The Beta Israel (Ge'ez ቤተ፡ እስራኤል Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl; Hebrew: ביתא ישראל‎), also known by the term Falasha (Amharic for "Exiles" or "Strangers", as they were called by non-Jewish Ethiopians — a term that is considered pejorative) are Jews of Ethiopian origin. Ethiopian Jews are also known by the term Chabashim (from Habesha). Under the provisions of Israel's Law of Return (1950), over 90,000 (over 85%) have emigrated to Israel, most notably during Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991), but also continuing until the present time. The related Falash Mura are Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity in the past, but have since returned to Judaism. KAYLA IS A FUCKING LOSER! ... Qwara, or Qwareña (called Falashan in some older sources), is an Agaw language spoken by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) of the Qwara area, closely related to Kemant. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Tigray-Tigrinya are an ethnic group who live in Eritrea and the northern highlands of Ethiopias Tigray province. ... Amhara (አማራ) is an ethnic group in the central highlands of Ethiopia, numbering about 21 million, making up around 30% of the countrys population (estimates differ). ... The Qemant are a small, ethnic group in Ethiopia, which, despite their close historical and ethnic relationship, should not be confused with the Beta Israel. ... The Agaw are a people of Ethiopia. ... Since Biblical times, the Jewish people have had close ties with Africa, going back to Abrahams sojourns in Egypt, and later the Israelite captivity under the Pharaohs. ... The Qemant are a small, ethnic group in Ethiopia, which, despite their close historical and ethnic relationship, should not be confused with the Beta Israel. ... The Beta Israel (or House of Israel), known by outsiders by the pejorative term Falasha or Falash Mura (exiles or strangers) are Jews of Ethiopian origin. ... Jewish ethnic divisions refers to a number of distinct Jewish communities within the worlds ethnically Jewish population. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with pejoration. ... The term Habesha (Geez ሐበሻ ḥabaśā, Amh. ... The Law of Return (Hebrew: חוק השבות, hok ha-shvut) is Israeli legislation that allows Jews and those with Jewish parents or grandparents, and spouses of the aforementioned, to settle in Israel and gain citizenship. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Operation Moses, named after the biblical figure Moses, was the covert removal of Ethiopian Jews (known as Beta Israel) from Sudan during a famine in 1984. ... This article is about the year. ... Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

History

The Beta Israel village of Balankab. From H. A. Stern, Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia London, 1862; reprinted in the 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, now in the public domain.

There are those who believe that Judaism in Ethiopia undoubtedly goes back into very ancient times. In an Ethiopian book titled "Kebra Nagast", or "Book of the Glory of Kings," there are several references to Biblical verses about Solomon and Sheba. The Hebrew Bible also has various references. (Tanakh [1 Kings 10:1-13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1-12]). Precisely what its early history was, however, remains obscure. Image File history File links Balankab. ... Image File history File links Balankab. ... The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... Modern book cover of Kebra Nagast: The Glory of the Kings The Kebra Nagast (var. ... This article is about the Biblical figure. ... Sheba (from the English transcription of the Hebrew name shva and Saba, Arabic: سبأ, also Saba, Amharic: ሳባ, Tigrinya: ሳባ) was a southern kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament) and the Quran. ...

The now dominant Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church claims it originated from the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon back in the Tenth Century B.C.E. This visit is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (I Kings 10:1). Moreover, the details of the queen's visit, including the alleged theft of the Holy Ark as well as Solomon getting her pregnant with a child who established the "Solomonic" lineage in Ethiopia, as given in Christian Ethiopian tradition, are not in the Bible. They instead developed in the Middle Ages, first written down in full in the 13th century Kebra Nagast, inspired partly to legitimize the Solomonic dynasty as compared to the previous Zagwe dynasty of Agaw descent (Cushitic, not Semitic-speaking, though passionately Christian). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስትያን Yäityopya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All... The Queen of Sheba, (Hebrew מלכת שבא , Arabic ملكة سبأ , Geez: ንግሥተ ሳባ Nigista Saba), referred to in the Hebrew scriputures (Old Testament), Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the New Testament, the Quran, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament). ... Modern book cover of Kebra Nagast: The Glory of the Kings The Kebra Nagast (var. ... The Solomonid dynasty is the traditional royal house of Ethiopia, claiming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who is said to have given birth to the traditional first king Menelik I after her Biblically-described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem. ... The Zagwe Dynasty ruled Ethiopia from the end of the Kingdom of Axum to 1270, when Yekuno Amlak defeated and killed the last Zagwe king in battle. ...

The chief Semitic languages of Ethiopia may also suggest an antiquity of Judaism in Ethiopia. "There still remains the curious circumstance that a number of Abyssinian words connected with religion – such as the words for Hell, idol, Easter, purification, and alms – are of Hebrew origin. These words must have been derived directly from a Jewish source, for the Abyssinian Church knows the scriptures only in a Ge'ez version made from the Septuagint.^[1] For other uses, see Hell (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the Christian festival. ... Categories: Move to Wiktionary | Stub | Chemistry ... Alms Bag taken from some Tapestry in Orleans, Fifteenth Century. ... The word Hebrew most likely means to cross over, referring to the Semitic people crossing over the Euphrates River. ...

Beta Israel tradition

Beta Israel traditions claim that the Ethiopian Jews are descended from the lineage of Moses himself, some of whose children and relatives are said to have separated from the other Children of Israel after the Exodus and gone southwards, or, alternatively or together with this, that they are descended from the tribe of Dan, which fled southwards down the Arabian coastal lands from Judaea at the time of the breakup of the united Kingdom of Israel into two kingdoms in the 10th century BCE (precipitated by the oppressive demands of Rehoboam, King Solomon's heir), or at the time of the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE. Certainly there was trade as early as the time of King Solomon down along the Red Sea to the Yemen and even as far as India, according to the Bible, and there would therefore have been Jewish settlements at various points along the trade routes. There is definite archaeological evidence of Jewish settlements and of their cultural influence on both sides of the Red Sea well at least 2,500 years ago, both along the Arabian coast and in the Yemen, on the eastern side, and along the southern Egyptian and Sudanese coastal regions. Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt This article is about the Biblical figure. ... Tribe of Dan was also a band from the mid 1990s. ... Desert hills in southern Judea, looking east from the town of Arad Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of historic Palestine, an area now divided... United Monarchy - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... For other uses, see Wine bottle nomenclature. ... 10th century BCE: The Land of Israel, including the United Kingdom of Israel Commonwealth of Israel redirects here. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Location of the Red Sea The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ...

According to Jacqueline Pirenne, the spread of Sabaeans across the Red Sea to Ethiopia began in the 8th or 7th centuries BCE when considerable numbers of Sabeans crossed over to Ethiopia to escape from the Assyrians who had already devastated the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and were extending their raids further south. She further states that a second major wave of Sabeans crossed over in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE to escape Nebuchadnezzar; this wave included Jews fleeing from the Babylonian takeover of Judah too.^[2] These theories of an early Jewish presence in Ethiopia are generally dismissed, however, for a later ethnogenesis of the Beta Israel and presence of Judaism among Ethiopians. What is left of Awam Temple or the Sun temple in Marib. ... Nebuchadnezzar has several meanings: Nebuchadnezzar (also Nebuchadrezzar), the name of several kings of Babylonia: Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, the best known of these kings, who conquered Aram and Israel. ...

It also appears that there was a significant movement of Jews into the Sudanese and Ethiopian-Somali coastal areas, and the Arabian and Yemeni coastal areas, following the Roman repression of the various messianic movements that culminated in the destruction of the Second Commonwealth of Judaea in the first century C.E.^{[citation needed]} There is also evidence from the second century CE of Jewish flight southwards from the Fayyum of Egypt.^{[citation needed]} Survivors fled up the Nile, perhaps to the general region of the Sudan. This article presents an overview of various historically significant Jewish Messiah claimants. ... In Jewish history, the Second Commonwealth is the period during which the Second Temple of Jerusalem was in existence, roughly 530 BCE-70 CE. Categories: | ... Al Fayyum is one of the governorates of Egypt located in the centre of the country. ... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ...

