The Untold Story of a Black Jew Saved by the Lubavitcher Rebbe
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
- In 1976, a little baby was born to a Jewish mother and her black boyfriend. Their relationship quickly spiraled and the young Jewish mom found herself trying to figure her life out. She was introduced to Chabad and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The little boy grew up feeling different. But everything changed after he spent time with the Rebbe.
Today, Rabbi Yossi Kulek is a husband, father, grandfather, chaplain and on campus shliach Chabad Rabbi.
Follow Reb Yosef Kulek here:
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For more info about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, you can find it here: www.TheRebbe.org
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#jewishpodcast #chabad #rebbe #black #jewish #shame
I am a proud Black Jewish woman ❤ Our identities give us strength 🙏🏽✡️✊🏽
Multiracial Jew here 👋
Amen
Amen!
Excellent conversation. Jews come and thrive in all colors and all backgrounds. ❤✡️
Do they all get treated the same?
@@drlove994In Israel; yes. The US has a racist culture & some American Jews absorb it, & others don't. American Jews had a powerful supportive presence in the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. The 3 young civil rights workers who were killed in Mississippi in 1964; one was African American & two were Jews.
Is Lex Mod high quality?
I live in Miami
Is it just New York?
The way I handle people's problems with my skin color is to tell them plainly that they are not judging me but The ONE who made me. Shuts them right up.
@Liorajimenez You got it! G-d doesn't make mistakes.
Exactly. The End.
Beautiful, wisdom ❤!
Fantastic!
Baruch HaShem there are Jews of every race/nationality especially in Israel ❤
Wonder if they are accepted!
@@joyousjohnson7358, wonder who let you on the computer. Go back to sleep, genius.
@@joyousjohnson7358 they are
And in the US! We are all one. We need to remember that not all Jewish souls are born into a Jewish family, and converts are important. I live in the Los Angeles area and we have Jews of Color. Google House of Lev!
What a beautiful story. Hashem always has a plan.
Thank you Rebbe. Only Lubavitch can produce such chassidim.
❤
Wow! Amazing that he shared his story. He's so strong and brave. As a black Jew he inspires me. I am glad he is a rabbi today for every Jew, and no less for other black Jews. I'm so glad the Rebbe had and continues to have such an impact on him. May Hashem continue to bless him. ❤️
I'm a Black Jew aswell
Baruch HaShem ❤
Blessings, bro.
Baruch HaShem.
May Hashem continue to bless and support you, and grant you a long peaceful life. I am honored to have you as a fellow Jew.
BH Achi
Wow this is so amazing and takes such strength to talk about! I know Yossi and always looked up to him, such a strong and amazing person!
My heart just exploded watching this. Thank you Rabbi for telling your story. Keep up your amazing work.
This is such a great story, and your mother did a wonderful job and so did your father. And to be the oldest sibling in a family of 12 kids, wow, how wonderful. That’s why I love Chabad families, so many kids. Bless you and your entire family and Google House of Lev, if you don’t already know of them.
I lived in Chicago in the 1990’s. I was friends with the Kulek’s and knew Yossi as a child. This family is out of the times of the Baal Shem Tov! Fruma and Gershon are pure Tzadikim! May HaShem bless them all till 120 years IYH!
Your channel is FANTASTIC!
Very very inspiring. Rabbi Yossi, you’re powerful. Your emmeskite, humility and and Chassidishkeite will inspire all around you and bring the Geula very soon. I’ll try to be more like you. Gutt Voch
I’m a Black Jew as well and proud of it ✡️🇮🇱💙
Just curious do you face discrimination for being black?
So you should be, you have a magnificent heritage ❤
Well not really so much I get discriminated against for being black but usually I might get discriminated against for being Jewish it really don’t happen often it just after October 7th the war between Israel & hamas I felt like some places I go treated me differently. so I do get treated different from both angles being Black and Jewish
That was an amazing episode. I totally can relate with his feeling of the Rebbe being like A loving father. I too came from a home whilst being observant, my father was vehemently against the Rebbe and Chabad . But at the age of 10, when the Rebbe. Embraced my father and literally made him do a 180° change of heart and became a full-fledged follower of the Rebbe . As a child and into adulthood, the Rebbe treated me as a doting grandfather woods, enabling me to withstand All the hardships that came along my way from then until this day.
