Ethiopian Jews
For her second lecture in the series on Exotic Jewish Communities, Gabrella Licsko spoke about the Ethiopian Jewish community. There are about 120,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel and the largest concentration of them is in Netanya. It is common to see them in our streets and working around the city. But, the Ethiopian community has had a hard time adapting to Israel, perhaps more than most immigrant communities.
The origin of the Ethiopian Jews is shrouded in mystery. The popular theory is that they are descended from the liason between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Sheba was not in Ethiopia itself but across the Red Sea in Yemen. In biblical times and later it was a very verdant area often ruled by Queens. The son of the Queen of Sheba was Menelek who is considered to be the founder of the royal line of Ethiopia descended from King David. Much later they converted to Christianity. Another theory is that the Ethiopian Jews are descended from the tribe of Dan.
Around the 15th century there is eyewitness testimony of a Jewish Kingdom in Ethiopia, and for several hundred years it was ruled by a Jewish dynasty. But, wars between the Jewish and Christian kingdoms resulted in great destruction and finally the Christians won and reduced the Jews to penury. Jews were only allowed to be farmers and petty artisans, they were driven out of the main cities and those who survived ended up in Gondar province in the north east and some in Tigre province. They spoke Amharic, which is a southern semitic language, but their sacred texts were written in a special language called Geez, that only the priests (Kesim) could read.
Because of their remoteness and isolation from other Jewish communities, the Ethiopian Jews never developed Rabbinic Judaism, had no access to Ashkenazi and Sephardi texts and never celebrated Hanukkah, a later festival. They do however celebrate a unique festival of Sigd, 50 days after Yom Kippur, when they pray as a community to be returned to Israel. This day is now a holiday for them celebrated in Israel.
During the 18-19th century things became worse for the remaining Jews who were named Falasha, a derogatory term. Many were forcibly converted to Christianity, forming a group called Falash Mura, or "impure people." The relationship between the Jews and the Falash Mura is complex, some Jews regarding them as brothers, and others looking down on them as traitors.
By the 19th century their numbers had declined drastically because of a general famine in Ethiopia and attempts were made to help them. In the 1920s Rav Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, wanted to arrange their aliyah, but unfortunately it did not happen then. Later several individuals, mostly the educated children of senior Kesim, managed to reach Palestine and then Israel. But, the very poor majority continued subsistence farming in Gondar through civil wars and political strife under Haile Selassi and the Marxist dictator Mengistu, both of whom would not allow them to leave. In 1974 Rav Ovadia Yosef, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, agreed to accept them as Jews and this helped their aliya, even though many Haredi Rabbis refused to accept them as Jews and still do. In the 1980s many of them trekked across the desert to Sudan, although thousands died on the way. In 1984 they were spirited out of Sudan secretly to Israel in operations Moses and King Solomon by El Al and with the help of the US. But, eventually this route was closed and it only became possible for the rest to leave once the regime changed and wanted greater contact with the US.
Due to controversy about whether or not they are truly Jews there were bureaucratic hold-ups in their transfer to Israel and their acceptance under the "law of return." Finally most senior rabbis accepted them as Jews, allowing the MInistry of the Interior to recognize them. The Falash Mura immigrated more recently and were also accepted, but they are required to convert.
Since they came from almost a stone-age background, they had no idea what things such as planes, toilets, elevators and TVs were. Not only was it difficult for them to adapt to modern life in Israel, but they had to learn Hebrew and often how to read and write. Also, since the men had been farmers there was not much they could do in Israel and often the wives, who were younger and more adaptable, became the bread winners, thus undermining their traditional family structure. But, we should point out that this year's Miss Israel is an Ethiopian girl from Netanya named Titi and there are now Ethiopian MKs and even one Ambassador. The Ethiopian Jews are still adapting to Israel, and prejudice against them is gradually fading and in several generations it will probably be difficult to remember how hard it was for them to be absorbed here.
The origin of the Ethiopian Jews is shrouded in mystery. The popular theory is that they are descended from the liason between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Sheba was not in Ethiopia itself but across the Red Sea in Yemen. In biblical times and later it was a very verdant area often ruled by Queens. The son of the Queen of Sheba was Menelek who is considered to be the founder of the royal line of Ethiopia descended from King David. Much later they converted to Christianity. Another theory is that the Ethiopian Jews are descended from the tribe of Dan.
Around the 15th century there is eyewitness testimony of a Jewish Kingdom in Ethiopia, and for several hundred years it was ruled by a Jewish dynasty. But, wars between the Jewish and Christian kingdoms resulted in great destruction and finally the Christians won and reduced the Jews to penury. Jews were only allowed to be farmers and petty artisans, they were driven out of the main cities and those who survived ended up in Gondar province in the north east and some in Tigre province. They spoke Amharic, which is a southern semitic language, but their sacred texts were written in a special language called Geez, that only the priests (Kesim) could read.
Because of their remoteness and isolation from other Jewish communities, the Ethiopian Jews never developed Rabbinic Judaism, had no access to Ashkenazi and Sephardi texts and never celebrated Hanukkah, a later festival. They do however celebrate a unique festival of Sigd, 50 days after Yom Kippur, when they pray as a community to be returned to Israel. This day is now a holiday for them celebrated in Israel.
During the 18-19th century things became worse for the remaining Jews who were named Falasha, a derogatory term. Many were forcibly converted to Christianity, forming a group called Falash Mura, or "impure people." The relationship between the Jews and the Falash Mura is complex, some Jews regarding them as brothers, and others looking down on them as traitors.
By the 19th century their numbers had declined drastically because of a general famine in Ethiopia and attempts were made to help them. In the 1920s Rav Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, wanted to arrange their aliyah, but unfortunately it did not happen then. Later several individuals, mostly the educated children of senior Kesim, managed to reach Palestine and then Israel. But, the very poor majority continued subsistence farming in Gondar through civil wars and political strife under Haile Selassi and the Marxist dictator Mengistu, both of whom would not allow them to leave. In 1974 Rav Ovadia Yosef, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, agreed to accept them as Jews and this helped their aliya, even though many Haredi Rabbis refused to accept them as Jews and still do. In the 1980s many of them trekked across the desert to Sudan, although thousands died on the way. In 1984 they were spirited out of Sudan secretly to Israel in operations Moses and King Solomon by El Al and with the help of the US. But, eventually this route was closed and it only became possible for the rest to leave once the regime changed and wanted greater contact with the US.
Due to controversy about whether or not they are truly Jews there were bureaucratic hold-ups in their transfer to Israel and their acceptance under the "law of return." Finally most senior rabbis accepted them as Jews, allowing the MInistry of the Interior to recognize them. The Falash Mura immigrated more recently and were also accepted, but they are required to convert.
Since they came from almost a stone-age background, they had no idea what things such as planes, toilets, elevators and TVs were. Not only was it difficult for them to adapt to modern life in Israel, but they had to learn Hebrew and often how to read and write. Also, since the men had been farmers there was not much they could do in Israel and often the wives, who were younger and more adaptable, became the bread winners, thus undermining their traditional family structure. But, we should point out that this year's Miss Israel is an Ethiopian girl from Netanya named Titi and there are now Ethiopian MKs and even one Ambassador. The Ethiopian Jews are still adapting to Israel, and prejudice against them is gradually fading and in several generations it will probably be difficult to remember how hard it was for them to be absorbed here.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:50 PM
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