Are Black Jews in New York Really All That Surprising?

In some parts, actually: yeah. Take Crown Heights, for example, where the African-American and Orthodox Jewish communities rioted against each other only less than two decades ago. The New York Times pointed out the seemingly surprising crossover in Crown Heights specifically as a Black Orthodox Jew, Yoseph Robinson, was killed in a robbery recently. It was followed by this, the anthropological crossover interest that it piqued. Although a few days old, the article is, by all means, excellent reading.

And now, apropos of only that, after the jump, a list of famous Black Jews I forgot or didn’t know were Jewish from this awesome list on Wikipedia:

• Lisa Bonet
• Lenny Kravitz
• Drake (“Drizzy”)
• Sean Paul
• Robin Washington
• Willie Smith
• Rebecca Walker
• Maya Rudolph
• Shyne
• Jesus*.
• Rashida Jones
• Lewis Gordon
• Linda Bellos
• Jackie Wilson
• Craig David
• Sammy Davis Jr.

*Not actually on the list, but whatever, you know it’s true.

[fkamer@villagevoice.com]