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. Under the provisions of Israel's Law of Return (1950), over 90,000 of them have emigrated to Israel, most notably during Operation Moses and Operation Solomon, but also continuing until the present time. A word or phrase is pejorative if it expresses contempt or disapproval. ... 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 of these attributes. ... The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ityopiya, Amharic ኢትዮጵያ) is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. ... The State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration: ; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ اِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Law of Return is Israeli legislation that allows Jews to settle in the State of Israel and gain citizenship. ... Events January January 5 - US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 - The United Kingdom recognizes the Peoples Republic of China. ... Operation Moses was an IDF military operation named after biblical figure Moses. ... In 1990, Ethiopia and Israel came to an agreement under which Ethiopian Jews would be allowed to leave under the auspices of family reunification. ...

Ethiopian enclave

The Beta Israel come from a Jewish enclave in the Ethiopian highlands which had no contact with other Jewish communities until the 1860s. 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 a Christian who converted from Judaism actually 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 acculturating in Israel. Download high resolution version (1024x1180, 21 KB)Created from Image:Wikipedia blue star of david. ... 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 of these attributes. ... For a discussion of Jews as an ethnicity or ethnic group see the article on Jew. ... Etymology of the word Jew: The name for the Jewish people in Hebrew is Yehudim (יהודים). ... Judaism is the Jewish religion, but Jews, religious or not, also form an ethnic group or nation. ... Jewish leadership: Since 70 AD and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem there has been no single body that has a leadership position over the entire Jewish community. ... 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... Jewish ethnic divisions: The most commonly used terms to describe ethnic divisions among Jews presently are: Ashkenazi (meaning German in Hebrew, denoting the Central European base of Jewry); and Sephardi (meaning Spanish in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish and North African location). ... This article is about the Ashkenazi Jews. ... In the strictest sense, a Sephardi (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Səfardim, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardîm) is a Jew original to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal: ספרד, Standard Hebrew Səfárad, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄áraḏ / Səp̄āraḏ), or whose ancestors were among the Jews expelled from... Mizrachi is also an organisation of the Religious Zionist Movement Mizrahi Jews or Oriental Jews (מזרחי eastern, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥi, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥî; plural מזרחים easterners, Standard Hebrew Mizraḥim, Tiberian Hebrew Mizrāḥîm) are Jews of Middle Eastern origin; that is to say, their ancestors never left the Middle East. ... Yemenite Jews (תֵּימָנִי, Standard Hebrew Temani, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānî; plural תֵּימָנִים, Standard Hebrew Temanim, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānîm) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן far south, Standard Hebrew Teman, Tiberian Hebrew Têmān), a nation on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. ... The Bene Israel (Sons of Israel) are a group of Jews who, in the mid-twentieth century, lived primarily in Bombay, Kolkata, Delhi and Ahmadabad. ... The number of Jews in the world is difficult to calculate, especially given the constant debates of the definition of Jew. ... The State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration: ; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ اِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. ... This article focuses on the history of Jews in the United States, which has the world’s largest Jewish population. ... Historical background As waves of anti-Jewish pogroms and expulsions from the countries of Western Europe marked the last centuries of the Middle Ages, a sizable portion of the Jewish populations there moved to the more tolerant countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Jews have lived in Germany and contributed to German culture for over 1700 years, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of anti-semitic violence, culminating in the Holocaust and the destruction of the Jewish community in Germany... This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia The history of the Jews of France dates back over 2,500 years. ... The history of Jews in the Americas dates back to Christopher Columbus, who left Spain to cross the Atlantic Ocean on the same day by which Spanish Jews were forced to either abandon their religion or leave the country. ... This article is about the history of the Jewish people in England; also see the related Jewish history article. ... The following is a list of prominent Jews from across the Jewish diaspora, with one example from each country and a link to a list for that country. ... Jewish languages: The oldest and most treasured books of the Jewish people have been the Torah and Tanakh (i. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... This article deals with the Judaeo-Spanish language. ... Dzhidi, or Judæo-Persian, is the Jewish language spoken by the Jews living in Persia. ... Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used to describe several Hebrew_influenced Aramaic and Neo_Aramaic languages. ... The Judæo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Arabic_speaking countries; the term also refers to more or less classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in medieval times. ... Jewish denominations: Over time, the Jewish community has become divided into a number of religious denominations, also called branches or movements. Each denomination has a different understanding of what principles of belief a Jew should hold, and how one should live as a Jew. ... Orthodox Judaism is one of the three major branches of Judaism. ... Conservative Judaism (or Masorti Judaism) is a denomination of Judaism characterized by: A positive attitude toward modern culture The belief that traditional rabbinic modes of study, and modern scholarship and critical text study, are both valid ways to learn about and from Jewish religious texts. ... Reform Judaism (also known as Progressive Judaism while in the U.K. Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism together make up Progressive Judaism) is a branch of Judaism characterized by: The belief that an individuals personal autonomy overrides traditional Jewish law and custom. ... Reconstructionist Judaism is a denomination of Judaism characterized by: The belief that an individuals personal autonomy generally overrides traditional Jewish law and custom, yet also holding that ones practices must take into account communal consensus. ... Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by reliance on the Tanakh as the sole scripture, and rejection of the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds) as halakha (Legally Binding, i. ... A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ... Labor Zionism (or Labour Zionism) is the traditional left-wing of the Zionist ideology. ... General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement. ... Revisionist Zionism is a right wing tendency of the Zionist movement. ... A Bundist demonstration, 1917 The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, in Yiddish the Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland (אלגמײנער ײדישער ארבײטרסבונד אין רוסלנד, ליטא אונד פוילן), generally called The Bund (בונד), was a Jewish political party operating in several European countries between... Jewish history is the history of the Jewish people, faith (Judaism) and culture. ... This entry contains a timeline of the development of Judaism and the Jewish people. ... Schisms among the Jews: First Temple era Based on the historical narrative in the Bible and archeology, Levantine civilization at the time of Solomons Temple was prone to idol worship, astrology, worship of reigning kings, and paganism. ... In compiling the history of ancient Israel and Judah, there are many available sources, including the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible), other Jewish texts such as the Talmud, the Ethiopian book of history known as the Kebra Nagast, the writings of historians such as Nicolaus of... The Jerusalem Temple (Hebrew: beit ha-mikdash) was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot. ... The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, is the name generally given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. ... The Hasmonean Kingdom (pronunciation) in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BC to 37 BC was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BC. Origin of the Hasmonean dynasty The origin of the Hasmonean dynasty is... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Pharisees (from the Hebrew perushim, from parash, meaning to separate) were, depending on the time, a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era (536 BCE–70 CE). ... The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Jews in the Middle Ages : The history of Jews in the Middle Ages (approximately 500 CE to 1750 CE) can be divided into two categories. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Islam and Judaism: This article is part of a series on Jewish history and discusses the history of Islam and Judaism, as they have interacted with other for 1200 years, from the seventh century up until the end... This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Haskalah (from the Hebrew word sekhel, meaning intellect) was the movement among European Jews in the late 18th century that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing secular knowledge, Hebrew language, and... Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust refers to Nazi Germanys systematic genocide ( ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II starting in 1941 and continuing through 1945. ... Main article: State of Israel. ... Persecution of the Jews deals with various persecutions that the Jewish people have experinced throughout history. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ... This is a partial chronology of hostilities towards or discrimination against the Jews as a religious or ethnic group. ... Main article: Anti-Semitism The term The New anti-Semitism was coined at the outset of the 21st century to describe waves of attacks around the globe directed at Jews, Jewish organizations, Israel, and Zionism. ... In human geography, an enclave is a piece of land which is totally enclosed within a foreign territory. ... The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ityopiya, Amharic ኢትዮጵያ) is a country situated in the Horn of Africa. ... Events and trends Italian unification under King Victor Emmanuel II. Wars for expansion and national unity continue until the incorporation of the Papal States (March 17, 1861 - September 20, 1870). ... See also James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin. ... Edinburgh viewed from Arthurs Seat. ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1860 is the leap year starting on Sunday. ... This article is about the religious people known as Christians. ...