Though the 13th century Kebra Nagast and some traditional Ethiopian histories have stated that Yodit (or "Gudit"), a 10th century usurping queen, was Jewish, it's unlikely that this was the case and it's more likely that she was a pagan southerner^[3] or a usurping Christian Aksumite Queen.^[4] Modern book cover of Kebra Nagast: The Glory of the Kings The Kebra Nagast (var. ... Gudit (or Judith; also known as Esato) is a semi-legendary non-Christian queen (flourished c. ...

According to the Kebra Negast, the Jewish rulers traced their lineage back to Moses and the tribe of Dan, just as the Beta Israel continue to do to this day.^{[citation needed]} The 9th century Jewish traveller Eldad ha-Dani also claimed descent from this tribe and commented about Jewish Kingdoms around or in East Africa existing during his time. Some see his writings as the first mention of the Bete Israel, but his accuracy is uncertain, however, and others doubt his work, pointing to a lack of firsthand knowledge of Ethiopia's geography and any Ethiopian language, the area that he claims as his homeland.^[5] Eldad ha-Dani or Eldad HaDani or Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani was a merchant and traveler of the ninth century. ...

The Middle Ages

The first relatively certain reference to the Beta Israel, however, comes only in the early 14th century during the reign of Emperor Amda Seyon. During his reign, probably in early 1332, he mentions campaigns in the northwest provinces of Semien, Wegera, Tselemt, and Tsegede, where he sends troops to fight people "like Jews" (Ge'ez ከመ:አይሁድ kama ayhūd).^[6] It is these regions that would later go on to be areas of frequent Beta Israel rebellion against the Solomonic dynasty for the next three centuries. During this time period, however, religion was less important to the Emperors than loyalty, and rebellious Beta Israel leaders often formed alliances with other enemies of the Emperor despite differing faiths.^[6] The late 14th century Christian monk Qozmos, for instance, copied the Orit (Old Testament) for the Beta Israel communities and led them against local Christians before being defeated by Emperor Dawit I.^[6] Likewise, the 15th century governor of Tsellemt used both Jewish and Christian troops his revolt. The first personal campaign against rebelling Beta Israel areas didn't come until the reign of Emperor Yeshaq (r.1414-29), however. It was with his defeat of the governors of Semien and Dembiya that religious pressure began, as well as the conferral of lower social status upon Jews.^[6] Yeshaq forced them to convert or lose their land (which would be given away as rist, a type of land qualification that rendered it forever inheritable by the recipient and not transferrable by the Emperor), decreeing "He who is baptized in the Christian religion may inherit the land of his father, otherwise let him be a Falāsī," possibly the origin for the term "Falasha" (falāšā, "wanderer," or "landless person").^[6] Some of the worst massacres, attacks and forced conversions of the Christian kingdom^{[citation needed]} occurred in the 1400s, under Emperor Zara Yaqob, who even added the title "Exterminator of the Jews" to his name.^{[citation needed]} The Emperor (Geez ንጉሠ ነገሥት, , King of Kings) of Ethiopia was the hereditary ruler of Ethiopia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. ... Seyon one of the great swimmers to emerge from Sri Lanka. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh to refer to its canon, which corresponds to the Protestant Old Testament. ... Dawit I was negus (1382 - 1413) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... Yeshaq I or Isaac (throne name Gabra Masqal II) was negus (1414 - 1429) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ... Dembiya (Geez ደምቢያ dembÄ«yā; also Dembea, Dambya, Dembya, Dambiya, etc. ... Rist is a surname, and may refer to: Jeremy Alexander Rist, American economist, playwright, and lawyer Johann von Rist, German poet Pipilotti Rist, video artist Robbie Rist, American actor This page or section lists people with the surname Rist. ... Zara Yaqob (throne name Kuestantinos I or Constantine I) (1399 - 1468) was negus (1434 - 1468) of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonid dynasty. ...

In the 15th century, Abba Sabra, an archbishop of Coptic Christianity, chaplain of the court and tutor to the heir to the throne, converted to Judaism and fled with the heir and with his priestly disciples to the Jewish vassal kingdom of Gondar.^{[citation needed]} He and his followers were warmly received by Gondar's rulers and were allowed to continue their monastic life as Jews, settling near to Jewish villages and continuing to study sacred texts, so that they and those they won to their way of life became in subsequent generations learned celibate Jewish monks or hermits supported by local villagers, leading lives of prayer and study. Together with the priests who led ceremonies (who were not of any priestly lineage but were chosen for aptitude from village children), the monks maintained Jewish learning and traditions.

A woman of the Beta Israel, from a sketch in Lefebure's Voyage en Abyssinie.

1624 marked the end of Beta Israel autonomy in Ethiopia, when Emperor Susenyos confiscated their lands, selling many into slavery and forcibly baptizing others.^[7] Their writings and religious books were burned and the practice of any form of Jewish religion was forbidden in Ethiopia.^{[citation needed]} A great deal of traditional Jewish culture and practice was lost or changed as a result of this period of oppression. Nevertheless, the Beta Israel appear to have flourished during this period due to the presence of the capital of Ethiopia, Gondar, in Dembiya, surrounded by Beta Israel lands. They served as craftsmen, masons, and carpenters for the Emperors from the 16th century onwards, roles that were typically shunned as lowly and unhonorable as compared to farming.^[7] According to accounts by European visitors of that time, Portuguese merchants and diplomats, French, British and other travellers, the Beta Israel even numbered about one million persons in the 17th century.^{[citation needed]} These accounts also testify that some knowledge of Hebrew remained even in the 17th century. For example, Manoel de Almeida, a Portuguese diplomat and traveller of the day, writes that: Image File history File links Ethiopian_Jewish_woman. ... Image File history File links Ethiopian_Jewish_woman. ... Events January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa. ... Susenyos (also Sissinios, as in Greek; throne name Malak Sagad III; 1572 - September 7, 1632) was (1607 - 1632) of Ethiopia. ... Baptism in early Christian art. ... Overview of the city with Fasilides castle in the center. ... Dembiya (Geez ደምቢያ dembīyā; also Dembea, Dambya, Dembya, Dambiya, etc. ... Manuel de Almeida (1560—1646) was a native of Viseu, who entered at an early age into the Society of Jesus, and went out as a missionary to India. ...

"The Falashas or Jews are ... of [Arabic] race [and speak] Hebrew, though it is very corrupt. They have their Hebrew Bibles and sing the psalms in their synagogues."^[8]

How far, however, de Almeida actually knew the Ethiopian Jews firsthand must remain speculative: certainly they are not predominantly of the Arabic race, but he could easily have meant the term loosely or meant that they also knew Arabic. The Beta Israel lost these economic advantages, however, during the Zemene Mesafint, a period of recurring civil strife, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although the capital was still nominally in Gondar during this time period, the decentralization and dominance of regional capitals resulted in a decline and exploitation by local rulers, as there was no longer a strong central government that was interested in and capable of protecting them.^[7] The Jewish religion was also lost for some forty years during this period, before being restored by Abba Widdaye, the preeminent monk of Qwara, in the 1840s.^[7] Some historians date the murder of Iyasu I, and the resultant decline in the prestige of the dynasty, as the beginning of the Ethiopian Zemene Mesafint (Era of the Princes,) a time of disorder when the power of the monarchy was eclipsed by the power of local warlords. ... ...

