Sabbath morning services at black synagogues affiliated with the International Israelite Board of Rabbis are unique because of their African-American cultural elements. But they are by no means uniform. “We [on the board] distinctly avoid trying to standardize our services,’ Rabbi Yeshurun ben Levy said. “Every community can follow its own preferences.”
Based on experiences at three black synagogues — Beth Shalom Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Brooklyn, Congregation Temple Bethel in Philadelphia and Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago — what unites them is the rabbinic order of the prayer and Torah services. Most of the liturgy is chanted in Hebrew, except for some Psalms and prayers recited dramatically in unison in English.
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