Black Jews have lived in New York City since colonial times, with organized Black-Jewish communities emerging during the early 20th century.
Maybe because Black folk weren't concerned about our Judaism or our Torah observance that night...Lubavitchers, for better or worse, were viewed as privileged community members with deep pockets, strong political ties, and lots of protectsia from the police at that time.
BINA was founded by Beejhy Barhany, an Ethiopian-born Jew who was raised in Israel and later moved to New York City.
Ethiopian Jews are small in number in the United States, but New York City is a hub for the Ethiopian-Jewish American community.
[citation needed] Black-Jewish culture in New York City incorporates many African, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Latino influences.
Shais Rishon, a Black Orthodox Jew, has stated that he prepares gefilte fish with Jamaican peppers and spices.
Rishon writes that Black-Jewish cuisine is "molasses in the charoset for Seder because it was a slave crop, habaneros in the geflite fish because we cook with actual spices.
Black Jewish activist Koach Frazier read from a "Juneteenth haggadah" and stated that "We memorialize the ending of chattel slavery in the way we remember our liberation from Egypt because ritual is a form of collective, embodied memory...We embody our experiences as both slaves and people on a journey towards liberation.
[13] A kosher vegan Ethiopian restaurant was opened in Brooklyn in March 2020, certified with the "Mason Jar K" hechsher under the superversion of Rabbi Sam Reinstein of Congregation Kol Israel.