Stepping Into Zion: Hatzaad Harishon, Black Jews, and the Remaking of Jewish Identity

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments It takes many years, much courage, and even more support to write a book. Without the criti­ cal feedback and loving support of many friends, ­ colleagues, and family members, this manuscript would not have reached this finished state. And yet, while many sets of eyes and ears have looked at and listened to vari­ ous versions of this manuscript, any errors that remain are my own. First of all, thank you to the many institutions that had faith in this project and my ability to complete it. Thank you to the National Foundation for Research in Jewish Culture and Ms. Marilyn Cohen for awarding me the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen fellowship in Jewish Studies. Thank you to the University of Texas for a 2005–2006 David Bruton Jr. fellowship, a 2004 College of Liberal Arts summer fellowship, and a 2003 Department of English summer fellowship. This generous support helped to fund the initial research for this project.Thank you also to the Hadassah-­ Brandeis Institute (HBI) for enabling me to be a scholar-­ in-­ residence for fall 2008. During my residency, the manuscript truly transformed. Ironically, this time for uninterrupted contemplation helped me identify and develop interruption as the heart of the project. I am also grateful to the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences for granting me a junior faculty research leave in spring 2011, which enabled me to finish revisions, and for a 2012 Special Summer Research Fellowship, which facilitated the completion and submission of the final manuscript. I would also like to thank Argumentation and Advocacy for granting permission to reprint portions of “From Jew to Israelite: Making Uncomfortable Communions and The New Rhetoric’s Tools for Invention” which was origi­ nally published in 2008 (198-­ 212) and appears in revised form in chapter five. Portions of “Black Jewish Identity Conflict: A Divided Universal Audience and the Impact of Dissociative Disruption,” origi­ nally published in Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39 (2009):46-­ 72, appear in a revised form viii / Acknowledgments in chapter three of this book and are reprinted with permission of Taylor and Francis Press. I am grateful to Rabbi Hailu Paris and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for permission to quote from the Hatzaad Harishon, Inc., Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation Records, a special collection housed in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the NewYork Public Library’s Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Special thanks to librarians Steven Fullwood and the late Andre Elizee for helping me find my way and for putting me in touch with Rabbi Hailu Paris. Many thanks also to­Yaakov Gladstone , Marlaine Glicksman, Rabbi Trainin, Esther Hart, and Jody Benjamin for providing additional materials and valuable his­ tori­ cal context. Without their interviews and added insight, many of my criti­ cal readings would not be possible. Thank you also to Nicky McCatty and April Baskin of the Jewish Multiracial Network for providing support and background for this and related projects. Daniel and Ariel Hoffman graciously hosted me in their Harlem apartment as I returned time and again to do research, and Rachel Chertok Calmas, Jill Goldenziel, Michael Pine, and the rest of the NYC gang kept me cheerfully entertained while I was in the “city.” I am truly blessed to have such good friends with whom I could share good meals, good laughs, and good discoveries from the archives. Thanks also to the Hebrew Israelites in Dimona who welcomed me into their community and shared their stories of New World Passover and life in Israel. Without the wonderful feedback, enthusiasm, and external deadlines I received from colleagues in the field as well as from several writing groups I may never have finished; I thank both for seeing me through what seemed like an endless process of revisions. Thanks also to Dan Waterman and the anonymous reviewers from the University of Ala­ bama Press who offered insightful, constructive criticism that helped move my thinking forward in important ways. Thank you also to editors Kevin Fitzgerald and Joanna Jacobs for ensuring that my ideas are presented in clearer and more polished prose. Thank you as well to the many scholars who mentored me in the process of scholarship. Trish Roberts-­ Miller, Linda Ferreira-­ Buckley, Evan Carton ,Wayne Lesser, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, and Michael Bernard-­ Donals offered valuable feedback on the work that eventually grew into this book. I am especially grateful to Trish, who instantly recognized a...