Rabbi Capers Funnye, a Bridge Between Black Israelites and Mainstream Judaism, Dies at 74

Rabbi Capers Funnye, one of the most prominent Black Jews in the United States and a tireless advocate for diversity within American Jewish life, died on Monday at age 74. His death was announced by Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, the Chicago synagogue he had led since 1985. The cause was cancer, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. A memorial service was scheduled for Friday at the synagogue.

Funnye was widely known as "Obama's rabbi," a cousin of Michelle Obama, and was a sought-after speaker at synagogues and conferences. He appeared in programs such as the recent PBS series "Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History," and was remembered for a booming voice, a great laugh and a deep love for Torah and the Jewish people.

His identity spanned worlds. Raised in both segregated South Carolina and Chicago, he was an Israelite who was also a Jew under halacha, traditional Jewish religious law, having formally converted to Conservative Judaism as an adult to ease his work with white Jews. He studied at Israelite and traditional Jewish institutions alike, including the Israelite Academy in New York City and the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago.

Since 2015, Funnye had served as chief rabbi of the International Israelite Board of Rabbis, a century-old, Torah-observant branch of Black Israelism, and he was known by some simply as "Chief." Much of his work over the past decade went toward strengthening the board and its member congregations across the United States, the Caribbean and Africa.

His record of accomplishments was long. He opened the Israelite rabbinate to women, ordaining his mentee Tamar Manasseh in 2021 and bringing the board closer to the liberal denominations of Judaism. He also helped pave the way for Rabbi Eliyahu Collins to become the first Israelite rabbi hired to lead a mainstream American synagogue, at Ahavas Sholom in Newark, New Jersey. Funnye himself had led a mixed Israelite and Orthodox Jewish congregation in Chicago in the 1990s, though as a volunteer.

In another milestone, Funnye and Rabbi Baruch Yehudah became the first Israelite rabbis admitted to the New York Board of Rabbis, an institution that decades earlier had rejected Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew, one of Funnye's predecessors as chief rabbi. Several more Israelite rabbis have joined the board in recent years.

Funnye regularly condemned the openly antisemitic groups often labeled in the press as "Black Hebrew Israelites." Of his own organization, he once said: "We do not and will not ever speak in disparaging terms about any group."

Despite many friendships in the mainstream Jewish world, Funnye never won full acceptance of Torah-observant Israelites as fellow Jews. He was angered by a 2023 op-ed from leaders of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism arguing that some Israelites associated with his board are not Jews and that Israelite clergy are not suited to lead mainstream congregations. "It was extremely racist," he said earlier this year. "There was no investigative work." Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, who heads the USCJ and the Rabbinical Assembly, said his organization was concerned about "maintaining the halachic standards that define Jewish lineage."

Funnye maintained that Israelites constitute a unique but legitimate denomination of Judaism, with its own halacha and customs, visible to anyone attending services at Beth Shalom or its sister congregations. He often told white Jewish audiences about walking into an unfamiliar synagogue for morning prayers, kippah on his head and prayer book in hand, only to be asked whether he was Jewish. His reply: "No. I just found these things at the entrance and thought it would be fun to try them on." He is survived by his wife, Mary, four children and grandchildren, according to the Sun-Times.