“To wake up and not be a minority or inferior or called Negro, colored or Black, but to wake up with their God, their language and their culture, has given our children a sense of purpose and dynamism that words cannot express” – Prince Asiel Ben Israel
This is how Prince Asiel Ben Israel explained the “WHY of the Black Hebrews and life in Dimonia” when he was interviewed by N’DIGO in February of 1991.
Prince Asiel was a man, a full man, all man. In every sense of the word, man. He was dashing, debonair, charming, and intelligent. He put the “S” in swagger. He was focused and complex and definitely not a simple man. He had an international flare as he wore his coat around his shoulders on the coldest days. A man on a mission, he had a different way of handling Blackness. Prince wanted to start fresh and anew as he saw a new country and new people.
On Leaving America…
In the late 60s, at the height of Black America’s political/social awakening filled with King marches and protests, a small group of primarily Chicagoans left the country for a better life in the Holy Land. The charter group of 350 Blacks took another route. They left America to settle in Dimona eventually. They wanted to prove that given the opportunity, good surroundings, and control of their destiny, African Americans could create attractive alternatives to the problems confronting America’s urban centers. He wanted to create a new environment, a new place, and a new standard of living. They became known as the Black Hebrews who left for Liberia and landed in Dimona. In 2003 the Hebrew Israelites were granted permanent residency status in Israel. They gained full Israeli citizenship years after arriving. They changed their names; they adopted the culture of Judaism. They changed their culture. They changed their diets. It was not easy; it was rough. But they were men and women ready for the calling of change, just like the pioneering forefathers of America. In 1966 Black Hebrew leader Ben Ammi, then a Chicago bus driver who was at birth Ben Carter had the vision that it was time for the group to begin the Black Hebrew exodus out of America. They were labeled a cult.
Prince was the group’s ambassador and diplomat as he traveled the world, particularly in African countries. He was the foreign minister who handled the community’s dealings outside of Israel and explained to the world who and why the community existed. His approach was Robin Hood-like as they engaged in what they called “nation building. He was jailed for some of the “questionable” activities.
Friends Remember…
Prince had dual citizenship. He was a dual man from the South Side of Chicago. He wasn’t always the Prince. His friend, Paul King Jr., remembers his Alpha brother, as Mr. Warren Brown.
“Asiel Ben Israel: aka Warren Brown, was a great friend, trusted Alpha, and was Afrocentric to the bone. We met in 1959 when he pledged Theta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He was a dedicated Sphinx man but always looking for a way that he could avoid the discipline imposed on those in his line seeking to wear the BLACK and GOLD. I nicknamed him SLICK, which stuck with him for over 50 + years. Warren worked for his wife’s uncle, Hattie (now Yohanna). Henry Lonnie was the owner of Eastern Music, a jukebox distributor located on south Cottage Grove Avenue. Warren studied Black history and became a Stokely Carmichael disciple, citing his love for Black people. Warren and Hattie would team with Loann (whom he affectionately referred to as “SUE”) and Paul every weekend. It was not IF we would go out together but WHERE we would venture.
When Warren embraced the Original Hebrew Israelite Nation, he became Prince Asiel Ben Israel. We shared many books; among his favorites was Chancellor Williams’ THE DESTRUCTION OF BLACK CIVILIZATION. At this time, I was taking graduate courses in Political Science and History at Roosevelt University. Asiel, and I would have numerous conversations on the condition of Blacks in America. We traveled together to Monrovia, Liberia, in the late ’70s. Visiting the African continent, coupled with the exchanges we had with African leaders, showed the growth Asiel had made in Black study and politics.
In 1982 Asiel opened Soul Vegetarian Restaurant located @ 203 E. 75th Street. This venture proved to be multigenerational, now being operated by the children of Asiel and Yohanna, as renamed Soul Veg City. In 1982 he gave me a copy of one of his favorite books, the Scofield Reference Bible (which he read routinely). He signed it with the following words: “To my beloved Brother and Friend, may this book become flesh, so that the will of our father will be done” (signed) your brother and Servant with the Signature Prince Asiel Israel, and with a PS ‘SEE YOU IN AFRICA.”
Prince Meets Rabbi Hodges…
Prince wanted to learn more about Israel and the Hebrew way of life. He was introduced to the late Rabbi James Hodges, Sr. from The House of Israel Temple of Faith. They became fast friends, and his daughter Pam Wilks says, “the two men instantly developed a strong bond and discovered they were both faithfully committed to fulfilling biblical scripture. Rabbi Hodges disagreed with the timing of the exodus from America to the Motherland in the late 60s. Hodges became a mentor and advisor to Prince, which lasted until the Rabbi’s death. It was a relationship that lasted over 50 years. Pam says. “a mighty lion has fallen.“
Zemrah
Zemrah joined the nation as a Black Israelite in 1979. Her first plane ride was to Liberia, where she stayed for two weeks. She felt vulnerable in leaving the country as a 28-year-old divorced woman with an 8-year-old daughter. She felt overwhelmed with American life, and Asiel and the Black Hebrew demonstrated an alternative life in a new land with a new language and culture. So she joined the nation and lived in Israel for two years. Prince protected her from what had been an abusive marriage. She worked as a fundraiser and found the space for Soul Vegetarian Restaurant upon returning to America. Zemrah met her future husband, Ahsael, with the Hebrews; today they live in a suburb of Chicago. She speaks lovingly of the nation and Prince and how her life turned around, particularly enjoying the comrades of the sisterhood.
