The Alliance of Black Jews was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 organization that was started in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, in 1995 by a group of African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Jews. At the time, they estimated black Jews

Black Jews

The history of the Jews in the African diaspora is related to the Jewish people's long history in Africa, dating to the Biblical era.As the African diaspora grew, because of the movement of Africans and their descendants throughout the world, African Jews were part of that diaspora. In addition,...

 in the United States to number about 200,000, or about three percent of the American Jewish

American Jews

American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...

 population. The figure, which included Black Hebrew Israelites not recognized as Jews by mainstream Judaism as well as black Reform

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

, Conservative

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

, Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 and Reconstructionist

Reconstructionist Judaism

Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization. It originated as a branch of Conservative Judaism, before it splintered...

 Jews by birth or conversion

Conversion to Judaism

Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...

, was based in part on the 1990 Jewish Population Study, which gave figures ranging from 135,000 to 260,000, depending on the definition of a Jew

Who is a Jew?

"Who is a Jew?" is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question is based in ideas about Jewish personhood which themselves have cultural, religious, genealogical, and personal dimensions...

.

The individuals involved in forming the organization included Robin Washington

Robin Washington

Robin Washington is an American journalist and filmmaker, born in Chicago in 1956.-Early life:Washington, who is Black and Jewish, was born to an African American father, Atlee Washington, and Jewish mother, Jean Birkenstein Washington.-Career:...

, Michelle Stein-Evers

Michelle Stein-Evers

Michelle Stein-Evers, born in Los Angeles, California, is a specialist in Iranian Studies, human rights, and immigration, now residing in Australia. She studied at the Universities of California, Tehran and Pennsylvania, specializing in political science and Iranian Area Studies. Her fields of...

, and Rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 Capers C. Funnye Jr.

Capers C. Funnye Jr.

Capers C. Funnye Jr. is an African American who is the head rabbi of the mostly African-American 200 member Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago, Illinois, as assisted by Rabbis Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter...

.

The organization is no longer operational.

See also

• American Jews
  American Jews
  American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
  
  
• Black Hebrew Israelites
  Black Hebrew Israelites
  Black Hebrew Israelites are groups of people mostly of Black African ancestry situated mainly in the United States who believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Black Hebrews adhere in varying degrees to the religious beliefs and practices of mainstream Judaism...
  
  
• Jews and Judaism in the African diaspora