At Congregation B’nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side, black and Jewish teens recently stood shoulder to shoulder, pledging to rebuild the historic alliance that was once a cornerstone of progressive politics in this country. Just hours before, they had taken to foot, exploring the small black-owned shops tucked away on the side streets of Harlem before ending up at the Lower East Side’s Tenement Museum to talk about the immigrant Jewish community that once lived there. A few days later, they were worshipping together at Abyssinian Baptist Church – one of the city’s oldest and largest black congregations.

“Did you know that the NAACP was founded by blacks and Jews?” one student offered. “It was two Jews and a black who were murdered in Philadelphia, Miss., some 41 years ago,” another student remarked.

At a time when some blacks and Jews have opted to call it quits, walking away from a relationship that dates back to the early 1900s, high school students who participate in Cultural Leadership – one of a dozen cross-cultural programs in the nation for black and Jewish teenagers – are struggling to recapture what was once viewed as a powerful coalition.

In recent months, the decision by the Anti-Defamation League to denounce Louis Farrakhan’s Millions More Movement, a three-day gathering scheduled to be held in October on the 10th anniversary of Mr. Farrakhan’s Million Man March, has created a rift among black and Jewish leaders. The ADL says that it can’t support the event, claiming that its leader, Mr. Farrakhan, is an anti-Semite, while black figures like hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons have chastised ADL’s leader, Abraham Foxman, for urging black leaders to withdraw their support from the gathering.

“I think it’s wrong for Abe Foxman to get involved at this level in this way,” said Mr. Simmons. “His energy has not been helpful in healing whatever rift blacks and Jews have. He’s never met an African-American leader he has not called an anti-Semite,” he said.

But the public showdown over the Millions More Movement between the ADL and the Nation of Islam has been used as flimsy evidence by some pundits to suggest that the days of black and Jewish cooperation are over. The notion that there has been a serious falling-out is downplaying the historic significance of the relationship. A partnership shouldn’t end with one disagreement. And the good news is, recent reports by organizations like the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding point out that cooperation between blacks and Jews is far more common today than conflict.

Are their places where the two groups regularly clash? Sure. Affirmative action and support for reparations for the descendants of black slaves continue to be volatile topics for blacks and Jews, but it would be a fallacy to conclude that the relationship is in serious danger because the groups don’t see eye to eye on every policy issue.

But why has the focus on black-Jewish relations, particularly in the press, been reduced to focusing on firebrands in both communities who have cleverly found a way to keep the two groups divided?

“There are a lot of positive things happening between blacks and Jews across the city, but it’s not reported,” said Nicola Straker, who 14 years ago was one of the black youths living in Crown Heights during the explosive 1991 riots. “When the riots started, I understood where black people were coming from. People were angry and they were angry about things they didn’t know.”

Ms. Straker didn’t know much about her Jewish neighbors except “they wore black hats and dressed different from me.”

Later, it was her participation in the Crown Heights Youth Collective and a dialogue session at her school sponsored by the ADL that ignited a passion for bringing the two groups together. Today, she serves as the assistant director of the “A World of Difference Program,” a nationally recognized effort aimed at fighting bigotry.

In short, strains between blacks and Jews cannot become reasons why yesterday’s cooperation cannot continue.

“There was a special magic that made the alliance grow and prosper for more than 50 years,” the chairman of the NAACP, Julian Bond, said. “Blacks and Jews and other Americans believed the magic then, and because they believed it, they worked to make it so. It may be that only some of us – some blacks and some Jews – believe it now. But if we believe alone, our charge is to make others believe again,” he added.

Mr. Watson is the executive editor of the New York Amsterdam News. He can be reached at jamalwats@aol.com.