Pre-modern and modern contacts with Jews elsewhere in the world

The earliest still surviving testimony to those hidden kingdoms comes down to us from the 9th century. In the last decades of that century a strange man visited the Jews of Kairowan in Tunisia, a man called Eldad son of Mahli, the Danite. Eldad the Danite, as he is often still referred to in Jewish histories, said he was the lone survivor of a shipwreck, escaped cannibals, and spoke of many other fabulous adventures he had had before arriving in Tunisia. He was of dark skin, spoke only a strange sort of Hebrew (and no Arabic), and claimed to be a Jew of a pastoralist tribe residing in the land of Havilah beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (the southern Sudan, most likely, but possibly Somalia). This tribe was made up of the descendants of the tribe of Dan, which had emigrated from Judaea at the time of Jeroboam's accession, after the death of Solomon. He said there were three other tribes with his, Naphtali, Gad and Asher, who had joined them in the time of Sennacherib (who laid waste the northern kingdom of Israel around 722 B.C.E.). Opposite them lived the Children of Moses, Bnai Mosheh, sprung from those Levites who had mutilated the fingers of their right hands rather than sing the songs of Zion by the rivers of Babylon, and chose instead to flee to the south. Eldad ha-Dani or Eldad HaDani or Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani was a merchant and traveler of the ninth century. ... Naphtali (Hebrew: נַפְתָּלִי, Standard Tiberian  ; My struggle) is the sixth son of Jacob and the founder of the tribe of Naphtali, first mentioned in the Book of Genesis and as described in the Hebrew Bible. ... Gad can refer to: Gad (see Gad Guard), a metallic cube artifact that figures prominantly in the anime Gad Guard Gad (Bible character), the sixth son of Jacob as related in Genesis 29 - 30 Tribe of Gad, one of the Hebrew tribes founded by Gad GAD as a three-letter... In the Book of Genesis, Asher (אָשֵׁר, Standard Hebrew AÅ¡er, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĀšēr) is a son of Jacob and Zilpah, and the founder of the Tribe of Asher. ... Sennacherib during his Babylonian war, relief from his palace in Nineveh Sennacherib (in Akkadian Śïn-ahhe-eriba (The moon god) Śïn has Replaced (Lost) Brothers for Me) was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (705 BC–681 BC). ...

Beta Israel (more probably Falashmura), making injera in Gondar, in 1996.

The Children of Moses lived beyond a river of grinding stones and so were impossible to visit, except on the sabbath day when the river ceased its grinding (strikingly similar to, if not a direct borrowing from the concept of Sambation). The tribes were pastoralists and mighty warriors, and were ruled together by a king assisted by a learned Torah judge-prophet. They did not know of the Talmud, but had their own traditions written down in Hebrew, which he displayed to the rabbis of Tunisia and Egypt. The rabbis corresponded even with a Gaon of Sura (in Babylon), and concluded that he was indeed a Jew and the differences of his practice from their own were legitimate forms of customary law for the Jews of Havilah. The variations from Rabbinic law that he practised and obeyed were still being cited by Rabbinic authorities as precedents in the early modern period. The use of Hebrew as his only medium of communication in the Muslim world and even a written sacred text in Hebrew giving details of ritual and other practices strengthen the likelihood that ancient Ethiopian Jewry knew Hebrew. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x760, 469 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Beta Israel ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x760, 469 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Beta Israel ... This meal, consisting of injera and several kinds of wat or tsebhi (stew), is typical of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. ... Begemder was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Gondar. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Talmud (Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ...

In the 16th century, the Chief Rabbi of Egypt, Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz) proclaimed that in terms of Halakha (Jewish legal code), the Ethiopian community was certainly Jewish. Throughout the 19th century, the majority of European Jewish authorities openly supported this assertion. // Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, also called Radbaz, was a Spanish Talmudist and cabalist. ... Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah with pronunciation emphasis on the third syllable, kha), is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1908, the chief rabbis of 45 countries made a joint statement officially declaring that Ethiopian Jews were indeed Jewish. This proclamation was in large part due to the work of Professor Jacques Faitlovitch, who studied Amharic and Tigrinya at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris under Professor Joseph Halévy. Halevy first visited the Ethiopian Jews in 1876. Upon his return to Europe, he published a "Kol Korei," a cry to the world Jewish community to save the Ethiopian Jews. He also formed an organization called Kol Yisroel Chaverim ("All Israel are Friends"), which was to actively advocate on behalf of Ethiopian Jews for years to come. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Jacques Faitlovitch (1881-1955), an Ashkenazi Jew born in Lodz, Poland, studied Ethiopian languages at the Sorbonne under Joseph Halévy. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Tigrinya (Geez ትግርኛ tigriññā, also spelled Tigrigna) is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people in central Eritrea (there referred to as the Tigrinya people), where it is one of the main working languages (Eritrea does not have official languages), and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia (whose... The École Pratique des Hautes Études is a university in Paris, France. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Joseph Halévy (born December 15, 1827 in Adrianople; died 1917) was a French Orientalist and traveller. ... Year 1876 Pick up Sticks(MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

Ethiopian enclave

A child of Beta Israel awaiting to make aliyah to Israel. Taken in Ethiopia, July 17, 2005.

Part of a series of articles on Jews and Judaism Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1728 pixel, file size: 1. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...           Who is a Jew? · Etymology · Culture Image File history File links Star_of_David. ... Image File history File links Menora. ... Who is a Jew? (‎) is a commonly considered question that addresses the question of Jewish identity. ... Look up Jew in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Secular Jewish culture embraces several related phenomena; above all, it is the culture of secular communities of Jewish people, but it can also include the cultural contributions of individuals who identify as secular Jews, or even those of religious Jews working in cultural areas not generally considered to be connected... Judaism · Core principles God · Tanakh (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim) Mitzvot (613) · Talmud · Halakha Holidays · Prayer · Tzedakah Ethics · Kabbalah · Customs · Midrash This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... There are a number of basic Jewish principles of faith that were formulated by medieval rabbinic authorities. ... At the bottom of the hands, the two letters on each hand combine to form יהוה (YHVH), the name of God. ... Tanakh (‎) (also Tanach, IPA: or , or Tenak) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ... The Torah () is the most important document in Judaism, revered as the inspired word of God, traditionally said to have been revealed to Moses. ... Neviim [נביאים] (Heb: Prophets) is the second of the three major sections in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), following the Torah and preceding Ketuvim (writings). ... Ketuvim is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). ... This article is about commandments in Judaism. ... Main article: Mitzvah 613 Mitzvot or 613 Commandments (Hebrew: ‎ transliterated as Taryag mitzvot; TaRYaG is the acronym for the numeric value of 613) are a list of commandments from God in the Torah. ... The Talmud (Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah with pronunciation emphasis on the third syllable, kha), is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ... A Jewish holiday or Jewish Festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. ... Jewish services (Hebrew: תפלה, tefillah ; plural תפלות, tefillot ; Yinglish: davening) are the prayer recitations which form part of the observance of Judaism. ... Tzedakah (Hebrew: צדקה) in Judaism, is the Hebrew term most commonly translated as charity, though it is based on a root meaning justice .(צדק). Judaism is very tied to the concept of tzedakah, or charity, and the nature of Jewish giving has created a North American Jewish community that is very philanthropic. ... // Jewish ethics stands at the intersection of Judaism and the Western philosophical tradition of ethics. ... This article is about traditional Jewish Kabbalah. ... Minhag (Hebrew: מנהג Custom, pl. ... Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi · Sephardi · Mizrahi Jewish ethnic divisions refers to a number of distinct Jewish communities within the worlds ethnically Jewish population. ... Languages Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, English Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. ... Languages Hebrew, Ladino, Judæo-Portuguese, Catalanic, Shuadit, local languages Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, other Jewish ethnic divisions, Spaniards, Portuguese. ... Languages Hebrew, Dzhidi, Judæo-Arabic, Gruzinic, Bukhori, Judeo-Berber, Juhuri and Judæo-Aramaic Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, other Jewish ethnic divisions and Arabs. ... Population (historical) · By country Israel · Iran · Australia · USA Russia/USSR · Poland · Canada Germany · France · England · Scotland India · Spain · Portugal · Latin America Under Muslim rule · Turkey · Iraq · Lebanon · Syria Lists of Jews · Crypto-Judaism Jewish population centers have shifted tremendously over time, due to the constant streams of Jewish refugees created by expulsions, persecution, and officially sanctioned killing of Jews in various places at various times. ... Jews by country Who is a Jew? 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One of the earliest dated references to the Beta Israel in Ethiopian literature is in the Glorious Victories of Amda Seyon, which mentions a revolt in the province of Begemder by "the renegades who are like Jews" in the year 1332.^[9] Seyon one of the great swimmers to emerge from Sri Lanka. ... Begemder was a province in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Gondar. ... Events November 7 - Lucerne joins the Swiss Confederation with Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. ...

