User:ZacharyAHanson/Black Judaism

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Black Judaism in North America is an umbrella of religious movements that developed in North America, particularly the American South by Black slaves prior to and following the American Civil War. Most commonly associated with this group are the Hebrew Israelites, who claim descendance from from the tribes of Israel, but otherwise are varied in their beliefs. Due to this wide variation in the religious of beliefs within the Hebrew Israelites and the complex development of these beliefs, scholars have disagreed on how to characterize this religion, arguing the extent to which the origin is a Jewish religious movement and to what extent it is a Black religious movement. Both politically and socially, members of this group are often not considered part of the larger Jewish group, their practices and interpretation often being seen as outside the realm of traditional Judaism.