Thank you very much for this interview it would be amazing if you could do an interview like this with Gutman Locks and his amazing story
whats his story?
@@madcatter1 He's a character, one of many in Chabad. Ex-hippie, was into Hare Krishna and all that (not the first and probably not the last "HinJEW" who experrimented with Eastern mysticism and then becomes Chabadnik). I think he has a nbook (or two or three). Lives in Jerusalem now.
As a black middle eatern jew I was discriminated too. But that's part of our Tikun I guess
I'm sorry you were discriminated against. I was a poor student, white, but not a genius like my classmates, (also from a single-parent poor family) and I felt a bit discriminated against. But I don't blame them because people need to be secure in who they are before they can accept someone else.
Fantastic and incredible strength
Thank you so much for sharing so vulnerably. Also biracial Jewish here Baal teshuva though Chabad. Was so nice to hear and watch . all the best !
Great interview. Thank you, Rav Yossi, for your courage and sharing your story.
Proud to say he was my Chabad on campus rabbi at university of Hartford while I was a student there from 2014 to 2018. Rabbi Kulek if you see this I wish you a Shabbat shalom and wanted to thank you for all the wonderful experiences you , your family and the Chabad Chevra committee.
A chossid of the Rebbe!
GREAT EPISODE
Not once have i looked at this Gentleman as a Black or a White man but as a Jew
Unfortunately 80% of people aren’t like you . And even more are scared to say it but subconsciously they are taught to have an ego complex which over rides their ability to have any sort of real love for some thing that is foreign to them . Sad reality for Yiddin growing up in these communities .
B'H! You are few and far between... Trust me...
Fantastic! Non jewish, but I enjoy your channel so much
What a lovely man! Most Jews that look like him live in Israel. Their families came from Middle East countries unlike most of American Jews who immigrated to the US from Europe. He might feel at home with the Orthodox Jews who look like him in Israel…
Looks aren't everything. They may resemble him but Israeli mentality is way different
@@renag9475 Very wise reply!
Wonderful interview thank you
I am a descendent of the ancient black Hebrews. I am financially in a great place Todah robah to the blessings of our Crestor in the name of HaMashaich Yahushua. APTTMHY
Thanks for posting this amazing story and very important message
Such warmth. Bless you guys. Thank you for sharing this.
Interesting. What an amazing mom!
I am at Ethiopian from Israel, born in the rain ❤❤
I find it difficult to understand how even Jewish people hate African Americans (black people). It seems the world hates AA. I visited Israel and experienced it first hand as a tourist. Interesting, God’s people. I find his story encouraging though. I love that he speaks of the journey. There is much to learn from this interview ❤
Hey, thanks for your comment.
If I may ask with love and respect, what was your negative experience you indured as a tourist in Israel?
@@Basicsense385
Sure, We were going through security to visit the Prayer Wall (West Wall I believe it’s referred to now. The security was talking about us to the point you could see the discomfort on our guide’s face. I was close enough to hear the security tell our guide “those blacks aren’t very smart”.
Secondly, while leaving the Church of the Holy Sepulcher heading back to the buses, we were assisting some of the less mobile of the group. It can be a long challenging walk for some. A young couple walked up on us and became visibly irritated. The male kept commenting a staring at us. Once they got ahead of us the male looked back again and made some comments to the point I got in his eye sight to approach him. At that point his girl friend pulled his arm and told him to come on.
Third incident, at the hotel visiting the Dead Sea, I was waiting on an elevator and a Jewish couple walked up I spoke to them, they were silent. The elevator came I went in and held the door for them…they would not get on the elevator with me. It was just the three of us. I looked out and spoke again to see if they were coming they just looked at me and would not respond. I know I was loud enough and they heard me, they would just look at me and not respond. Very uncomfortable.
