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Capers C. Funnye, Jr. (pronounced fu-NAY; born 1952〔) is an African American rabbi, who leads the 200-member Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago, Illinois, assisted by rabbis Avraham Ben Israel and Joshua V. Salter. ==Early life and education== Capers Funnye, Jr was born in 1952 in Georgetown, South Carolina in the Low Country, with paternal ancestry among the GeeChee people of the Sea Islands. His family moved to Chicago as part of the continuing Great Migration of African Americans out of the South, and he grew up on the South Side.〔 Funnye is the first cousin once removed of Michelle Obama, the wife of 44th United States President Barack Obama. His mother Verdelle (Robinson) Funnye was a sister of Michelle's paternal grandfather Fraser Robinson, Jr. He is 12 years older than Michelle. While their families frequently visited when they were young, the two of them got to know each other more as adults.〔 Funnye was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and at 17, was encouraged by his minister to enter the clergy.〔(''Voices on Antisemitism:'' Interview with Rabbi Capers Funnye, Jr. ), 25 September 2008, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed 12 April 2014〕 Dissatisfied with Christianity during his time at Howard University and influenced by movements for civil rights and black nationalism, he investigated other religions, including Islam. After meeting with Rabbi Robert Devine, the spiritual leader of the House of Israel Congregation in Chicago, which practiced a kind of messianic Judaism, he joined his congregation. Related Black Jewish movements in the United States had started in the late 19th century in Kansas.〔 He became drawn to the "more conventional teachings of a black, Brooklyn-based rabbi named Levi Ben Levy, the spiritual leader of the Hebrew Israelite movement," which has no connection to Christianity.〔 also known as Black Hebrews, this group was founded in 1919 as the Commandment Keepers Congregation of the Living God] by Wentworth Arthur Matthew in Harlem. It incorporated in 1930 and later moved to Brooklyn, where Matthew established a seminary.〔(Anthony B. Pinn, ''The African American Religious Experience in America'' (Google eBook) ), Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, p. 84〕 After Matthew's death in 1973, there had been little dialog with white Jewish congregations, who disagreed with Black Jewish claims of historic descent from ancient Israel.〔 Funnye studied long distance with Levy for five years, and Levy ordained him in 1985 through the Israelite Rabbinical Academy of Brooklyn, founded by Matthew. The Academy was not recognized by mainstream Judaism. With the goal of building bridges to United States Judaism, Funnye underwent a second conversion to Judaism in 1985 that was certified by a Conservative rabbinical court.〔 He also studied Judaism more intensively in Chicago, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish Studies and Master of Science in Human Service Administration from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago.〔 〔 〕 Funnye has said that he felt a sense of intellectual and spiritual liberation in the constant examination that Judaism encouraged.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Capers Funnye」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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