He Was An Universal Man…
Sister Claudette Muhammad says Prince was a man of no boundaries. She says, “he could be a Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Hebrew, Buddhist, Sikh, Agnostic, or Atheist. He was the soul of the human family. I was blessed to meet Prince Asiel Ben Israel during my stay in Monrovia, Liberia. I was there to attend President Talbert’s niece’s wedding and to attend a business seminar hosted by President Tolbert. The Prince and I became brother and sister immediately. He shared with me his Hebrew religion and said he respected all religions. He told me how the Honorable Ben Amin Ben Israel, the Leader of the Hebrew Israelites, and President Tolbert opened Liberia for the Hebrews, who had migrated from America to Liberia before they entered the Holy Land. I was quite enchanted. Once we returned to the United States, he introduced me to his wives, children, and many of the members of the Hebrew Israelite Community, all of whom accepted me as their own.”
Dr. Carol Adams, a devoted friend, recall Prince as charismatic and politically astute; he was skilled at bringing people from all walks of life and points of view together to confront the challenges facing American-born Africans. Sought after by leaders throughout Africa, “The Prince,” as he was affectionately referred to in the Black community, traveled the world, often taking delegations from the US to countries like Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and, of course, Israel. Likewise, he brought leaders from African countries to America to pursue economic and human rights issues, such as President Boni Yayi from Benin, who visited Illinois in 2004.
Prince Lived with Controversy…
Prince Asiel liked fine wine and fine women. He was an intellectual and always ready for a good argument on Blackness with solutions and change in social conditions. He would argue in a bar on 79th Street, his favorite being the Godfather or the halls of Congress. The Black Hebrews even developed a new martial system. He told N’DIGO in 1991 that the system was “divine marriage” or a “righteous relationship,” in which a man can have up to seven wives, though a woman can have only one husband. All of the wives are equal: there is no pecking order, and the wives consider themselves “sisters.” In cases of multiple marriages, there is but one family unit, and the husband is responsible for all the wives and children. He founded with his family, Soul Vegetarian, introducing a vegan diet to Black America. It has become one of the most popular restaurants of its kind in the city, with branches in other major cities.
He lived with controversy. He went to jail for what he believed in. He established a strong relationship with Jews and Black America. He delighted in taking Black elected officials and who’s who of America to the Holy Land. I went on a trip after years of his persuasion. I was with Congressman Danny Davis, State Representative Donny Trotter, Mr. O. J. Webb, and Charles Steele of the SCLC. We met with the Prime Minister of Israel. We talked about common issues and learned about Israel. We saw the Holy Land and walked where Jesus walked and was baptized in the Jordan River. The trip was well planned in every way.
With Prince, we went to the mountain where Jesus gave the “B” attitudes. He delighted to take sojourns to Israel and connect and teach Blacks about Jews and Jews about Blacks.
In 2003 the U.S. diva, already past the prime of her career and still married to Bobby Brown, made a memorable, if not altogether strange visit to the Holy Land, hosted by the Black Hebrew Israelites, a group centered in the southern desert town of Dimona. Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and Ariel Sharon. Credit. AP
Prince took Mayor Marion Barry to Africa and singer Whitney Houston when he found out she had a drug problem and cured her of her drug habit. He was guilty of working with the Zimbabwe government in 2014 but never registered with the United States Attorney General. This was considered criminal by the U.S. government.
Prince left Chicago for Israel, but he was a Chicagoan to the core. He participated with troops in the streets in political elections. He had relationships with the gangs and mentored young men to improve their lives. Dr. Carol Adams points out, “Prince Asiel had recently convened a cadre of local leaders and activists to work collaboratively to combat the violence.” This was one of his last efforts to pull men together to stop the sprawling crime in Chicago.”
I repeat, he was a man for all seasons and most reasons. He transformed himself and his people as he lived his life to the fullest extent and his way. He considered himself a revolutionary.
He will be buried in his beloved Israel. He was a Prince.
Public Viewing:
Leak & Sons Funeral Homes
7838 South Cottage Grove Avenue
Thursday, September 1, 7 to 9 p.m.
Funeral:
Trinity Church of Christ
400 West 95th Street
Friday, September 2 at 10 a.m.
Reverends Henry Hardy, T. L. Barrett, and Otis Moss III
will officiate.
