Brief History of the African Hebrew Israelites at Jerusalem

In 1966 our spiritual leader, Ben Ammi, had a vision that it was time for the Children of Israel who remained in America (the land of their captivity) to return to the Holy Land (the land of their origin).

In 1967, after almost two thousand years in the Diaspora, four hundred Hebrew Israelites were inspired by the spirit of God to make an exodus from America. According to plan, they settled in Liberia’s interior to purge themselves of the negative attributes they had acquired in the captivity. After spending a two-and-one-half year period in Liberia, The African Hebrew Israelites were prepared to make the last portion of their journey home, returning to Israel in 1969.

The Commercial Appeal

BLACK COMMUNITY IN ISRAEL BEATS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE .. STUDY CREDITS CLEAN LIFESTYLE

Date: March 29, 1998 Section: News Page: A18 Source: Janet McConnaughey The Associated Press Dateline: NEW ORLEANS Edition: Final

Their families had the history of hypertension and coronary artery disease so common among black people. But 204 black people who moved to Israel and converted to low-fat, low-salt food, no smoking and regular exercise turned that around.

Only 6 percent had high blood pressure - a condition found in 30 percent of all black people in this country. And, while half of all black women and 32 percent of all black men in this country are obese, that was true of less than 5 percent in the African Hebrew Israelite community.

The study by doctors at universities in Nashville is another piece in the puzzle of whether heredity or environment contributes more to the high hypertension rate among black Americans.

"This study comes as close as we have ever been able to come to separating genetics from lifestyle," said Dr. Michele Hamilton, a cardiologist at the UCLA Medical Center. She said she doesn't think there's any question that genetic tendencies combine with diet, smoking, obesity and other "lifestyle features" to make black people more likely than whites to develop high blood pressure.

"But the good news is, even for African-Americans who may have a genetic predisposition, you may well be able to beat that risk by making favorable life changes," she said.

Researchers from Waverly Bellmont Medical Center, Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University went to Israel to study the community, which includes black people from all parts of the United States. The study was presented Friday in a poster session of the Society for Behavioral Research, which is meeting in New Orleans.

The group, considered by many in Israel as a cult, lives on a communal compound and by extremely strict religious rules, following Ben Ami Ben Yisrael, who they believe is the messiah. They were extremely controversial when they arrived in Israel, saying they were the real Jews.

They live in Dimona, in the Negev region of southern Israel, about 25 miles from Beer Sheva.

Spokesman Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda, in New Orleans to speak to the African Heritage Studies Association, said the group is now about 3,000 strong.

It was founded by 332 black people who left this country in 1967 and went to Israel in the early 1970s.

Those founders were the focus of this study. The researchers said 223 agreed to participate, and 204 met the criteria: born in the United States and not pregnant.

They were from all over the country, and 34 percent of them said their families had a history of heart disease, indicating that they are, genetically, a good cross-section of black America, said David G. Schlundt of Vanderbilt, who presented the study.

But their lifestyles are far different from most Americans, black or white. In 1968, they struck red meat from their diet. In 1971, the year they came to Israel, they turned to a vegan diet, eliminating poultry, fish and animal products such as milk or cheese.

A year later, they began fasting on Saturday, their Sabbath. The group does not consider itself religious, believing that religion is man-made, but does believe that Israel, which they consider north Africa, is their ancestral home and that all of the Old Testament commandments and strictures apply to them, Ben Yehuda said.

Since 1973, the community has strongly encouraged exercise at least three days a week, and in 1980 it eliminated salt from the kitchen every other day, on top of a general rule that people shouldn't salt food once it came out of the kitchen.

The group's 30 years of healthy living has effectively prevented obesity and hypertension, and cholesterol levels also were low, the researchers said.

"These changes in lifestyle might prevent chronic disease in American blacks but would be hard to achieve without the unifying power of community and spirituality," the study said.

