Sunday, June 23, 2019 marks the Honorable Chief Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew’s, zt”l (Chief Rabbi Matthew zt”l) one hundred and twenty-seventh birthday; he was a prince of the House of Lewi, and a servant of his people. The only rabbi with credentials from Ethiopia. It is from Addis Ababa that I derive my authority as head of the Black Jews in the United States. His legacy and teaching reach far beyond the centennial (On Mount Horeb, God appeared to Moses as a burning bush, revealed to Moses his name YHWH. YHWH commanded Moses to return to Egypt and bring his chosen people (Israel) out of enslavement and into the Promised Land (Canaan); approximately 1446 BC when Moses received the Ten Commandments - (Hebrew: עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת, Aseret ha'Dibrot), also known as the Decalogue.) of his founding of the Commandment Keepers (The Ethiopian Hebrews (Falahas) in the Western Hemisphere) synagogue on April 15, 1919.

We celebrate one hundred and twenty-seven years of his birth as an occasion for memorial, reflection, revitalization, renewal and spiritual connection to Chief Rabbi Matthew’s zt”l core ideologies and beliefs. Chief Rabbi Matthew emphasized the importance of living our lives in accordance with Torah; and never should we forsake its basic principles.

Chief Rabbi Matthew zt”l was born, June 23, 1892 (1892-1973). He was the Chief Rabbi of the Ethiopian Hebrews in the Western Hemisphere. “He came to America in 1912 via the West Indies. He says he has pursued his rabbinical studies in Berlin and Heidelberg in Germany and claims a doctorate in metaphysics. He also studied mental telepathic experiences. One of his major abilities, however, appears to be a talent for organization and the executive and creative power that makes something out of nothing. It involves skill, patience, knowledge of purpose, tenacity, belief and self-denial. Only this way could the former little boy from the African Gold Coast build up a growing Falasha community in a raw, hostile and suspicious environment…It took him decades – but he succeeded. They are Jews who take their religion seriously – and do not spare effort and material sacrifice to build the congregation…” (April 1968 Sepia magazine, p. 30)

In April 1968, 51years ago, Sepia magazine covered an article entitled, “Black Jews of Harlem,” and asserted the following: “…Rabbi Matthew believes the long line of Ethiopian rulers from Menilek down to and including Haile Salassie “The Lion of Judah,” had been Hebrews… The 10 tribes of the kingdom of Judah were scattered largely into Africa. We believe the people Moses led out of Egypt were black…Chief Rabbi Matthew zt”l had close contact with Emperor Haile Selassie and with the Falasha Hebrews in Ethiopia. He was among those who founded the Ethiopian World Federation and, in 1954, when the late Emperor came to America, Rabbi Matthew was invited to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to greet him.” (Sepia magazine, p. 30; Rabbi Yhoshua Ben Yahonatan, October 1983 Ascent, p 9)

In the Hebrew Bible the term Israelites is used interchangeably with the term Twelve Tribes of Israel. Although related, the terms Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews are not interchangeable in all instances. "Israelites" (Yisraelim) refers specifically to the direct descendants of any of the sons of the patriarch Jacob (later called Israel), and his descendants as a people are also collectively called “Israel.” (“Black Hebrews and Their Heritage” By Rabbi Yhoshua Ben Yahonatan)

“ACCORDING TO TORAH (HOLY SCROLLS) and ancient biblical history, all Hebrews began with the Patriarch Abraham in what is now the Middle East…What is not so commonly known is the history of those Hebrews who were scattered into Sub-Sahara Africa. The more that is learned through anthropology and archaeology, the more certain it appears that dark-skinned Hebrews spread their religion into many areas, especially into East and West Africa. In doing this, they had an impact that most white historians prefer to gloss over or deny. Considering recent discoveries about Phoenician voyages to the Western Hemisphere more than two millennia ago, it may well be asked: “Were there free Black Hebrews in America long before the Marranos who sailed with Columbus and the slaves who were shipped there from West Africa?”

“It was in West Africa that the strands of history came together for most of the Hebrew Israelite people living in the Americas today. It is a known fact that Black Hebrews were in Africa 1500 years before Islam and that everywhere the Arabs traveled in Africa, they found Hebrews…Fortunately, there has been a great awakening among many Black Americans as to the nature of the lies put forth by the slave owners, their descendants and many of the Christian churches that supported them. Many Black Americans are now realizing and acting on the knowledge that they are descendants of the early Hebrews. The major forces behind the development of this awareness were the first pioneers for modern Black Israel in America, those Black Hebrew immigrants who came to the United States from Ethiopia, other parts of Africa and the Caribbean Islands.

Notable among these were Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford, a man who was Marcus Garvey’s choir director and who preached that Black people in America were really children of the House of Israel. Such teachings aided some of the so-called “Negroes” to reclaim their Hebraic heritage.”