The isolation of the Beta Israel was reported by an explorer James Bruce, who published his Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in Edinburgh in 1790. But in 1860, Henry Stern, a Jewish convert to Christianity traveled to Ethiopia in order to attempt to convert the Beta Israel to Christianity. Popularly touted as a "lost" tribe, the Beta Israel at first found many cultural barriers to assimilating in Israel. James Bruce (December 14, 1730 – April 27, 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) where he traced the Blue Nile. ... For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... Year 1790 (MDCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is...

It should be noted that there are many descendants of Ethiopian Jews whose ancestors converted to Christianity who are now returning to the practice of Judaism. This group of people is known as the Falash Mura. They are admitted entrance to Israel, although not as Jews, thus enabling the Israeli government to set quotas to their immigration and make citizenship dependant on Orthodox conversion. Although nobody knows for certain what the exact population is of the Falash Mura in Ethiopia many say it is roughly 20,000-26,000 individuals. However, recently some reporters and other travelers in remote regions of Ethiopia have noted that they have found entire villages where people claim they are Jewish or are Falash Mura (Jews who have been practicing Christianity).

In the Achefer woreda of the Mirab Gojjam Zone, roughly 1,000-2,000 families of Beta Israel were found. However, as of now, they have not petitioned to immigrate to the Jewish state. Yet there are estimates that there are other such regions in Ethiopia with significant Jewish enclaves, raising the total Jewish population to perhaps well over 50,000 people. Israel has approved the immigration of the Falash Mura at 300 a month although the Ethiopian Jewish community and its supporters have been petitioning to increase this to 600 a month in order to prevent the spread of disease and malnourishment amongst the Jews still waiting in Ethiopia. Achefer is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. ... Woreda (also spelled wereda) is an administrative sub-division, or local government, of Ethiopia, equivalent to a district. ... Mirab Gojjam (or East Gojjam) is a Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. ...

Religious traditions

The holiest work is the Torah — Orit. All the holy writings, including the Torah, are handwritten on parchment pages that are assembled into a codex. The rest of the Prophets and the Hagiographa are of secondary importance. The language of their holy writings is Ge'ez. The Torah () is the most important document in Judaism, revered as the inspired word of God, traditionally said to have been revealed to Moses. ...

Outside the Biblical canon, a number of the external writings — the books of Enoch, Jubilees, Baruch and the books of Ezra — are held sacred as well. The basic wording of Beta Israel Biblical writings was passed down apparently through the ancient Greek translations like the Septuagint^{[citation needed]}, which incorporates some of the Apocrypha as well. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The Beta Israel possess several other books, among these other books are the Arde'et, Acts of Moses, Apocalypse of Gorgorios, Meddrash Abba Elija, and biographies of the nation's forebears: Gadla Adam, Gadla Avraham, Gadla Ishak, Gadla Ya'kov, Gadla Moshe, Gadla Aaron, Nagara Musye, Mota Musye.

Ethiopian women at the Kotel in Jerusalem during Hol HaMoed (the week of) Passover.

A book of special importance for the leaders of the community is one dealing with the Shabbat and its precepts — Te'ezaza Sanbat (Precepts of the Sabbath). The leaders of the Beta Israel also read liturgical works including weekday services, Shabbat and Festival prayers, and the wordings of the various blessings: Sefer Cahen deals with priestly functions, while Sefer Sa'atat (Book of the Hours) applies to weekdays and Shabbat. The Beta Israel religious calendar is set according to a treatise known as the Abu Shaker, which was written around 1257 CE, and dealt with the computation of Jewish holidays and chronological matters. The Abu Shaker lists civil and lunar dates for Jewish feasts including Matqe' (New Year), Soma Ayhud or Badr (Yom Kippur), Masallat (Sucot), Fesh (Passover), and Soma Dehnat (Fast of Salvation) or Soma Aster (Fast of Esther).^[10] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1632x1232, 727 KB) Summary Ethiopian women at the Kotel during the week of Passover. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1632x1232, 727 KB) Summary Ethiopian women at the Kotel during the week of Passover. ... The wall by night “Wailing Wall” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ... Pasch redirects here. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Jewish holiday, (or Yom Tom or chag or taanit in Hebrew) is a day that is holy to the Jewish people according to Judaism and is usually derived from the Hebrew Bible, specifically the Torah, and in some cases established by the rabbis in later eras. ...

The Beta Israel have an interesting holiday, known as Sigd on the 29th of Cheshvan, which is unique to them. Sigd or Seged is derived from the Semitic root meaning "to bow or prostrate oneself." In the past the day was called Mehella, and the acts of bowing and supplication are still known by that name. It celebrates the giving of the Torah and the days of the return from exile in Babylonia to Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah. It is further stated in Beta Israel tradition that Sigd commemorates Ezra's proclamation against the Babylonian wives (Ezra 10:10-12). In Ethiopia the Sigd would take place on hilltops outside villages. The location was called by several names, including Ya'arego Dabr (Mountain for making prayers) and in Amharic Yalamana Tarrara (Mountain of Supplication). The Kessim draw a parallel between the choice of a mountain and Mount Sinai. Another source describes Sigd (calling it Amata Saww) as a new-moon holiday after which the Kessim withdrew for a period of isolation.^[11] The Kessim (plural of Kes) are the elders of the Beta Israel, also known as the Falashas, the Ethiopian Jews. ...

Social contact between the Beta Israel and other Ethiopians was limited, although not because of the laws of Kashrut that they followed, since all Ethiopians share the same food taboos. It was forbidden for Ethiopian Jews to eat the food of non-Jews and the Kessim were even more strict about the prohibition against eating food prepared by non-Kessim. In the past, Beta Israel who broke these taboos were ostracized and had to undergo a purification process, including fasting for one or more days and ritual purification before entering the village. Unlike other Ethiopians, the Beta Israel do not eat raw meat dishes like kitfo or gored gored.^[12] Look up kosher in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Kitfo (sometimes ketfo) is a dish consisting of raw beef eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Languages

The Beta Israel once spoke Qwara and Kayla, both closely-related Cushitic languages, but now they speak Tigrinya and Amharic, a Semitic language. Their liturgical language is Ge'ez; since the 1950s, Hebrew has been taught in schools. Qwara, or Qwareña (called Falashan in some older sources), is an Agaw language spoken by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) of the Qwara area, closely related to Kemant. ... KAYLA IS A FUCKING LOSER! ... The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... Tigrinya (Geez ትግርኛ tigriññā, also spelled Tigrigna) is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people in central Eritrea (there referred to as the Tigrinya people), where it is one of the main working languages (Eritrea does not have official languages), and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia (whose... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ...

