Jews and blacks : let the healing begin The complex history and diverse voices of the relationship between American blacks and Jews necessarily mean that two individuals cant definitively represent hardly homogeneous groups. Thus readers might best see these edited dialogues as an instructive introduction to the territory. West (Race Matters) who teaches Afro American studies and religion at Harvard and Lerner (Jewish Renewal) founder of Tikkun magazine range from personal histories to current controversies. They disagree on topics like black criticism of Israel and the depth of black anti Semitism and they make some worthy points on topics like the symbolism of the Holocaust Museum and the current estrangement of the two groups. However both men are of the left and their rhetoric sometimes degenerates into a laundry list of laments especially Lerners harping on his politics of meaning. Their ultimate proposal: a campaign of healing and repair in both communities aimed at fighting both anti Semitism and racism. An ambitious agenda given that as they note there are currently few links between Jewish and black progressives. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information Inc.