Jamaican Jewish ties: Belafonte and Farrakhan maybe, but definitely not Marley
After a week of attending a Jewish conference here, I'm starting to feel like everybody in Jamaica has some kind of connection to Judaism.
Ainsley Henriques, the don of the local community, says thousands of Jamaicans have Jewish backgrounds, though they don't identify as Jews. A scan of the local telephone directory seems to confirm his claim: Thousands of Cohens, Levys and Gabays are listed. But the local Jewish congregation numbers a mere 200 members.
Take Jamaican dance-hall musician Sean Paul, for example. His paternal grandfather was a Jew whose surname was Henriques, the same as Ainsley's.
Another famous islander with Jewish roots is Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records who made a fortune signing and promoting the likes of Bob Marley, U2 and Oasis. Blackwell's mother's maiden name was Lindo, which is one of the prominent Jewish families on the island.
Henriques believes there is strong evidence that Harry Belafonte has ties to Judaism, too. He says the famous calypso singer's father was born in Jamaica and his surname is a corruption of Delevante, one of the island's Jewish clans.
Perhaps the most surprising claim of Jewish ties may be from Louis Farrakhan. Henriques said that on a tour of the synagogue in Kingston, the Nation of Islam leader told him that he believed he had Jewish Portuguese ancestors on his paternal side who were Jamaican. No inquiries have been made to confirm the claim, however.
With so many people from Jamaica having Jewish connections, one cannot help but ask about Marley. But Henriques is quick to dismiss such speculation about the reggae king.
“No, I know the family quite well and they're not Jewish,” Henriques said. “One of his sons is married to an Israeli, but he himself has no Jewish ancestry.”
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Hi,
I am a school teacher living in Britain. I have for the past 8 months been researching the history and descent of the Jamaican people right back to before slavery. And, all the hard proven evidence proves the direct link the Jamaicans have to the Isralite nation. Those Jamaicans who are descended from the slaves that were brought from the Bight of Biafra were descended from the Igbos in south east Nigeria and and the surrounding area plus some Akans thrown in. The Akan didn’t really mix with us but even they are of Hebrew origin travelling from the area now known as Ethiopia and the east Africa horn.
It is not correct to say that Jamaicans are not aware of their Jewish ancestry because there are stories and saying and even cultural saying that echo our Hebrew past. I always remember being told that we were G-d’s people or that we are Jews but it never really went beyond that as we had no other proof just folk tales, until now.
But, as I discovered just how Hebrew we actually are it was amazing. The evidence was quite easy to find and there are many academic studies being done on Igbo descent and history. It was there the whole time and it wasn’t that difficult to find.
The real problem is not proving that slave descendants Jamaicans are Hebrew but just trying to convince Jamaicans to stop living their unholy life style. I have have tried to explain even to my own family that they shouldn’t eat pork and behave in certain ways but it is like talking to a brick wall. They are too busy being the chosen people and not acting like the chosen. They behave as if they are in heaven already most of them. Some Rabbis should go to the Jamaican community and explain that the Mashiach is about to arrive and they have a more important job to do besides eating pork and drinking rum and playing with guns.
But, somethings are really unchanable, the Jamaicans have this in built love for the Jewish nation and I never really understaood it properly until now. Whenever the jews were attacked or spoken bad about Jamaicans would always run to their defence or say something in their defence. It never made any sense. I never understood the link when I was younger but it seems that through all their ung-dly ways they never lost their genetic memory even if they had lost their practice of Torah. But, he biggest disaster in the Jamaica is the Christianity this needs now to be tackled more than even. Christianity was the false religion of the slave master and not our religion Hashem only allowed this to happen as a punishment (Deutornomy 28) to worship their god’s of wood and stone.
Samuel Williams
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S Eze
03/04/10 05:35 AM
I am an African Jew and I know that most of the the people of Jamaica were removed from the Igbo tribe of Eastern Nigeria during the slave trade and taken to the Island. The people of Jamaica are very familiar with this fact and this does not exclude anyone of them regardless. The Igbo people are actively rediscovering their Jewish traditions and cultures which were greatly destroyed by the slave dealers as well as the colonial masters who ended up Christianizing them. There are Synagogues sprouting up these days across Nigeria and most are populated by the Igbo people.
The people of Jamaica are very much aware of this fact on who they are but due to the fact that many are not armed with all the details, they may not engage is such discussion.