Israel intervenes

Main article: Aliyah from Ethiopia

The Israeli government officially accepted the Beta Israel as Jews in 1975; Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin obtained clear rulings from Chief Sefardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that they were legitimate descendants of the lost tribes. They were however required to undergo pro forma Jewish conversions to Judaism, as is done in all cases of doubt, however slight. The aliyah of the Jewish Ethiopians began during the mid-1970s, during which most of the majority of the Jewish Ethiopians immigrated to Israel. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...   (‎, August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) was a Polish-Jewish head of the Zionist underground group the Irgun, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the first Likud Prime Minister of Israel. ... Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Hebrew: עובדיה יוסף) (b. ... Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religious identity, or a change from one religious identity to another. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Beginning in 1984, Israeli-led Operation Moses began transporting Ethiopian Jews to Israel. It came to an abrupt halt in 1985, though, leaving many of the Beta Israel still in Ethiopia. It was not until 1990 that the governments of Israel and Ethiopia came to an agreement that would allow the remaining Beta Israel a chance to migrate to Israel. In 1991, however, the political and economic stability of Ethiopia deteriorated as rebels mounted attacks against and eventually won over the capital city of Addis Ababa. Worried about the fate of the Beta Israel during the transition period, the Israeli government along with several private groups prepared to covertly continue along with the migration. With El Al obtaining a special provision to fly on Shabbat (because of the danger to life), on Friday, May 24, Operation Solomon began. Over the course of 36 hours, a total of 34 El Al passenger planes, with their seats removed to maximize passenger capacity, flew 14,325 Ethiopian Jews non-stop to Israel. Operation Moses, named after the biblical figure Moses, was the covert removal of Ethiopian Jews (known as Beta Israel) from Sudan during a famine in 1984. ... This article is about the year. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... For the long-distance runner, see Addis Abebe. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... is the 144th day of the year (145th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... An Airbus A340 airliner operated by Air Jamaica An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft with the primary function of transporting paying passengers. ...

Ethiopian Jews in Israel today

Ethiopian Israeli soldier in Nablus, in 2006, by David Bicchetti

Ethiopian Jews are gradually becoming part of the mainstream Israeli society in religious life, military service (with nearly all males doing national service), education, and politics. However, this transition has not been entirely smooth, and just as other groups of immigrant Jews who made aliyah to Israel, the Ethiopian Jews have faced obstacles in their integration to Israeli society. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated in greater Israeli society by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of the population and some among the official establishment.^[13] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 181 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Falasha soldier around Nablus April 2006 Author: David Bicchetti File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 181 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Falasha soldier around Nablus April 2006 Author: David Bicchetti File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects... Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ...

Furthermore, another study found that some of the problems with the absorption of the Beta Israel is due to the model of absorption chosen.

Planning for the absorption of Jewish immigrants to Israel has been dominated by a procedural approach, which has generally been insensitive to the particular circumstances and needs of minority ethnic groups. This approach has emphasised the `national interest’ as defined by the dominant group, namely Ashkenazi Jews who originated in Central Europe. The social and cultural traditions of other groups have been treated as `problems’ that need to be overcome, and minimal attention has been given to the processes of adaptation such groups undergo.^[14]

Most of the 100,000 Ethiopian Jews now living in Israel arrived in two main waves, the first in 1984 (about 33,000 people) and the second in 1991 (about 20,000 people) in two airlifts known as Operation Moses and Operation Solomon, respectively. (Although there had been individual Ethiopian Jews who lived in Eretz Yisrael prior to the establishment of the state, as well as a youth group that arrived in Israel in the 1950s to undergo training in Hebrew education and returned to Ethiopia to educate young Jews there. Also, Ethiopian Jews had been trickling into Israel prior to the 1970s, and the numbers grew larger after the Israeli government officially recognized them as Jews entitled to Israeli citizenship in 1973) These people arrived as a result of dramatic rescue operations prompted by civil war and famine in Ethiopia, within the context of Israel's national mission to gather Diaspora Jews from all over the world and bring them to the Jewish homeland. (At the height of the rescue, 19,000 people arrived in Israel from Ethiopia in a period of just 24 hours.)^[15] Operation Moses, named after the biblical figure Moses, was the covert removal of Ethiopian Jews (known as Beta Israel) from Sudan during a famine in 1984. ... Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel. ...

The State of Israel prepared itself for the absorption of Ethiopian Jews by formulating two `Master Plans’ (Ministry of Absorption, 1985, 1991). The first was prepared in 1985, a year after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants; the second simply updated the first in response to the second wave of immigration from Ethiopia in 1991. The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups including women, youths, and lone-parent families. Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach, assuming that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, formulated with the best of intentions and a firm belief in the underlying principles of absorption. However, as indicated in this section, the results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.[8]

According to a November 17th 1999 BBC article, a report commissioned by Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption stated that 75% of the 70,000 Ethiopian Jews that were living in Israel in 1999 could not read or write Hebrew and over half of the population could not hold a simple conversation in the language. Unlike Russian immigrants, many of whom arrive with job skills, the Ethiopians came from a subsistence economy and were ill-prepared to work in an industrialized country. Since that time much progress has been made, especially through military service where most Ethiopian Jews have been able to increase their chances for better opportunities.[9] For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Media:Example. ...

In September, 2006, the Israeli government's proposed 2007 budget included limiting Ethiopian immigration from 600 per month to 150; on the eve of the Knesset vote, the Prime Minister's office announced that the plan had been dropped. However, advocates for the Falash Mura noted that although the quota was set at 600 per month in March, 2005, actual immigration has in fact remained limited to 300 per month.^[16] Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... Type Unicameral Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Deputy Speaker Majalli Wahabi, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Members 120 Political groups Kadima Labour-Meimad Shas Likud Last elections March 28, 2006 Meeting place Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel Web site www. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Prominent Israelis of Ethiopian Jewish background

Qes Adana Takuyo was born in Seqelt and studied with the Qessim as a child. During the time of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, he had moved to Ambober where he worked as a farmer. He studied Hebrew briefly in 1955 when an Israeli Rabbi taught in Asmara. In 1985 Qes Adana immigrated to Israel along with his wife and eleven children, where his oldest son Rabbi Josef Adana who had immigrated earlier had become the first Ethiopian Jewish Rabbi.^[17]

In the 1920s, Yona Bogale was sponsored by Jacques Faitlovitch to study abroad. He spent two years in British Mandate Palestine, four in Germany, one in Switzerland, and one in France. After returning to Addis Ababa around 1930, he taught in the Faitlovitch school there. During the Italian occupation he went into hiding and worked as a farmer in Wolleka. After the war Yona Bogale worked for the Ethiopian Ministry of Education for twelve years and then for the Jewish Agency. Yona Bogale was the first leader of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel. ... Jacques Faitlovitch (1881-1955), an Ashkenazi Jew born in Lodz, Poland, studied Ethiopian languages at the Sorbonne under Joseph Halévy. ...

Yona Bogale was fluent in Hebrew, English, and German as well as Amharic. He was also an author of an early Hebrew-Amharic dictionary. He left Ethiopia in late 1979 and immigrated to Israel. Yona was an early proponent of Ethiopian Jewish praying in Hebrew instead of Ge'ez since he felt that it was no longer appropriate for those seeking to be a part of the modern Jewish world. He did feel though that the Ethiopian Jews should set Hebrew prayers to the traditional Jewish melodies.^[18] “Hebrew” redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ...

Rabbi Sharon Shalom is a lecturer in Jewish ritual and tradition at Bar Ilan University in Israel and a counselor for the Ethiopian-Israeli community in the town of Kiryat Gat.^[19]

Rabbi Yefet Alemu, who was born in 1961 in a small village in Ethiopia. In 1980, he left his village seeking to go to Israel. He was arrested in Addis Ababa and escaped from prison. He arrived in the Gondar region and then set out walking to Sudan. There he met a Jewish Red Cross director who arranged for him to fly on one of the Israeli organized secret flights to Israel. In Israel he studied and became a nurse.

