Biography
Ben Ammi grew up in Chicago. At a young age, he worked in a factory casting airline parts. A co-worker introduced him to the idea that African Americans are descendants of the Biblical Israelites. At the age of 22 he immegrated to Israel and took the name Ben Ammi Ben-Israel. In 1966, Ben Ammi claims to have received a vision from the angel Gabriel. In the vision, he claimed he was instructed to: "Lead the children of Israel among African Americans to the promised land, and establish the long-awaited Kingdom of God."
In 1967, Ben Ammi led 350 of his followers to Liberia. After two and a half years, many had lost faith and returned home. At this point he decided to send five families to Israel. Ben Ammi and more of his followers arrived in the ensuing months, settling in Dimona.
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“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
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