The Souls of Black Jewish Folk: Book Talk w/ Rabbi Shais Rishon (MaNishtana)

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What does it mean to be both fully Black and fully Jewish in America? In The Souls of Black Jewish Folk, MaNishtana (Rabbi Shais Rishon) takes up the mantle of W.E.B. Du Bois and re-examines the idea of “double consciousness” for a new century. For African American Jews, identity is not a simple binary. It is layered, braided, and often contested—by white Jewish institutions that assume Jewishness is white, and by Black communities that assume Blackness is Christian.

Through essays that blend cultural analysis, personal narrative, and close engagement with Torah and Jewish tradition, this book explores: The “veil” that obscures Black Jewish presence in both communities. The scrutiny and suspicion faced in religious spaces. The myth—and the limits—of the Black-Jewish Civil Rights alliance. The burden of authenticity placed on Black Jewish students, leaders, and families. The spiritual and…