By the broadest definition, there are approximately 9 million adult Jews in America. Of these, 5.3 million are Jews because they practice the Jewish religion or because they have Jewish parents and consider themselves Jewish. Non-Hispanic blacks make up 2% of that population. (A Portrait of Jewish Americans) Blacks make up such a small percentage of the Jewish population that they are often considered obviously “non-Jewish.” This was the experience of Rabbi Shlomo ben Levy. In an article titled “Who are we? Where do we come from? How many of us are there?” Rabbi Levy describes his feelings of marginalization triggered by an advertisement for Levy's Jewish Rye. The ad shows a black boy eating a sandwich and the caption "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's." The idea was to present a clearly non-Jewish child enjoying Jewish bread, but for Rabbi Levy who is both black and Jewish it was yet another message denying his existence. (Who are we?) His experience is not uncommon. Indeed, denial of the existence of Black Jews dates back at least to the Renaissance. In 1591 Gincarlo Bruno was among the first to attempt to classify people by race. He observed that Jews and Africans had different colored skin and therefore could not share the same ancestry. He insisted that Ethiopians must be descended from a pre-Adamite race and could under no circumstances be Jews. (Parfitt 1-3) Bruno's theory was completely incorrect and clearly demonstrates ignorance of Jewish law, but the perception of Jewish ethnicity persists to the point that, in today's America, Jews of any color other than white are a strangeness. (Kaye/Kantrowitz 9) This is largely due to the fact that most American Jews are Ashkenazi, the...... half of article ......re: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism . New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 15-32. Print.Wolfson, Bernard J. “African American Jews: Dispelling the Myths, Closing the Gap.” Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. 33-51. Print."Solomonid Dynasty". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 02 March 2014 ."History." Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Jewish Congregation. Network. March 3, 2014. “Racist Black Hebrew Israelites Become More Militant.” Southern Poverty Law Center intelligence report. 131 (2008) Web. 2 March. 2014. .