“Another leader during this crucial period was Rabbi Wentworth A. Matthew who was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1892, and who came to the U.S. by way of the Caribbean…”(“Black Hebrews and Their Heritage” By Rabbi Yhoshua Ben Yahonatan)

The Exodus (The Exodus Begins (approximately 1446 BC) [Exodus “Shemot” 13-18]; 1446 BC The Israelites at Mount Sinai [Shemot 19]; 1446 BC Moses Receives the Commandments [Shemot 20]; 1446 BC Moses Receives the Law [Shemot 21 – 24]; 1446 BC Preparations for the Tabernacle [Shemot 25 – 31]; 1446 BC The Golden Calf and Moses' Anger [Shemot 32]; 1446 BC The Journey Resumes [Shemot 33 – 39]; 1445 BC The Tabernacle is Erected and Filled [Shemot 40]; has cultural significance in that it is at the center of Israelite identity. Chief Rabbi Matthew zt”l embraced the faith of his Israelite ancestors and taught that we are a part of one of the most ancient of all religions and peoples. We are Israelites with a heritage that extends back to the coming out of Egypt; standing at Mount Sinai; and a birth of a Nation. Chief Rabbi Matthew’s message to Israel is that we were delivered from slavery by YHWH and therefore belong to YHWH through the Mosaic covenant.

The Torah is unequivocal: the Israelite people were chosen by YHWH to be His nation. The Israelite has a special relationship with YHWH and has a unique calling among the nations of the world. We are the people who came out of Egypt from under the enslavement of Pharaoh; we are the people who were liberated through the hand of YHWH and stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. – We are YHWH’s chosen treasure. “You are a holy nation to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you to be for Him a treasured nation from all of the nations which are on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy (Devarim) 7:6

Three separate biblical verses record the Israelites’ acceptance of the obligations that the Torah will impose on them, but only the last of these contains the phrase “na’aseh v’nishma.”(We shall do and we shall hear - The Vow of Shavuot.) When Moses first ascends to Mount Sinai, YHWH commands him to tell the people that if they accept the covenant, YHWH will make them a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Shemot 19:6). Upon hearing these words, the people respond, na’aseh v’nishma “All that YHWH has said, we will do” (Shemot19:8).

Later in the text, after Moses relates specific divine rules to the people, they again say, “All of the things that YHWH has said, we will do” (Exodus 24:3). A few verses later, after Moses writes and reads aloud the words of the Torah, the people utter the phrase “na’aseh v’nishma,” “We will do and we will hear” (Shemot 24:7).

The people Moses led out of Egypt were black; Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Aseret ha'Dibrot; and the Israelites became a Nation (Birth of Israel approximately 1446). We the people – Israelites – are older than 100 years; we are expansive in our legacy.

“…We are the bloodline descendants from the biblical Israelites. We are not black jews, black Israelites, black Hebrews, Hebrew Israelites, colored jews, negro jews, African jews, jewish people or any other kind of jew or Israelite with an adjective before or after our correct and official name. We are plain and simply the Israelites or people of Israel or the tribes of Israel. We are not Israelites because of the colors or complexions of our skin, but only because we are bloodline descendants by father or mother from the twelve tribes of Israel. No matter what we may look like in features or what the shade or complexion our skin may be, that does not change our nationality. We are who we are because of from whom we are descended. Since our forefathers and mothers were Israelites that makes us Israelites also. We cannot help or change the fact of who our forefathers or founding fathers were. There is no possible way for us to change that fact of history through all eternity…

The tribe of Dan left the land of Israel nearly 2700 years ago. They passed through Egypt on their way to the land of Cush (Ethopia)…In time they left the land of Cush and migrated onward to the land of Havilah called West Africa today…

The culture and heritage of the majority of the tribes and clans of West Africa is Israelitic. The peoples on the continent of Arabinya (Africa) such as the Ashanti…Yoruba…These are the tribes and clans that were subjugated and brought into the western world during the great enslavement period, from 1550 to 1850. Since the people who were brought to the western world were Israelites, then their descendants here today are Israelites…

In our sacred writings called by us the Tanak and by the gentiles the bible, God spake through Zephaniah the prophet, saying: “From beyond the rivers or borders of Cush (Ethiopia) in the distant Sudan (West Africa is the western Sudan) my scattered people Israel, will again bring offerings to Me. Zephaniah 3:10. The Eternal, the Holy One of Israel said, that the greatest portion of the nation of Israel were located on the continent we call Africa today, and that they resided beyond the land of Cush (Ethiopia). The vast bulk of the Israelite nation migrated over the continent called Africa by the Europeans (Edomites); but known from ancient times by the Israelites and other nations of antiquity as the land of Arabinya. The moslem writer, historian and traveler Ibn Batoutah who visited West Africa in the middle of the fourteenth century C.E., stated in his writings that “West Africa is the land of the Jews.”

The great enslavement period from 1550-1850 was the wholesale destruction of the Israelite tribes and clans of West Africa by the Christian and Islamic world, during which time 300 million Israelites were destroyed and enslaved. European historians admit that 200 million of our people were dumped into the Atlantic ocean, and another 100 million were enslaved or perished in North and South America and the West Indian islands…” (Jerusalem Calling Newsletter 3225 Shevat/February 1990 Who And What We Are And Who And What We Are Not from a circulating “Chain Letter,” Author unknown)