Ben Ammi Ben-Israel
Founder of the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem.
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel was an American-born spiritual leader who founded the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem. He claimed that African Americans are descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel and led a movement to immigrate to Israel. His community reported that in 1966 the angel Gabriel told him to lead his people to Israel and establish the Kingdom of God there.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Ben Carter
- Born
- 12 October 1939
- Birthplace
- Chicago, United States
- Died
- 27 December 2014
- Place of death
- Beersheba, Israel
- Years active
- 1966–2014
- Known for
- Founding the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem
- Movement
- Black Hebrew Israelites
Facts from the source article.
Biography
Ben Carter was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a Baptist family. He dropped out of high school and served three years in the United States Army, where he earned an equivalency degree. In 1959 he married Patricia Price, later known as Ahdinah Carter. After his discharge, he worked as a metallurgist at Chicago's Howard Foundry. In 1961 a co-worker introduced him to the idea that African Americans are descendants of the Biblical Israelites. He began attending meetings of black Israelite groups and received the Hebrew name Ben Ammi Ben-Israel. In 1964 he and others founded the Abeta Hebrew Israel Culture Center. According to the Hebrew Israelite community, in 1966 Ben Ammi received a vision from the angel Gabriel instructing him to lead African Americans to Israel and establish the Kingdom of God. He was one of four members chosen to travel to Liberia to explore settlement there. In July 1967 Abeta families began arriving in Liberia, settling on land purchased by an African American citizen of Liberia. Around Passover 1968, after a goat acquired for sacrifice was found accidentally strangled and thus ritually impure, Ben Ammi declared that the community's faith and observance were the true sacrifice God desired. The Liberian government did not welcome the settlers, and many died from diseases or returned to the USA. In May 1968 Ben Ammi visited Israel with Hezekiyah Blackwell to explore relocation; Blackwell remained in Israel to become familiar with Israeli culture.
Teachings
Ben Ammi taught that he and the Black Hebrews were not Jews but Hebrews, the true descendants of the ancient Israelites. He originally believed that Moses and Abraham were black and that the Black Hebrews were the only true inheritors of Israel. He rejected the modern religious forms of both Judaism and Christianity but maintained the divine inspiration of the Tanakh. He viewed Yeshua as one in an ongoing line of messiahs sent by God. The group's lifestyle centered on the Tanakh, which Ben Ammi called the light and essence of what is required to set man on the path to his Maker. They rejected Rabbinic Judaism and the Talmud as inauthentic. Ben Ammi claimed that Africans are victims of an international religious plot resulting from disobedience to God's laws. He argued that overcoming slavery and bondage required reexamining every facet of existence under what he called Euro-gentile dominion. He emphasized the power to define as key to salvation from oppression. He translated Africa's problems into spiritual problems and advocated learning from African cultural value systems to combat perception engineering by Western institutions.
Awards and recognition
In March 2010, Ben Ammi received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Ghana from the Ghanaian Country Awards Council. The Country Director stated that Ben Ammi had bridged the gap between spirituality and development, creating progressive options for building communities based on righteous African cultural principles. BBC's Focus on Africa magazine in the year 2000 named him one of the most influential Africans of the last millennium.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Ben Ammi Ben-Israel born?
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel was born on 12 October 1939 in Chicago, United States.
When did Ben Ammi Ben-Israel die?
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel died on 27 December 2014 in Beersheba, Israel.
When was Ben Ammi Ben-Israel active?
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel was active from 1966 to 2014.
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