Looks, glares and non verbal communication speak volumes! I loved the tour and want to go back to learn, but I did not feel welcomed by any means.
Fantastic - may Hashem help Yossi to continue his special avodah!
This was awesome to listen to. I was glued.
Fantastic! Amazing and inspiring!Thank you for sharing this fascinating journey with the rest of us.
Fantastic response to challenging questions! Yasher Koach Rabbi Yossi
Reb Yossi, you’re such an inspiration! Keep being you, spreading Yiddishkeit and Chassidus, and may you always have hatzlacha in gashmiut and ruchaniut!
Hatzlacha rabbaH" Rabbi Yossi B"H TodaH"!
Such a strong person, so inspiring!!
Its not until one realizes, we’re 99% the same inside distinct by our life choices and beliefs, that we start to ignore the physical differences or pigmentation of our being.
Such a shame for a kid to look in the mirror and see a problem, where there shouldn't be one.
Fantastic!
Amazing story. Hope I get to meet you in the future here in Beit Shemesh. All the best! חזק וברוך .
I enjoyed listening to this young man. What a gem! Todah, for you for sharing your story.
So beautiful. This is powerful!
It was a fantastic episode.
He is an incredible and inspiring chossid
I am of two diasporic heritages. Wyandotte and Jewish. It gives me a connection to America as strong as the pull I feel toward Eretz Yisrael. I am firstborn of this land. And the people of this land and culture do not understand that the things we have been taught about race on all sides are wrong.
All men are brothers of the Earth. Period. The Jewish heritage demonstrates that. West Africans North Africans, East African and Yemeni, Spanish and Portuguese, Arab, German and Russian, Indian, and Native American, Japanese and Korean. There are Jews all over the world. Some can trace their physical lineage back to Abraham, some cant. I for one can but its noones buisness. Our SOULS are his lineage. We are one family, and so encourage the destruction of those man made mental barriers between us.
We are all Hashems children. Jew or no. You have no idea who a person is making those assumptions off of something like color, and its is one of the worst ideas humanity ever taught itself.
A little girl on the trail of tears, and a Sephardic exile. Their descendents may meet hundreds of years later, their lineage passed on through the various nations, and create a new and before unheard of mingling of culture and ideas.
In exile, each of our souls is as our own precious Ark we must carry and honor as our forefathers did in their time with the Lord's Own Ark. Our anchor to the Covenant, and the mutual promises we shore with Hashem.
It is our soul that makes each and every man woman and child the Child of Hashem. In that we are one family. No matter how we look . The Jewish people today are only the wiser for all we have learned and endured in our Exile. And may each and everyone, one and all turn their heart to His holy seat in Yerushalayim and give themselves to his rebuke. For the mercy of Hashem, the beneficent One, is boundless and limitless to our eye. May all who come to seek the Guardian find Him and hear His voice for the sake of His Holy name. May this generation see His redeemer, speedily in our time.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@wallybonejengles5595 Are you actually able to teace your lineage back to Avraham??? If so, that's absolutely cool. I can barely imagine that.
Amen!
Beautiful words, thank you so so much. ❤ ❤❤❤
Fantastic! An hour isn't too long at all! No need to cut it short if there's more subjects to explore, like the MMA 😉 I'm left intrigued 😅
Fantastic!!
