Earlier this year, hundreds gathered along with leaders from the Shiloh Institute and the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest at the DuSable Museum to celebrate the long-time alliance between the Black and Jewish communities. These leaders also paid tribute to the life and legacy of Prince Asiel Ben Israel.
Prince Asiel Ben Israel was a leader of unity in both the Black and Jewish communities. He died Saturday, August 21, 2022. He was 81 years old.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. on September 2, 2022 at Trinity United Church of Christ, 800 West 95th Street. His dearest friends will officiate his service – the Reverends Henry Hardy, T. L. Barrett and Otis Moss III.
He will lie in state at Leak & Sons Funeral Home, 7838 South Cottage Grove Avenue on Thursday, September 1 from. 7 to 9 p.m. His final resting place will be in Dimona, Israel.
He was the Extraordinary International Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of the African Hebrew Israelite community who championed peace and unity in Chicago, Israel, Africa, and the world, for over 50 years. Prince, as he was popularly known, left America with a charter group of 350 Blacks, mostly Chicagoans for the Holy Land, where they have lived since 1969. The group settled primarily in the city of Dimona on the outskirts of the Negev Desert. The group which grew to 2,500 adopted Judaism as their principles of living.
Look for more coverage of the life and legacy of Prince Asiel Ben Israel in an upcoming issue of the Chicago Crusader.
