The Souls of Black Jewish Folk

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 moral cost of being told to make one part of yourself invisible. Each chapter echoes Du Bois’s original structure while grounding the discussion in contemporary realities—from synagogue security and hiring practices to activist spaces and family gatherings.

This is not a book about diversity for its own sake. It is a call to honesty. A demand for accountability. And an affirmation that African American Jews are not anomalies or footnotes, but inheritors and contributors to both legacies. For readers of Du Bois, for students of race and religion, for Jewish communities wrestling with inclusion, and for anyone seeking to understand the layered experience of Black Jewish life—this book offers clarity, challenge, and hope. Because the story of Black Jewish folk is not peripheral to the American story. It is central.