A designation first introduced at the 2024 Harvard University conference Jews and Black Theory: Conceptualizing Otherness in the Twenty-First Century, Eidot CHeMDaT”A  (עֵידוֹת חֶמְדָּתָ״א) is both a play on the Aramaic word chemdata (חֶמְדָּתָא)—meaning “delight,” "precious," or “desirable” (see Targum Yonatan, Zekharyah 7:14, Yirmiyahu 3:19)—and an acronym for: 

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Eidot

עֵידוֹת

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Chilonim

חִילּוֹנִים

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U’Masortim

וּמָסוֹרתִּים

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V’Datiyyim

וְדָתִיִּים

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shel ha-T’futzot ha-Afriqa’it

שֶׁל הַתְּפוּצוֹת הָאַפְרִיקָאִית

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The Communities of Secular, Heterodox, and Orthodox Jews of the African Diaspora

 

But what do these terms mean, and how should they be understood in the context of this term?

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• Chilonim (חִילּוֹנִים): Evoking the Israeli socio-religious category, these are those who are Jewish by birth—whether matrilineal (as per traditionalist halakhah) or patrilineal (as per the Reconstructionist, Renewal, and North American Reform movements)—or Jewish by choice via adoption or formal conversion to mainstream Judaism—whether under the auspices of the denominational guidelines of Ashkenazi Jewry or the traditionalist guidelines of Sefaradi/MENA Jewry—but are otherwise secular, unaffiliated, non-observant.

• Masortim (מָסוֹרתִּים): Recalling both Israeli Masorti (Conservative) Judaism and the Israeli Hebrew term for those who identify as religious centrists, these include adherents to all the Heterodox denominations of mainstream Ashkenazi Judaism (Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, Renewal), and those neither strictly religious nor secular who observe as per “traditional” Sefaradi/MENA-Judaism.

• Datiyyim (דָתִיִּים): This includes adherents to any of the Ashkenazi Orthodox Judaisms (Modern Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, Charedi, Chassidish, Yeshivish, et al), and those who observe as per Sefaradi/MENA-Jewish Shomer Shabbat/Shomer Kashrut/Shomer Taharat Mishpachah/Shomer Mitzvot traditionalists.

• Ha-T’futzot Ha-Afriqa’it/The African Diaspora(הַתְּפוּצוֹת הָאַפְרִיקָאִית): The African Diaspora is the forced and voluntary global dispersion of Africans and their descendants—particularly to the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean—primarily as a result of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from the 16th-19th centuries.

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Why Eidot CHeMDaT”A?

 

Historically, African Diasporic Jews have often been referred to as “Black Jews.” 

 

Among such Jews this term has been met with varying acceptance. Some reject the term as—like “Colored” and “Negro”—it denotes skin color rather than ancestry or minhag (cultural tradition and custom), representing an othering rather than a declaration of practice and origin. 

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Others embrace the term “Black Jews,” yet decry that the label is often appropriated and obfuscated by Hebrew Israelites, a non-homogenous Judaism-inspired Afrocentric religious movement composed of numerous groups with varying beliefs and practices that originated in the late 19th century. Some Hebrew Israelite sects are considered Black supremacist and Judeophobic, while others are civil with mainstream Judaism and even resemble Conservative or Conservadox Jewish congregations in ritual practice. However, regardless of practice or nomenclature, all Black Hebrew Israelite groups are distinct from African/Caribbean-American adherents to Judaism and are not affiliated with the mainstream Jewish community or normative Judaism, as they do not meet the established criteria—such as matrilineal or patrilineal descent or formal conversion—that are used to identify someone as Jewish. A core Hebrew Israelite tenet is that all African/Caribbean-Americans are descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible, and most, if not all Hebrew Israelite groups, consider white Ashkenazi Jews as Edomite converts, reject the Talmud as a “white book,” and Rabbinic Judaism and its offshoots as illegitimate “white denominations.”

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Eidot CHeMDaT”A Jews are therefore those African/Caribbean-Americans who belong and adhere to mainstream Rabbinic Judaism as expressed either by the guidelines of denominational Ashkenazi Jewry or the traditionalist observances of Sefaradi/MENA Jewry, and as distinct from Hebrew Israelites and their various iterations.