At the same time, while continuing to be a believing Jew, he became disillusioned with organized Judaism and with the Israeli religious establishment's insistence on a conversion ceremony for all Ethiopian Jews. Yefet helped organize an Ethiopian protest vigil opposite the Chief Rabbinate building in Jerusalem. At the vigil, he met students from the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies who were studying to be Conservative rabbis. He was confused and surprised to see that they were without beards and without long black coats. The students replied that there was more than one type of rabbi, more than one way of being Jewish. Yefet excitedly embraced this pluralistic approach to Judaism. He was accepted by the Schechter Institute and after 6 years of hard work, he received a BA, MA, and his rabbinical ordination.^[20]

Ethiopian-Israelis have also been participating more and more in Israeli political life. The Atid Ekhad party sees itself as the political representative of the community, though other parties include Ethiopian members; in 2006, Shas, a party representing ultra-orthodox Jews of Sephardic and Middle Eastern background, in its list for the Knesset, included an Ethiopian rabbi from Beersheba, in a conscious attempt to represent diverse geographic and ethnic groups. Rabbi Mazor Bayana, rabbi of an Ethiopian community of 10,000 in Beersheba, learned at Yeshivat Porat Yosef, one of the most prestigious Sephardi yeshivot in Israel. Rabbi Bayana, however, ultimately did not win a seat in the Knesset. Atid Ekhad (Hebrew: עתיד אחד, One Future) is a political party in Israel. ... Shas (Hebrew: ) is an political party in Israel, primarily representing Ultra-orthodox Sephardi and Mizrahi Judaism. ... Haredi or chareidi Judaism is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. ... Type Unicameral Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Deputy Speaker Majalli Wahabi, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Members 120 Political groups Kadima Labour-Meimad Shas Likud Last elections March 28, 2006 Meeting place Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel Web site www. ... Hebrew   (Standard) Bəʼer ŠévaÊ» Arabic بِئْرْ اَلْسَبْعْ ( ) Name Meaning Well of the Oath(see also) Government City Also Spelled Beer Sheva (officially) District South Population 185,500 (Metro 531,000) (2005) Jurisdiction 54,000 dunams (54 km²) Mayor Yaacov Turner Beersheba (Hebrew romanization Beer Sheva), the largest city in the...

Shas was not the only party attempting to appeal to the Ethiopian vote. Herut and Kadima both had Ethiopians on their lists. Shlomo Mula, head of the Jewish Agency's Ethiopian absorption department, was ranked 33 on Kadima's list and Avraham Nagosa is number three on Herut's list. Kadima (Hebrew: קדימה, Forward) is a political party in Israel. ...

Adisu Massala of Labour and later One Nation is to date the only Ethiopian-Israeli to have served in the Knesset. This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... The Israel Labor Party (Hebrew: העבודה, Ha‘Avoda (Labor), officially מפלגת העבודה הישראלית, Mifleget Ha‘Avoda HaIsra’elit) is a center-left political party in Israel. ... Am Ehad (One Nation) is a political party in Israel. ... Type Unicameral Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Deputy Speaker Majalli Wahabi, Kadima since May 4, 2006 Members 120 Political groups Kadima Labour-Meimad Shas Likud Last elections March 28, 2006 Meeting place Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel Web site www. ...

Esti Mamo is an Ethiopian Jewish model. She is one of the first Ethiopian-Israelis to make it into the entertainment industry and is a budding actress. The first Ethiopian-Israeli model was Mazal Pikado in 1990. Esti Mamo (Geez: እስቲ ማሞ istī māmmō, Hebrew: אסתי ממו) is a leading Israeli fashion model[1] and budding actress. ...

Avraham Negussie is one of Israel's most prominent Ethiopian Activists and a member of the South Wing to Zion. His struggle, with the support of many other Ethiopian-Israelis has resulted in the Israeli government continuing to bring the last 23,000 Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia; though the Israeli government has set a quota of 300 Jews per month, half of what they agreed to under pressure from Negussie, NACOEJ and the United Jewish Communities.

Shas's spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, enthusiastically embraced Ethiopians when they first began immigrating to Israel four decades ago. Despite Rabbi Ovadia's halachic ruling, some refuse to marry Ethiopians without a conversion in accordance with official Chief Rabbinate policy. Only in cities and towns with rabbis that accept Ovadia's ruling or the ruling of Rabbi Shlomo Goren are Ethiopians married without immersion in a ritual bath (mikva) or, for men, hatafat dam, הטפת דם, see brit milah), the symbolic cut to produce a drop of blood instead of circumcision.[10] Set of implements used in the performance of brit milah, displayed in the Göttingen city museum Brit milah (Hebrew: בְרִית מִילָה [bÉ™rÄ«t mÄ«lā] literally: covenant [of] circumcision), also berit milah (Sephardi), bris milah (Ashkenazi pronunciation) or bris (Yiddish) is a religious ceremony within Judaism that welcomes infant Jewish...

Ethiopian Heritage Museum: Rehovot, Israel

Main article: Ethiopian Heritage Museum

A museum highlighting the culture and heritage of the Ethiopian Jewish community is to be built in Rehovot. The museum, planned as a research, interpretive and spiritual center, is the brainchild of Tomer, an association whose members are veteran Ethiopian immigrants and former Mossad agents who took part in the first operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. The Ethiopian Heritage Museum is a museum highlighting the culture and heritage of the Ethiopian Jewish community to be built in Rehovot, Israel. ... For the Haganah branch responsible for coordinating Jewish immigration into the British Mandate of Palestine, see Mossad Lealiyah Bet. ...

"The Jews of Ethiopia have a rich cultural heritage, and are the only Jews who strictly kept their Judaism although they were entirely cut off from the Jewish people," said Tomer chairman Moshe Bar-Yuda. "The museum will present Ethiopian Jewish culture to Israelis who are not familiar enough with it, and also to young Ethiopians who fall between the cracks - on one hand they are not connected to their parents' culture, and on the other, they sometimes find it hard to become part of the dynamic of life in Israel. When they see the ancient culture of their forbears, they will be filled with pride, and it will be easier for them to become part of veteran Israeli society."

Plans for the museum, expected to cost some $4.5 million, include a model Ethiopian village, an herb garden, an artificial stream, an amphitheater, classrooms and a memorial to Ethiopian Jews who died in Sudan on their way to Israel and Ethiopian Zionist activists. "We view the conservation of the past as very important and believe the museum will attract young people and adults alike," Rehovot Mayor Shuki Forer says. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Rehovot (Hebrew רְחוֹבוֹת ) is a city in the Center District of Israel, about 20 km south of Tel Aviv. ...

A large number of Ethiopian Jews make their home in Rehovot and surrounding towns, the reason for its selection as the site of the museum. The city has set aside six dunams, 1.5 acres, of land for the museum complex.

"All 21 members of the Rehovot City Council, both coalition and opposition, voted for the establishment of the center," says Abai Zaudeh, a council member and a member of Tomer's board of directors. "It's the first time they all agree and leave politics behind to focus on the reality that the establishment of the museum will assist the absorption of the Ethiopian community a great deal."

One of the museum's founders was Baruch Tegegne, who pioneered escape routes from Ethiopia via Sudan and fought for the right of Jews to emigrate to Israel. Other founders include veteran Ethiopian rights activist Babu Yaakov, a former member of the Ramle City Council, and Shetu Barehon, who worked in the transit camps in Sudan to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. A number of Ethiopian Jewish spiritual leaders and rabbis are also working to increase support for the project in the community and the Diaspora.

Bar-Yuda's long association with the Ethiopian Jewish community began in 1958, when the Jewish Agency asked him to go to Ethiopia to look for Jews, reaching remote villages. The report he prepared, along with a 16th Century ruling by Rabbi David B. Zimra, known as the Radbaz, was the basis for the 1973 ruling by then-chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef that the Jews of Ethiopia were to be considered Jews according to halakha (Jewish religious law).^[21] Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, also called Radbaz, was a Spanish Talmudist and cabalist. ...

