His Kingdom in Israel

celebrating Shavuot                                          David Silverman/Getty Images

This belongs squarely in the "You Meet the Most Interesting People in the Obits" department. Ben Ammi Ben-Israel (né Ben Carter) died on December 27 in Beersheba at the age of 75. In 1966, he had a vision that led him to Liberia with 350 adherents, and from there to Israel. There, he built a community in Israel's Negev Desert that ultimately grew to a population of 3,000. They were the Black Hebrews, descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. Ben-Israel's group observed the Sabbath but wore African-style clothes and practiced polygamy (as so many cults founded by men do). As one can imagine, he and his group were not immediately accepted by their new homeland: http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-ben-ammi-ben-israel-20150111-story.html