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July 08, 2008, 08:10 AM ET
An Inspirational Conference ...
I am on the road, conducting some research abroad and unable to get myself to a proper computer. So, I just figured that I’d see if I could use my Blackberry to link-up and check-in. So far, so good.
As part of my road trip, I just finished giving a 30-minute presentation on my African Hebrews project for the 2008 ACS Crossroads conference (“Of Sacred Crossroads”) at the University of the West Indies (Mona campus) in Kingston, Jamaica.
The organizers put on a truly fabulous intellectual gathering, and I got a chance to reconnect with old colleagues over some Jamaican staples — ackee and saltfish in the mornings and Red Stripe beer at night.
There were many highlights during the event, but a series of sessions on Rastafari stood out as exceptionally compelling to me, especially since Rastafarianism’s Hebrew/Jewish iconography (including their purposeful deployment of the Star of David) and investment in Ital cuisine demonstrate obvious links/overlaps with the African Hebrews of Jerusalem.
Since I am on my Blackberry, I won’t waste time trying to figure out how to link to a piece on the African Hebrews that I co-wrote with Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda earlier this year for myjewishlearning.com, but if you want to find out more about the African Americans who left Chicago for Israel in the 1960s (including what they are doing now), you can find the piece online.
(Brainstorm editor’s note: The myjewishlearning.com piece is here. And an ackee and saltfish picture is here!)
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