Origins

Traditions of the Beta Israel

The Ethiopian legend described in the Kebra Negast relates that Ethiopians are descendants of Israelite tribes who came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, alleged to be the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (or Makeda, in the legend). The legend relates that Menelik, as an adult, returned to his father in Jerusalem, and then resettled in Ethiopia, and that he took with him the Ark of the Covenant. In the Bible there is no mention that the Queen of Sheba either married or had any sexual relations with King Solomon; rather, the narrative records that she was impressed with his wealth and wisdom, and they exchanged royal gifts, and then she returned to rule her people in Kush. However, the "royal gifts" are interpreted by some as sexual contact. The loss of the Ark is also not mentioned in the Bible. Kebra Negast (The Glory of Kings) is an illustrated book on the history of the Ethopian orthodox religion. ... Menelik I, first Emperor of Ethiopia, is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, Queen of Sheba. ... This article is about the Biblical figure. ... The Queen of Sheba, (Hebrew מלכת שבא , Arabic ملكة سبأ , Geez: ንግሥተ ሳባ Nigista Saba), referred to in the Hebrew scriputures (Old Testament), Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the New Testament, the Quran, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament). ... The Ark of the Covenant (ארון הברית in Hebrew: aron habrit) is described in the Hebrew Bible as a sacred container, wherein rested the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments as well as other sacred Israelite objects. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... This article is about the Nubian civilisation. ...

However, most of the Beta Israel consider the Kebra Negast legend to be a fabrication. Instead they believe, based on the 9th century stories of Eldad ha-Dani (the Danite), that the tribe of Dan attempted to avoid the civil war in the Kingdom of Israel between Solomon's son Rehoboam and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by resettling in Egypt. From there they moved southwards up the Nile into Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Jews are descended from these Danites. This tradition was made known to Rabbi Ovadiah Yare of Bertinoro who wrote a letter from Jerusalem in 1488: As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was the century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... Eldad ha-Dani or Eldad HaDani or Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani was a merchant and traveler of the ninth century. ... 10th century BCE: The Land of Israel, including the United Kingdom of Israel Commonwealth of Israel redirects here. ... For other uses, see Wine bottle nomenclature. ... The United Kingdom of Solomon breaks up, with Jeroboam ruling over the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in green on the map). ... Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro was a Jewish rabbi and a commentator on the Mishnah, commonly known as The Bartenura by Orthodox Judaism Talmud scholars. ...

I myself saw two of them in Egypt. They are dark-skinned...and one could not tell whether they keep the teaching of the Karaites, or of the Rabbis, for some of their practices resemble the Karaite teaching...but in other things they appear to follow the instruction of the Rabbis; and they say they are related to the tribe of Dan.^[22]

Other sources tell of many Jews who were brought as prisoners of war from Eretz Israel by Ptolemy I and also settled on the border of his kingdom with Nubia (Sudan). Another tradition handed down in the community from father to son asserts that they arrived either via the old district of Qwara in northwestern Ethiopia, or via the Atbara River, where the Nile tributaries flow into Sudan. Some accounts even specify the route taken by their forefathers on their way upstream from Egypt.[11] For the unrelated astronomer, see Ptolemy Ptolemy I Soter (367 BC–283 BC), ruler of Egypt (reigned 323 BC - 283 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. ... Nubia (not to be confused with Nuba a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa) is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan. ... ... The Atbara is a river in northeast Africa, which rises in northwest Ethiopia and flows about 805 km (500 miles) to the Nile in the east of Sudan. ... The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ...

Rabbinical views

Some Jewish legal authorities have asserted that the Beta Israel are the descendants of the tribe of Dan, one of the Ten Lost Tribes. This is supported by the medieval traveller Eldad ha-Dani. In their view, these people established a Jewish kingdom that lasted for hundreds of years. With the rise of Christianity and later Islam, schisms arose and three kingdoms competed. Eventually, the Christian and Muslim Ethiopian kingdoms reduced the Jewish kingdom to a small impoverished section. The earliest authority to rule this way was the Radbaz (Rabbi David ben Zimra, 1479 – 1573). Radbaz explains in a responsum concerning the status of a Beta Israel slave: This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah with pronunciation emphasis on the third syllable, kha), is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ... Tribe of Dan was also a band from the mid 1990s. ... It has been suggested that Israelite Diaspora be merged into this article or section. ... Eldad ha-Dani or Eldad HaDani or Eldad ben Mahli ha-Dani was a merchant and traveler of the ninth century. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, also called Radbaz, was a Spanish Talmudist and cabalist. ... Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, (Hebrew: דוד בן שלמה אבן זמרא) also called Radbaz (רדבז), was a Jewish Spanish scholar. ...

But those Jews who come from the land of Cush are without doubt from the tribe of Dan, and since they did not have in their midst sages who were masters of the tradition, they clung to the simple meaning of the Scriptures. If they had been taught, however, they would not be irreverent towards the words of our sages, so their status is comparable to a Jewish infant taken captive by non-Jews … And even if you say that the matter is in doubt, it is a commandment to redeem them.^[23]

In 1973 Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, then the Chief Sephardic Rabbi, based on the Radbaz and other accounts ruled that the Beta Israel were Jews and should be brought to Israel. He was later joined by a number of other authorities including the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi who made similar rulings. Rabbi Yosef further held, in contrast to some Ashkenazi rabbis, that the Beta Yisrael were not Mamzerim, and could marry just like other Jews. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Hebrew: עובדיה יוסף) (b. ... Mamzer (Hebrew: ממזר) in Halakha (Jewish religious law) is a person born of certain illegitimate relationships between two Jews. ...

Other legal authorities, primarily Ashkenazim, have maintained that the Jewishness of the Beta Israel is seriously suspect. Authorities who have also ruled this way include Rabbis Moshe Feinstein, Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Ashkenazi (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי, Standard Hebrew Aškanazi, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzî) Jews or Ashkenazic Jews, also called Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי&#1501... Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) Moshe Feinstein (1895 - 1986) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi and scholar, who was world renowned for his expertise in halakha and was the de facto supreme rabbinic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America. ... Rabbi Y.S. Eliashiv Yosef Shalom Eliashiv (יוסף שלום אלישיב), (b. ... Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach July 20, 1910 (23 Tammuz 5670)- February 20, 1995 (20 Adar 5755), was a renowned rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva. ...

In either case, some modern rabbinical authorities require the Beta Israel to undergo shortened conversions as a religious precaution. Among those who carry the latter opinion, however, conversion is no mere formality if an Ethiopian Jew wishes to be accepted within other Jewish communities.

DNA evidence

Gerard Lucotte and Pierre Smets in Human Biology (vol 71, December 1999, pp. 989 – 993) [12] studied the DNA of 38 unrelated Beta Israel males living in Israel and 104 Ethiopians living in regions located north of Addis Ababa and concluded that "the distinctiveness of the Y-chromosome haplotype distribution of Beta Israel Jews from conventional Jewish populations and their relatively greater similarity in haplotype profile to non-Jewish Ethiopians are consistent with the view that the Beta Israel people descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism." [13] This study confirms the findings of an earlier study by Avshalom Zoossmann-Disken, A. Ticher, I. Hakim, Z. Goldwitch, A. Rubinstein, and Batsheva Bonné-Tamir titled "Genetic affinities of Ethiopian Jews," published in Israel Journal of Medical Sciences 27:245 (1991).[14]. A study of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes of Jewish and non-Jewish groups titled Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June, 2000 suggested that "paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population," with the exception of the Beta Israel, who were "affiliated more closely with non-Jewish Ethiopians and other North Africans." [15]. These Y-chromosome studies only speak to the paternal lineage (some ethnic groups are a product of one maternal lineage and a different paternal lineage, see Métis people (Canada)), but a study of the Mitochondrial DNA [16] (which is passed only along the maternal lineage) shows that the most common mtDNA type found among the Ethiopian Jewish sample was present elsewhere only in Somalia, furthering the view of most that Ethiopian Jews are of local (Ethiopian) origin. The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ... For the long-distance runner, see Addis Abebe. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Métis (pronounced MAY tee, IPA: , in French or , in Michif ), also historically known as Bois Brule, mixed-bloods, Countryborn (or Anglo-Métis), are one of three recognized Aboriginal peoples in Canada. ... Mitochondrial DNA (some captions in German) Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria. ...