This is awesome🎉 thank you
Fantastic!!!❤
בישראל יש יהודים בכל הגוונים .אתיופים מרוקאים הודים וכו .אתה לא לבד .כולנו אחים🇮🇱♥️🇮🇱
Thank you both for the interview. As a multiracial Puerto Rican who loves the only one G-d of Israel and thus the Jewish people, I learned a long time ago to embrace and celebrate exactly how Hashem made me and the family he sent me into this life to join. I celebrate my diverse heritage, even as I have learned to reject sinful parts of my inherited cultures for my own life. Therefore, I am left somewhat saddened by this story. Why? I didn’t get the sense that perhaps this Rabbi (like too many Jews) has truly been able to embrace the beauty, virtues, and goodness found in the African-American community so that he can sincerely be proud of that part of his identity, just as he is proud to be a Jew. I love and celebrate this man's good work as a Campus Rabbi and Prison Chaplain! I know the childhood traumas of divorce, discrimination, racism and prejudice. Yet I question whether Hashem truly cared more about the feelings of the good Jewish stepdad than the perhaps lost potential for tikun and teshuvah for a man that had failed as a father but repeatedly sought a relationship with his righteous son? If Hashem used Abraham to take his father and nephew further away from idolatry, could not this Rabbi have been instrumental in helping his biological father draw near to Hashem even as he helps prison inmates whether Jewish or not? Anyway, that opportunity has now passed, but can he say Kaddish for his biological father as a man who despite his flaws had the merit of being an instrument to help bring a Righteous Jew into the world? What about this Rabbi's other family through his biological father? Will he simply ignore they exist? Could they not yet benefit from a relationship with their Jewish relative, the Rabbi? In general, I can imagine and perhaps truly understand the higher priority of loving a fellow Jew, but what about the high responsibility given by Hashem to Israel to be a light and loving blessing to the other nations, as was our father Abraham?
Please find an orthodox rabbi to speak with about this. Best to take advice from learned people rather than random commenters on the net. I hope you find satisfying answers and if you search, I believe you will find them.
@@susie5254 Thank you. Definitely. Believe me, I have been trying. With the help of Heaven, may I find that Rabbi to help me understand and live out what I should. Shalom.
@@arroyonpr Do you have a Chabad center in your city? I wonder if they could help you find the right advisor. B'hatzlacha. Shalom.
A Fantastic life that this man has Because of what Hashem Blessed him with.
So so powerful, so appropriate for the 30 th gimul tammuz he needs to speak in 770 for all the chassidim to hear his inspiration dedication & absorb the Rebbes marching orders going forward !
Now I understand why Drake identity’s as a black man even though he’s Jew. He always said he was bullied as a kid and now I know why and by who.
You're great in only focusing on the negative and spitting out all the positive.
@@Basicsense385 Not at all !
Fantastic thanks
It is very sad that he lost the chance to meet his biological father, because his fathers identity is part of his own identity, and he needed affirmation of his identity with pride and dignity in order to heal from the abuse he went through exactly because of his black identity! As a growing boy he used to keep his black identity a secret due to shame. Secrecy and shame are destructive to mental health, self worth and peace in life. When he started to make steps to heal from the shame - he was blocked by his parents, so it halted the healing process. This is very sad. I wish him healing after all, and a complet recovery from the trauma.
Fantastic
There is NO term of COLOR JEWISH it's an imported term one of many things that imported to Jewish life.
Stay connected directly without terms and conditions.
Fantastic 😊
Much success in all your endeavors
Chazak chazak vinis chszaik
Amazing!
Great guy!
He puts me in mind of Benny Friedman :)
Similar eyesbrows and beard
👏🤩 Fantastic‼️
Great questions too.
🥹💙thank you
HaShem bless your dear mother Rabbe, she sounds like a great string woman.
Also her husband is to be commended for taking you on as part of his family.
Knowing Jewish history and the hate they faced and still face themselves, I don’t understand how they can be so ignorantly racist towards other people?
What a moving story...
fantastic❤
Awesome
Fantastic, yeshar koach to both of you
FANTASTIC AND FABULOUS!!
FANTASTIC!
Love this
Todah Rabah Rebbe !! Obey Torah … Be Blessed 🕊️
Amazing story
Sad and painful!
But it presents so much hope and optimism : D
Beautiful story, thanks a LOT for sharing ❤
23:00 I assume his younger siblings never thought about it until someone else said something. Your sibs are your norm.
Being a child of HaShem is a true Blessing no matter my race Mixed an proud to be bless you
Touching story .thank you Reb Yossi ..
What the saddest thing is, is a racist Jew!!! (Especially against another Jew, regardless of colour).. Where are the parents??? Why are they not teaching their Jewish children that it is forbidden!?!?
