There is no consensus among experts and rabbis about the origin of this community, which has long lived in the depths of Africa. According to official legend, Ethiopian Jews moved there during the time of King Solomon. Some scholars suggest that perhaps this is a group of local Christians who gradually moved to Judaism. In the 80s of the last century, the exodus to Israel began; all in all, about 35 thousand people were promised to the Earth.
general information
Ethiopian Jews are Falashi, which is translated from the ancient Ethiopian language as Geez means "immigrants" or "aliens." Geez belongs to the group of Ethiosemitic languages, in which representatives of all local religions conduct services in Ethiopia, both Jews themselves, Orthodox Christians and Catholics. The self-name of Ethiopian Jews is beta Israel, which translates as "the house of Israel." They profess mosaicism - a form of non-Talmudic Judaism.
Initially, the languages of the Jews of Ethiopia were two related languages of the Agave group - Kayla and a dialect of the Kemant language (Quara). From the Kyle language, written evidence of the researchers remained. The second survived by the time of the mass resettlement to Israel, now only elderly repatriates own it. In Ethiopia itself, the majority of beta-Israel speak only Amharic - the language of the largest ethnic group in the region, it is also the official language of the country. A small amount speaks tigray - the language of the province of the same name. In Israel, the majority begins to speak Hebrew, although according to statistics, the proportion of those who know the state language is one of the lowest among repatriates from different countries.
Lifestyle
Basically, Falashi are poor farmers and for the most part primitive artisans, especially those who live in the northwestern regions of the country. Peasants grow local crops on rented land. Artisan Jews are engaged in weaving baskets, spinning and weaving, pottery and blacksmithing. In large cities, there are also jewelers, while the majority of urban falsies work at local construction sites. It is noteworthy that, unlike the Jewish communities in other countries, they almost do not engage in trade.
Ethiopian Jews are based on flour and cereals from local cereals, durru and daguss (from which beer is also made), onions and garlic. They never eat raw meat, unlike neighboring tribes - big lovers of raw food. Unlike neighboring African nations, polygamy is not common among them. In addition, they marry at a relatively mature age. The upbringing of children is carried out by priests and dabtars, who teach them literacy, interpretation of the Bible, an important part of education is memorization of psalms. Dabtara is a connoisseur of calligraphy, the classic Ethiopian geez language and church rites.
Ethnicity
According to the generally accepted scientific theory that most historians and ethnographers adhere to, Ethiopian Jews are of Cushite origin. They belong to the Agau tribal group, which was the autochthonous population of the northern regions of the region before, in the 1st millennium BC, Semitic tribes from the ancient states of South Arabia did not flood there. At the same time, modern genetic studies carried out in 2012 show that despite the fact that the Falas are closest to the local Ethiopian population, Jews were undoubtedly among their distant ancestors.
In the community itself, it is believed that dark-skinned Ethiopian Jews (barium) with characteristic African ethnic characteristics are descendants of slaves who adopted the religion of the lords. Another group of Chua (reds) are descendants of real Jews who came from Israel and supposedly swarted due to the sultry African climate. This division emphasizes the status and origin of the Falashi.
Belief Features
During the Second Jerusalem Temple, there were several religious movements in Judaism (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes). Each of these movements had its own rituals and religious practices. The modern Jewish state adheres mainly to the Pharisee tradition. Many of the religious characteristics of Ethiopian Jews contradict official Judaism.
For example, the holiness of the Sabbath on Falashi must be preserved even when there is a threat to human life, and in rabbinical Judaism this is a permissible violation in saving a person. Beta Israel does not light candles on the eve of Saturday - in accordance with ancient customs, they cannot use any fire, even if it is lit in advance. In modern Jewish tradition, Saturday sex is strongly encouraged, and Ethiopian Jews are strictly forbidden so as not to stain the body.
Places of traditional residence
Before the mass aliyah to Israel (in the early 80s of the last century), the number of Ethiopian Jews totaled 45 thousand people, who lived mostly in the northwestern part of the country. Approximately 500 Jewish villages were located in several provinces of Gondar (now Northern Gondar). Falashi settlements were located between the villages of the local large ethnic groups - Amhara and Tiger. According to the first census of 1874, more than 6,000 families lived in these small villages at that time, and the total number was 28,000. If you look at the map of Ethiopia, you can see that many Falashi settlements were located in areas around the lake, in the mountains of Symen.
Settlements of local Jews were also in the historical regions of Quara and Last, in separate quarters in the cities of Gondar and Addis Ababa.
Folk legends
Ethiopian Jews consider themselves the descendants of the legendary Queen of Sheba Meakena and King Solomon, as well as their close associates. In biblical times, when the Jewish sovereign escorted one of his seven hundred wives from his palace, she was already pregnant. Together with her, 12 respected elders with households and servants left the home country, as well as the son of the high priest Tsadok-Azariah. Being in exile, in due time, she gave birth to a son Menenlik, who chose Ethiopia to live and founded a village here. The descendants of the noble Jerusalem refugees are the Falashi, in their opinion.