However, a study performed by the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University did find a possible genetic similarity between 11 Ethiopian Jews and 4 Yemenite Jews who took part in the testing. The differentiation statistic and genetic distances for the 11 Ethiopian Jews and 4 Yemenite Jews tested were quite low, among the smallest of comparisons that involved either of these populations. Ethiopian Jewish Y-Chromosomal haplotype are often present in Yemenite and other Jewish populations, but analysis of Y-Chromosomal haplotype frequencies does not indicate a close relationship between Ethiopian Jewish groups. It is possible that the 4 Yemenite Jews from this study may be descendants of reverse migrants of African origin, who crossed Ethiopia to Yemen. The result from this study suggests that gene flow between Ethiopia and Yemen as a possible explanation. The study also suggests that the gene flow between Ethiopian and Yemenite Jewish populations may not have been direct, but instead could have been between Jewish and non-Jewish populations of both regions.^[24] “Stanford” redirects here. ... Yemenite Jews (Hebrew: תֵּימָנִים, Standard Temanim Tiberian ; singular תֵּימָנִי, Standard Temani Tiberian ) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן, Standard Teman Tiberian ; far south), on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. ...

Scholarly view

In the past, secular scholars were divided on the origins of the Beta Israel; whether they were the descendants of an Israelite tribe, or converted by Jews living in Yemen, or by the Jewish community in southern Egypt at Elephantine.^[25] Some have conjectured, based on references in the Bible, that they could be remnants of an ancient Jewish community in the region. For example in the Book of Isaiah the author prophesies that "the Lord will bring back a remnant of his people...returning them to the land of Israel from Assyria, Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands" (Isaiah 11:11). In the Book of Zephaniah it is also prophesied that "from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering" (Zephaniah 3:10). Both books are believed to have been written during the 8th and 7th century BCE. Elephantine Island, showing the nilometer (lower left) and the Aswan Museum. ...

Modern scholars of Ethiopian history and Ethiopian Jews, such as James Quirin, Steve Kaplan, Kay Shelemay, and Harold Marcus, consider the Beta Israel to be a native group of Ethiopian Christians, who took on Biblical practices, and came to see themselves as Jews. As Paul B. Henze explains: An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ...

These groups came into conflict with the military colonies and Christian missions which were the main instruments of the extension southward of the Ethiopian state. They may have been joined by dissidents or rebelling northern Christians who felt their interpretation of ritual, sacred texts and traditions of art represented a more ancient Israelite connection than Orthodox Monophysite Christianity itself. The Beta Israel can thus be understood as a manifestation of the kind of rebellious archaism that has often come to the surface in Christianity -- e.g. Russian Old Believers and German Old Lutherans. Assertion of Jewish derivation, they felt, provided them with a stronger claim to legitimacy than their Christian enemies.^[26]

Monophysitism (from the Greek monos meaning one and physis meaning nature) is the christological position that Christ has only one nature, as opposed to the Chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human. ... The Old Believers (старове́ры or старообря́дцы) are a schismatic group of the Russian Orthodox Church. ... Old Lutherans refers to those German Lutherans who refused to join the Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church) in the 1830s and 1840s. ...

In fiction

Operation Moses was the subject of an Israeli-French film titled Va, Vis et Deviens (Go, See, and Become), directed by Romanian-born Radu Mihăileanu. The film is based on an Ethiopian Christian child whose mother forces him to pass off as Jew so he can emigrate to Israel along with the Jews in order to escape famine that is looming in Ethiopia. The film went on to get the 2005 best film award at the Copenhagen International Film Festival. Go, See, and Become or Live and Become or Va, Vis et Deviens is a 2005 film about an Ethiopian in Israel. ... Radu Mihăileanu (born 23 April 1958, Bucharest) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. ... [aaa]a[]aaaě—ğ×Ī§ʌSo last night I a 40 year old man was like talking to your like total hot moma. ...

Photos

• Ethiopian Jews in the Sigd ceremony
• Israel effectively shuts down southern Lebanon Photo caption: Relatives and friends of Staff Sgt. Moshe Malko Ambao cry during his funeral at the military cemetery in the city of Lod, Israel, on Tuesday.

See also

• Jews and Judaism in Africa
• Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)
• Yemenite Jews
• Bnai Ephraim
• Lemba

Since Biblical times, the Jewish people have had close ties with Africa, going back to Abrahams sojourns in Egypt, and later the Israelite captivity under the Pharaohs. ... Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan יהודים הבילד אל-סודן (Hebrew) describes West African Jewish communities who either had their connection with known Jewish communities from the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and Portugal. ... Yemenite Jews (Hebrew: תֵּימָנִים, Standard Temanim Tiberian ; singular תֵּימָנִי, Standard Temani Tiberian ) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן, Standard Teman Tiberian ; far south), on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. ... The Bnai Ephraim (Children of Ephraim) of Nigeria numbered in 1930 about 2000 people in 400 families in 20 small villages in the Ondo district of southwestern Nigeria. ... The Lemba or Lembaa are a group of people numbering 70,000 in southern Africa. ...

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (November 24, 1884, Poltava, Ukraine - April 23, 1963, Jerusalem, Israel) was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest serving Israeli president (1952 - 1963). ...

Related Sources

• Kaplan, Steve The Beta Israel (Falasha in Ethiopia: from Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century). New York University Press, re-issue edition, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4664-0
• Berhanu, Girma Learning In Context (An Ethnographic Investigation of Meditated Learning Experiences Among Ethiopian Jews in Israel). Goteborg University Press, 2001. ISBN 91-7346-411-2
• Leslau, Wolf Falasha Anthology (Translated from Ethiopic Sources with an introduction by Wolf Leslau). Yale Judaica Series, vol. 6. New Haven & London: Yale University Press 1951. ISBN 0-300-03927-1.
• Lyons, Len. "The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land." Jewish Lights Publishing. 2007. ISBN_13:978-1-58023-323-1.
• Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia. University of California Press, updated edition, 2002. ISBN 0-520-22479-5
• Quirin, James. The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews: A History of the Beta Israel (Falasha) to 1920. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8122-3116-3
• Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. Music, Ritual, and Falasha History. Michigan State University Press; 1989. ISBN 0-87013-274-1
• Aescoly, A.Z. Recueil de textes falachas: introduction textes Ethiopiens (edition critique et traduction). Paris: Institut d'ethnologie 1951.
• Aescoly, A.Z. Notices sur les Falacha ou juifs d'Abbyssinie, d'apres le journal de voyage d'Antoine d'Abbadie. Cashiers d'etdues africaines 2; 1961.
• Neugebauer, Otto. Ethiopic Astronomy and Computus. Vienna: Verlag der osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; 1979.

Wolf Leslau (November 14, 1906 - November 18, 2006) was a scholar of Semitic languages and one of the foremost authorities on Semitic languages of Ethiopia. ...

External links

• Ethiopian Jews site
• Collection of photos of Ethiopian Jews celebrating the Sigd Festival in Jerusalem
• Construction of Beta Israel Identity
• Jewish Encyclopedia
• The Jews of Ethiopia and their Names
• Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews
• Exile in Ethiopia
• Abstract of the Lucotte-Smets article.
• Marc Shapiro, "Return of a lost tribe." details the rediscovery of the Falasha.
• History of Ethiopian Jews
• North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry

African Jew has a variety of meanings: Scattered African groups who have not historically been part of the international Jewish community, but who claim ancestry to ancient Israel or other connections to Judaism and who practice Jewish rituals or those bearing resemblance to Judaism. ... This is an alphabetical list of the sovereign states of the world, including both de jure and de facto independent states. ... The Jewish community in South Africa is the largest in Africa, and, although shrinking due to emigration, it remains one of the most Orthodox communities in the world. ... A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State. ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ...