Len Lyons, an independent researcher and writer, received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Brown University. He taught at the University of Santa Clara but decided to �retire� quite early to write several books about jazz. He continues to teach �Exploring Jazz� at several universities in California. Through meeting Ethiopian Israelis in 2004, he became interested in Ethiopian Jews and their origins (www.ethiopianisraelisproject.org). He wrote about their struggle for integration into Israeli society in his book, The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land (2007). He has also written about other groups of African descent, especially African American communities, who assert Jewish identity and practice Judaism. His writing also appears in the Journal of African Religions, The Jewish Daily Tablet, and the Jewish Review of Books.