page_title: African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
section_title: Institutions
hierarchical_section_title: African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem / Institutions
caption_attribution_description: A view of the Dimona village of African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, an African -American group who consider that a part of black populations have Hebrews as ancestors. The group has a part of its members who live today in Israel, in major part in Dimona.
context_page_description: The African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem is a spiritual group now mainly based in Dimona, Israel, whose members believe they are descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The community now numbers around 5,000. Their immigrant ancestors were African Americans, many from Chicago, Illinois, who migrated to Israel in the late 1960s.
  Some of them believe they are Jewish but when they began emigrating to Israel, the religious officials and the state did not consider them Jewish and as a result, they were asked to convert. In 2003, the remainder of the existing community were granted official Israeli permanent residency and later were entitled to acquire Israeli citizenship by naturalization, which does not imply any Jewish status. Since 2004, some members of the community have enlisted to the Israel Defense Forces.
context_section_description: Another international institution founded by the Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem is the African Hebrew Development Agency (AHDA). AHDA is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which operates primarily on the African continent. It specializes in "providing technical assistance, training and consultancy in essential areas... such as health, agriculture, rural development, environmental maintenance and related fields." The AHDA has also collaborated with indigenous African organizations to help mobilize the African Boreholes Initiative (ABI). ABI is a social enterprise built around the need to provide clean water to local African villages that would be otherwise incapable of accessing it.
caption: The urban Kibbutz of Kfar Hashalom, 2006.
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