According to another version of the Ethiopian legend, which is considered true by both the Jews and Christians of the country, Menelik I was anointed to the kingdom in the ancient Jerusalem temple. After the ceremony, along with the same composition of close associates as in the first version, he went to the Ethiopian colonies of Saba, where he became the founder of the Solomon Dynasty. The times of settlement in Ethiopia for the supporters of Judaism have not been reliably established.
Basic scientific theories
There are two main scientific versions of the origin of beta Israel. According to one of them, they really are distant descendants of Jewish settlers. Some scholars note that this is proved by the religious characteristics of Ethiopian Jews, which almost completely coincide with those described in the Qumran manuscripts. This applies to rituals and religious practices.
According to another theory, the ethnic characteristics of Ethiopian Jews show that they have nothing to do with Jews. This indigenous population of the country, which in the XIV-XVI centuries was taken closely by the Old Testament, gradually came to the observance of the Old Testament commandments and arbitrarily ranked itself among the Jews.
According to scientific theories shared by most ethnographers and historians, Ethiopian Jews are of Cushite origin and belong to the Agau tribe group, which made up the autochthonous population of northern Ethiopia before going there in the first millennium BC. e. Semitic tribes moved from southern Arabia.
Opinion of authoritative researchers
The first scientific works confirming that Ethiopian Jews are still real, date back to the 16th century (the North African scholar Radbaz), which was later confirmed by other researchers. Some modern scholars, including S. Kaplan, a professor at the University of Jerusalem, acknowledge that the complex process of the formation of the Falashi took place in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. When there was a merger of various groups into one ethnic community, which included representatives of the so-called Eihuds, and which united people professing Judaism, as well as heretics and rebels living in the northwestern regions of Ethiopia.
Well-known scholar of Judeo-Ethiopian traditions, Dr. Ziva, believes that traditional practices indicate that the ancient Falashi community was an integral part of the Jewish community in ancient times. In one of the periods of history, Ethiopian Jews were cut off from the Promised Land. They lived in complete isolation, but nevertheless were able to preserve the ancient traditions of their distant ancestors.
First confession
Beta Israel was first recognized as real Jews in the 19th century when they were found by European Protestant missionaries. They were allowed to preach under the reign of Theodros II. The missionaries saw Ethiopia's main task as the baptism of local Jews. Christian preachers grossly interfered in the life of the Jewish communities, but allowed them to study the Bible. But by order of the church leadership from Jerusalem, the native clergy had to baptize.
The baptism was successful, but was later suspended due to the efforts of European Jews, Catholics and local priests. Under the subsequent rulers of Abyssinia, discussions about faith occurred frequently. And under John all non-Christian religions were banned. Muslims and Falashi were driven into the river by soldiers with loaded guns and priests baptized them by force.
Religion spread
There are several theories regarding the spread of Judaism in Ethiopia; according to one of them, migrants from South Arabia introduced a new aga for the local tribes. Jewish faith could also have come here through Egypt. Perhaps also thanks to the Jews who settled in ancient times in this area and eventually assimilated among the African population.
Ethiopian written chronicles of the 4th-5th centuries testify that Judaism was a widespread religion even before the appearance of Christianity in the northern part of the country, which became the state religion of the kingdom of Aksum. After that, the persecution of supporters of Judaism began. The ancestors of the Falashi were driven out from the fertile coastal regions to the mountains north of Lake Tan, where they for a long time maintained political independence and had their rulers with a center in Samien. The state of local Jews on the map of Ethiopia lasted a short time.
First aliyah
The Falashi were recognized as part of the Jewish people in 1973, when the High Rabbi of Israel, Yosef Ovadia, announced that the traditions of this people are completely Jewish and that they are generally descendants of the tribe of Dan. After this, the Ethiopian community received the right to move to Israel. In response, Ethiopian authorities have banned the departure of their citizens from the country.
In the 80s, Israel decided to remove Ethiopian Jews (some of them already lived in immigrant camps in neighboring Sudan). Intelligence Mossad planned Operation Moses. In Sudan, temporary runways were organized, to which future Israelis were to be transported by truck. The Falashi were supposed to walk to the collection points on foot. In total, between 14,000 and 18,000 people were transported.
Further Aliyah
In 1985, with the assistance of George W. Bush, 800 people were removed from Sudan during Operation Jesus. After 6 years, the Ethiopian authorities allowed the remaining 20,000 Ethiopian Jews to be taken away for $ 40 million, 2,000 for each “head”. During Operation Solomon, which involved reconnaissance and the army, the dummies were taken out within two days. Airplanes flew direct flights from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv.
One of the flights set a record for this: 1,122 people flew on a Boeing of an Israeli airline. In total, about 35,000 Ethiopian Jews were evicted during the three operations.
On the Promised Land
In Israel, a special absorption program operated for Falashi. The new Israelis did not know the language of the Jews, they had never seen big cities and lived almost in subsistence farming. The first wave of immigrants quickly integrated into the life of the country: within a year, almost 50% of them mastered the state language, received vocational training and housing.
In addition to Falashi, Ethiopia has an ethnic group of Falashmur, whose ancestors were baptized by force. In 2010, 3,000 of them were exported to Israel - who managed to prove their Jewish roots, while they must have passed the giyur (rite of conversion of the "non-Jew" to Judaism).