S
ome Jews by birth don't look
upon Jews by choice as equal
Jews," says Rabbi , Lane
Steinger of Temple Emanu-
El. In discussing non-whites
who as adults decide of their own voli-
tion to become Jews, Rabbi Steinger
says he finds people surprised to learn
there is no such thing as race from a
Jewish point of view. "You're either
Jewish or non-Jewish," he says. "Race
is non-incidental."
Nevertheless, many Jews
manifest a racial antipathy to blacks,
even to blacks who happen to be Jews.
One doesn't have to look hard to find
such racism. We were recently among
a group of Jewish couples who spent
an evening at the Blue Nile
Restaurant, learning about Ethiopian
cuisine and Ethiopian Jewish culture.
As we left, one of the men in our
party remarked offhandedly, "I don't
care what you say, a shvartze (pe-
jorative Yiddish term for black) is still
a shvartze."
At a time when both racism and
anti-Semitism are facts of life, why
would an American- black choose to
embrace Judaism? In the Detroit
area, an estimated two dozen blacks
have made this choice.
Tom Whitehead was well into his
50s when he became a Jew, although
the seeds were planted during his
youth. He grew up in a neighborhood
with Jews, Poles, Italians and blacks.
"I got into many physical contacts
and fights with all of them except the
Jews. They were never kibitzing
around in the streets with the rest of
them. All this came to my mind as an
adult.
"I also worked in every wholesale
fish market in Eastern Market;' he
says. "The Jews gave you jobs and if
you wanted to learn they'd teach you,
but other places wouldn't teach you
because you were black. I also work-
ed in retail and learned a lot about
business from Jews?'
His family was Baptist and as a
child Whitehead studied that religion
and went to church. When he said he
didn't care to join the church and
wasn't sure what he'd do as an adult,
his mother didn't force the issue.
"There were so many rules," he
complains. "You'd go to hell for this
or that." He stopped going to church.
When he married, he went to a
Catholic church for awhile because he
thought it would be a better way for
his family. But some racial
discrimination disgusted him, and
then he was divorced and quit the
church.
Whitehead began reading about
Judaism. "When I read about the
Ethiopian Jews I saw an identity
there," he says. "I decided to seek an
education so I went to Hillel and
heard about Rabbi Max Weine's class
at B'nai Moshe.
"There were a lot of stares when
Fellow B'nai Moshe usher Sherman Schooler talks with Whitehead and his daughter after services.
.
I walked into that conversion class. • postponed his conversion almost a
But I didn't worry about stares. I was year so that he and his wife and their
eight-year-old daughter could all go to
there to seek knowledge:'
Then Whitehead visited the the mikveh together.
His daughter attended United
Holocaust Memorial Center. "That
convinced me right there?' He was im- Hebrew Schools and often accom-
pressed with the fact that many Jews panies her father to Shabbat services
could have hidden their religion, but at Cong. B'nai Moshe where
didn't. "And if they could go through Whitehead is an usher and a board
all the trials and tribulations and still member of the men's club.
Whitehead says he doesn't feel dif-
hang in there, then it was something
ferent from other Jews at B'nai
for me to explore."
Halfway through the class the Moshe. "One young guy with whom
rabbi asked Whitehead how he felt I am friendly asked me one day how
about his studies. He told Rabbi I felt about being the only black at
Weine he was very interested and shul. I laughed and said, 'What do
very determined. "If I don't get it you mean, black? I'm just here with
a lot of other Jews: "
here, I'll get it somewhere else?'
A local Jewish auto broker was
Whitehead says what most im-
pressed him about Judaism was that recently surprised to learn that
Jews pray for all men, not just fellow Whitehead read about his company in
The Jewish News. "He said, 'How do
Jews.
Whitehead was ritually circum- you get that?' I said, 'I subscribe: He
cised as an adult. When he was ready said, 'You don't look like a Jew: And
for the mikveh, his wife expressed an I said, 'Would you please tell me what
interest in Judaic studies as well. He a Jew is supposed to look like? I didn't
come here to discuss this. I came here
to talk about a car, but since you want
to discuss it . .
"He said he was just surprised
because there aren't a lot of black
Jews, then added, 'Well, not in the
Detroit area; and finished by saying
I probably knew more about Judaism
than he did.
"But as long as there are two or
three people in the world, you're go-
ing to find bigotry. I feel sorry for
bigots, but it's nothing new to me. It's
new to me if I'm treated fairly. I don't
expect people to bend over backwards.
But I don't want my child up against
a brick wall either.
"People have said, 'Don't you have
enough trouble?' But I figure that,
originally, everyone converted:"
He recently visited his father who
lives in Cleveland and works as a
chauffeur for a Jewish family. His
father was sympathetic, but many of
his other relatives don't understand
his conversion.