Another thing that bothers me each time i listen to these podcasts is hearing these incredible stories and then understanding that most of you guys CHOOSE to live in the galut, but when someone dies, (that is living overseas) then many times they want the zecut to be buried in Eretz Israel!! This in my opinion is חילול ה'...and chutpza at its best..
43:00 I can identify with this recognition that some people in a bad situation, like in prison, etc got there because of things that happened, maybe before they were old enough to make sense of it. I work in behavioral health. I thank G-d that I got dealt the imperfect life I have, instead of the worse life of people who were abused, have mental illness, etc. I didn't do that for myself. G-d did it for me. I don't know why He chose the harder life for people I meet at work. But I have compassion for them.
It is meritorious to be thankful to God for your efforts and struggles. You must be a very special person.
This is the first time of me hearing that my uncle shmuley did this
Amen
I am coloured Jew.
Beautiful story, sad story initially. I do have one question. Do Hasidic Jews worship the Rebbe and not HaShem?
No. We find inspiration from our spiritual teachers and mentors. But G-d remains G-d.
Honest question from someone who is currently studying from Torah and would be identified by society as “black”. Why do you say “black Jew” and not “Jew”, is there a difference in teachings and or practice ?
No difference. If anyone treats you differently, it is either due to their insecurity about their own identity, or they've been raised in a bubble and havne't met many Jews who are black. If I see a beautiful woman on the street, I might find it hard to take my eyes off her. That doesn't mean I would treat her differently. But some people might treat her differently. What does that say about them?
The way he looks and talks in this video, I never would have thought him Afro-American.
How do Afro-Americans talk?
@@stephenfisher3721 You really need to go out and meet the people you seem to be assessing based off your assumptions.
@757millionaire People talk however their parents talk. What's the question? If someone's parents sound articulate, and that's what they learn, why does that mean they don't sound Black enough?
He’s not.
@@joyousjohnson7358
I have met a number of Lubavitch shluchim.
It’s believed that Jewish converts already had Jewish souls. ❤
Still, your story is most heart-warming, thank you for sharing. I didn't even think you had black ancestry looking at you! What a terrible context to grow-up in, yet praise God you have overcome. ❤
It is so sad how adoptive parents feel betrayed when their adopted children seek to reconnect with their parents. It is betrayal to a child to expect them to cut off a part of themselves to keep an adult happy. It is incredibly selfish. You should love your children unconditionally. Burying a part of oneself to keep those around you comfortable is not healthy. The Rebbe told him he’s a jewel in God’s eyes. That includes his heritage. God created black people too.
I don't understand how this applies in this case
When we all come together as oppressed but blessed peoples , regardless of background that’s when people will have Ahava . Unfortunate this is not the case in America. Where you have hate disguised as freedom . A woke distraction that is distant from where the world could be . It starts and ends with education. Unfortunately that has been spoiled by people who would rather like their pockets with dollars than focus on the future .
❤
FANTASTIC 🇮🇱🙏🇮🇱🦁💙
❤✡️❤
BroKEN
You guys in America are too hung up on race. Here in Israel is totally a non-issue. Nice video.
Less of an issue ; )
Why you need to put black jew? That's enough
In North America, it can be very hard to be a non-“white” Jew and be fully accepted. This happens because of the Ashkenormative nature of the Jewish communities. Of course other Jewish communities exist - although not so prominent - they often do not receive the same attention or recognition as the Ashkenazi communities/European Jews. Racism and Xenophobia also do exist (the racism sometimes feigned as ignorance) - because of the dominant Ashkenazi narrative and just the overall lack of ability to perceive Jewishness outside of this mindset of “whiteness” that has been established. It has caused many Jews of Colour to negate their identities and traditions to pick up Ashkenazi traditions to fit in and be accepted. It is very unfortunate because diversity in Judaism exists but is always hidden and overshadowed. I can tell you, a lot is changing but we still have a very long way to go.
He is whiter than me😂