Although doctors have known for some time that changes in lifestyle can dramatically change the risk of many diseases, "this pins it down nicely," said Dr. Stewart Agras of Stanford.

He said the many changes made do make it hard to tell just what caused what change.

"Only a very complex controlled study could tease apart these various things," he said.

What should the controls be? Two groups which stayed in the United States, one changing its lifestyle and another keeping the same habits, Hamilton suggested.

Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller, chairman of the psychology department of the Washington University School of Medicine, would like even more - perhaps a group of black people who had stayed in America, one which had moved to Africa and one in Israel with a different diet.

"But it's a place to begin. It's a beautiful place to begin."

The Hebrew Israelite Community is in the best of health!!!

They have no cancer, they have no heart attacks and African states come to learn from them their secret of right living;

Writer – Eetimar Eckner, pg. 14 – Yidiote Akronote

The rumor on their health, the superb Community of the Hebrew Israelites is spreading rapidly. From all over the world, delegations are streaming to Dimona to experience and to reveal the secret for their healthy living. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is revealing the potential and assisting the Community in disseminating this good news: natural foods, sport and fasting every Shabat.

Is it being understood that the Hebrew Israelite Community has revealed and discovered the secret for health? If you're judging according to world statistics to Dimona, the answer is yes and positive.

The superb health of the Community of the Hebrew Israelites contrary to what is being said in the world, it is a fact that the Community has no illnesses of cancer or aids, is not overcome with heart attacks and is not suffering with high blood pressure and is stimulating and arousing major curiosity amongst the population.

Mainly in many of the African states , amongst them is South Africa, Ghana, Central African Republic and Benin already have sent and launched delegations to the stronghold of the Dimona Community to experience and reveal their secret. Some of the ministries of health that have been referred to the Israeli embassies in their countries in request that they put them in contact with the Community in order that they are able to benefit from this Model of Life.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is agreeing that they have a great interest in the Community being the health model for the world and being an example for

community villages living healthy lifestyles and being devoid of modern-day diseases.

And when the Ministry understood the huge and enormous potential, they decided to cooperate and participate, and today, they are assisting in marketing the Community to the world their Model of Life. And besides visiting delegations in the Holy Land, the Community is also carrying out activities with foreign ministries of information, mainly in Africa, and sharing much of their lifestyle in the subjects and topics on public health and preventive medicine.

On the situation of the Community's improved health, testimony of Emmanuel Ben Yehuda, person responsible for the Community's connection with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "in the 37 years that we are in Israel, we have had just one case of stroke and two cases of cancer. And no one has had a heart attack, and not ever one case of aids. Some medical centers in the U.S. have investigated the lifestyle of our Community and determined that we succeeded to triumph in being victorious over heart disease and problems of high blood pressure because of our healthy lifestyle."

Then what is their secret? According to spokesman Emmanuel, members of the Community eat natural foods, are commanders in doing sports and fasting one day in the week. Every member of the Community is obligated to get a massage or reflexology treatment at least once a month. The children stay away from sweets, the adults don't touch coffee or alcohol and very little usage of salt. The main nutrition comes from soya products, fruits, organic vegetables, grains and almonds.

"All diseases like cancer, aides, and heart disease are born out of the result of bad health habits," explains Emmanuel. "We presented to the African states that in changing your lifestyle, it is possible to cause these diseases to disappear." "We have already hosted African delegations that are requesting to learn how to benefits from our Health Model and we are very proud to be in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health. We are proud as Israelis to assist in strengthening the connection and ties of Israel with developing states and countries in Africa and to instruct and to show the world the great abilities that we have established in Israel."

"Already today, there are thousands of people in Africa that have adopted our lifestyle. It is without a doubt a wonderful, glorious and terrific vessel and tool for these foreign countries to strengthen their relationships and this understanding with other countries in the world."

The Ministry of Health has stated that it is contributing to the editing and research in the subject of their health of the Community.

SCLC Leadership Visits Israel to Open Conflict-Resolution Center