Cushi

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Cushi (kushi) is a Hebrew term used to refer to a person (usually of African descent) with a dark-skinned color, similar to the English word Negro. Since the last decades of the 20th century it is considered to be a racist term.

1 Origins of the Term
2 "Cushi" as a Pejorative term of Race
3 Cushi and Cushite
4 See also

[edit] Origins of the Term

The Hebrew word "Cushi" in the five first books of the Bible – the Torah, refers to a person who came from the land of Cush (Most probably today's Sudan, and practically the southern Egypt settled region). The origins of the word "Cush" is ancient Egyptian language, and means a person of a dark-skinned color. Cush was the eldest son of Ham, the son of Noah. Canaan, the other son of Ham, was cursed by Noah:" Cursed be Canaan; he shall be a slave among slaves to his brethren." (Book of Genesis 9:25). The Europeans have later misused this verse to explain their subjugation of dark-skinned Africans to slavery.

The book of Numbers (12:1), tells the story of Miriam and Aaron, the brother of Moses, who are gossiping about him, "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman", something that was not acceptable among the Israelites. The most famous of the Jewish commentaries on the Bible, the Talmudic scholar, Rashi, has offered a different commentary from the pshat, saying:" Scripture teaches that everyone acknowledged her beauty just as everyone acknowledges a Cushite’s blackness"[1] and strengthens his word by saying: "Cushite, Its numerical (Gematria) value is equal to beautiful in appearance"[2].

The Book of Amos offers a positive reference:" Are you not like the children of the Cushites to Me, O children of Israel? says the Lord" (Book of Amos 9:7).

One famous coined phrase makes use of the "Cushi" word in Modern Israeli Hebrew, quoting from the bible," Will a Cushi change his skin or a leopard his spots?" (Book of Jeremiah 13:23), in order to describe a reality that can not change.

[edit] "Cushi" as a Pejorative term of Race

Initially in Modern Israeli Hebrew the term "Cushi" was not used as a Pejorative term, at times it was even used to refer fondly to a person of dark skin or a red hair, as King David was red headed. Other words were used to describe dark skin as a Pejorative term, for example, the word "Schwartz" (taken from the meaning in the Yiddish language – black). In the last decades of the 20th century the "Cushi" word has become a racist slur, some claim as a commentary of the identification of the terms in English, "Nigger" and "Negro", but it was not proven.

Following the negative change in the meaning of the term "Cushi" was seen in companies retagging themselves in the Israeli Market. The well known made-in-Israel cheese "Cushi" was renamed "Ushi" as well as the Israeli "Krembo" (Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats) that in the initial distribution was named "Cushi".

In an Israeli Court verdict that deals with a bus driver name calling a security guard in the university "Cushi", Judge Yitzhak Milnov wrote the following words:

"The term "Cushi" is considered in [Israeli] society as a whole as a Pejorative term and an insult, meant to defame a person for his dark-skinned color, and to mark him as an "exceptional", and a as an inferior person to a light-skinned person. We are talking about, in fact, of a racist slur, meant to humiliate and degrade the plaintiff, just because he belongs to the Ethiopian ethnic group and for having a dark skin, and accordingly falls into the forth alternative category of the definition of "Defamation" in provision 1 of the law (an expression meant to "defame a person for his race, descent, religion, residence or sexual orientation") Avi Tzaguy Vs. Inga Avi Avshalom January 11 2007.

[edit] Cushi and Cushite

The only in difference between Cushi and Cushite, in Hebrew, is of Gender. The former refers to a male and the latter to a female (for example, like the terms commonly used in American English to Distinguish between Bachelor and a Bachelorette), like Moses Wife. The Hebrew language commonly distinguishes almost every word between a male and a female.

Other terms could be: Cushim (plural), Cushites (biblical plural). In English: "Kush" or "Cush" (in its various declensions) is derived from the same biblical origin.