Capers C. Funnye Jr.

Capers C. Funnye Jr. (pronounced fun-AY) is a Jewish African-American who is the rabbi of the mostly African-American 200 member Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago, Illinois. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Divine Law or Sexism? |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11918123 |work= |publisher=NPR |date=2007-07-12 |accessdate=2008-02-13 ] He is also the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, serves on the boards of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and the American Jewish Congress of the Midwest, and is active in the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, which reaches out to black Jewish communities outside the United States, such as the Beta Israel in Ethiopia and the Igbo Jews in Nigeria.cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/us/16rabbi.html |title=Black Rabbi Reaches Out to Mainstream of His Faith |accessdate=2008-03-16 |author=Niko Koppel |date=2008-03-16 |work=The New York Times ] The organization was founded by Funnye in 1985 as a direct offshoot of Wentworth Arthur Matthew's Commandment Keepers.cite book |last=Chireau |first=Yvonne |editor=Yvonne Patricia Chireau, Nathaniel Deutsch, eds. |title=Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0195112571 |pages=18 |chapter=Black Culture and Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism, 1790–1930, an Overview p. 48] [cite web |url=http://northstar.vassar.edu/volume4/chireau_deutsch.html |title= The North Star
accessdate=2008-02-09 |last=Angell |first=Stephen W. |coauthors= |date= 2001 |work= |publisher=Florida A & M University] He was ordained a rabbi by the Israelite Rabbinical Academy in 1985.cite web |url=http://mesh.medill.northwestern.edu/mnschicago/archives/2002/02/black_hebrews_t.html |title=Black Hebrews try to find their place in the world |accessdate=2008-01-20 |last=Wright |first=Abbi |coauthors= |date=February 27, 2002 |work= |publisher=] In 1996, Funnye was the only official black rabbi in the Chicago area recognized by the greater Jewish community.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Farrakhan inspires and infuriates at once |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/index/nman005.htm |work= |publisher=USA Today |date=1996-02-16 |accessdate=2008-02-13 ] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies and Master of Science in Human Service Administration from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. [cite web |url=http://www.bethshalombz.org/Biography_Funnye.pdf |title=Biography of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr. |accessdate=2008-02-13 |format=PDF |work= ]

Funnye is the first cousin once removed of Michelle Obama, the wife of 2008 U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama.cite web |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/14121/ |title=Michelle Obama Has a Rabbi in Her Family |accessdate=2008-09-02 |author=Anthony Weiss |date=2008-09-02 |work=The Forward ]

Like most of his congregation, Rabbi Funnye was not born into Judaism; he adopted the religion later in life. He was born a Methodist but, dissatisfied, investigated other religions including Islam, before converting to Judaism, feeling a sense of intellectual and spiritual liberation in the constant examination that he saw the religion encouraging.

The congregation was started by Rabbi Horace Hasan from Bombay, India, in 1918 as the Ethiopian Hebrew Settlement Workers Association. Along with African-Americans, members include Hispanics and whites who were born Jews, as well as former Christians and Muslims. As is traditional with Judaism, they do not seek converts, and members must study Judaism for a year before undergoing a traditional conversion requiring men to be ritually circumcised and women to undergo ritual immersion in a mikvah. The synagogue is "somewhere between Conservative and Modern Orthodox" with distinctive African-American influences; while men and women sit separately as in Orthodox synagogues, a chorus sings spirituals to the beat of a drum. It is currently housed in a former Ashkenazi synagogue in the Marquette Park neighborhood.

Although the idea of African American Jews is sometimes met with skepticism, Rabbi Funnye says, "I am a Jew, and that breaks through all color and ethnic barriers."

Rabbi Funnye is a co-founder, with Michelle Stein-Evers and Robin Washington, of the Alliance of Black Jews, which formed in 1995. [cite web |url=http://www.ortamerica.org/site/DocServer/Summer_1995.pdf?docID=921 |title=Black Jews: Changing the Face of American Jewry |accessdate=2008-03-16 |author=Miriam Rinn |date=Summer 1995 |format=PDF |work=The Reporter | publisher=Women's American ORT |pages=pp. 11-13 ]

Funnye believes the original Israelites were black. He states that he does not discriminate against white people, but has stated that there are a lot of white Jews who are racist, and as a result, some black Jews respond with anti-white racism. It is this kind of discrimination, he argues, that has caused groups like Yahweh ben Yahweh. Funnye has criticized Louis Farrakhan for his comments on Jews.

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