phenomenon has become especially prevalent since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. The country's Law of Return, which defines Jewishness for the purpose of aliyah, prompted many individuals to claim Israelite ancestry with the expectation that it would make them eligible for Israeli citizenship through their perceived Jewish ethnicity. The abundance of these claims has led to the rise of the question of "who is a Jew?" in order to determine the legitimacy of one's Jewish identity. Some of these claims have been recognized, while other claims are still under review, and others have been outright rejected.
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel was an American spiritual leader. Inspired by the Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States, he founded the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, which claims that African Americans originate from the Land of Israel. The community's initial members claimed Israelite descent and undertook a major initiative to immigrate to the State of Israel during and after the 1960s. Ben Ammi stated that Black people were descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel and thus were the "true inheritors" of Israel, and created a new religious movement that he claimed was authentically Hebrew or Israelite in theology and practice. Though he was born a Baptist Christian, he denounced Judaism and Christianity as false religions, but maintained that the Jewish Bible was still divine.
Eddie Butler is an Israeli singer. He was born in Dimona to a family of Black Hebrew Israelites from Chicago. Butler started performing at the age of eight. In the 1990s he sang with wedding bands, and in 1992 worked as a backing singer for Zehava Ben.
The Ten Lost Tribes were those from the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. They were the following: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim—all but Judah and Benjamin, both of which were based in the neighbouring Kingdom of Judah and therefore survived until the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Alongside Judah and Benjamin was part of the Tribe of Levi, which was not allowed land tenure, but received dedicated cities. The exile of Israel's population, known as the Assyrian captivity, occurred in line with long-standing Assyrian deportation policy, which was practiced in many subjugated territories.
Wentworth Arthur Matthew, a West Indian immigrant to New York City, was the founder in 1919 of the Commandment Keepers of the Living God, a Black Hebrew congregation. It was influenced by the pan-Africanism and black nationalism of Marcus Garvey from Jamaica. Matthew developed his congregation along Jewish lines of observance and the theory that they were returning to Judaism as the true Hebrews. He incorporated in 1930 and moved the congregation to Brooklyn. There he founded the Israelite Rabbinical Academy, teaching and ordaining African-American rabbis. His belief that Black people are descended from ancient Israelites is not widely accepted by the greater Jewish community.
Capers C. Funnye Jr. is an African-American Conservative rabbi, who leads the 200-member Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago, Illinois, assisted by rabbis Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter.
Indian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Indian Jewish communities, who now reside within the State of Israel. Indian Jews who live in Israel include thousands of Cochin Jews and Paradesi Jews of Kerala; thousands of Baghdadi Jews from Mumbai and Kolkata; tens of thousands from the Bene Israel of Maharashtra and other parts of British India and the Bnei Menashe of Manipur and Mizoram.
Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, more commonly known as Beth Shalom B'Nai Zaken EHC, or simply Beth Shalom, abbreviated as BSBZ EHC, is a Black Hebrew Israelite congregation and synagogue, located at 6601 South Kedzie Avenue, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The congregation is led by rabbi Capers Funnye; and assistant rabbis are Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter. Beth Shalom is affiliated with the International Israelite Board of Rabbis.
The Jews or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites of the historical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and whose traditional religion is Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism is an ethnic religion, but not all ethnic Jews practice Judaism. Despite this, religious Jews regard individuals who have formally converted to Judaism as Jews.
Donald Eugene Blair-Sanford is an American-Israeli Olympic sprinter, who specialises in the 400 metre dash.
Rudy IsraelRochman is a Jewish-Israeli rights activist.
Mordecai Herman was a pioneering Black Hebrew Israelite religious leader in New York City who founded the Moorish Zionist temple at 127 West 134th Street in Harlem.
