HEPHZIBAH FOUNDATION
“No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.”
~ Isaiah 62:4 ~
PURPOSE
The purpose of this organization is to provide education and insight about the Jewish/Israelite ancestry of many African Americans and Afro-Caribbean's who came to the Americas and Caribbean via the Atlantic Slave Trade.
It is believed that as many as 1/3 of the slaves who were exported via the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were Igbos.
Igbos are members of the Igbo people of Nigeria who are of Hebraic descent and elements of their Jewish life has been documented in parts of Nigeria since the precolonial period.
Both precolonial literature and present literature support the oral tradition and beliefs that the Igbos are descendants of Israel. Igbos today still hold to those beliefs and many are still Torah observant.
Because many African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans are Bible-believing Christians, the Hephzibah Foundation hopes to educate and invite these fellow Israelites [who already embrace Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah (Christ)] to explore the Jewish roots of their faith and return to true worship. (John 4:22-24).
HEPHZIBAH FOUNDATION, INC. will undertake many projects to uplift these communities. It is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes, including, but not limited to the dissemination of information. Hephzibah Foundation qualifies as an exempt organization described under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
We also believe that education is an all encompassing field that should include the furthering of a child's academic future. We aim to provide students of all ages with free tutoring in SAT, ACT, PSAT, SSAT and ISEE so that they may excel in any and all of their academic endeavors.
"The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD."
~ Jeremiah 33:11 ~
WHAT WE
BELIEVE
The Hephzibah Foundation, Inc. subscribes to the beliefs of Messianic Judaism, wherein we believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yeshua (Jesus) is the promised Messiah to the nation of Israel and to the world. We believe in the New Covenant as stated in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and restated in Hebrew 8:8-11:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
~ Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NKJV)~
We believe the Bible is the inspired and infallible word of God and was made flesh in the form of a Man, Yeshua-the Messiah (the Christ)-who dwelt among us (John 1:14). We believe in the relevance and authority of the Old and New Testament, in that we as covenant keepers obey the law as a reflection of our love for God.