Languages

The Beta Israel once spoke the Qwara language (Kayla), a Cushitic language, but now they speak Amharic, a Semitic language. Their liturgical language is Ge'ez; more recently they have adopted Hebrew. They consider the term "Falasha" pejorative, and today they prefer the term "Beta Israel" for themselves. Kayla or the Qwara language was used by the Beta Israel, or Ethopian Jews. ... The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... Amharic (አማርኛ) is a Semitic language spoken in Northern Central Ethiopia, where it is the official language. ... The Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia. ... Geez language - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ...

Israel intervenes

The Israeli government accepted the Beta Israel as Jews officially in 1975; Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin obtained clear rulings from Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that they were legitimate descendants of the lost tribes. They were however required to undergo pro forma halakhic conversions to Judaism. 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Prime Minister Menachem Begin Menachem Begin (August 16, 1913 - March 9, 1992) became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel in May 1977. ... Halakha (הלכה in Hebrew or Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish law, custom and tradition regulating all aspects of behavior. ... Religious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the converts previous beliefs; in some cultures (e. ... For a discussion of Jews as an ethnicity or ethnic group see the article on Jew. ...

"Operation Moses" came to an abrupt halt in 1985, leaving many Beta Israel still in Ethiopia. It was not until 1990 that 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. On Friday, May 24, Operation Solomon began. Over the course of 36 hours, a total of 34 El Al C-130 Hercules turboprop planes, with their seats removed to maximize passenger capacity, flew 14,325 Ethiopian Jews non-stop to Israel. 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Addis Ababa (Amharic new flower) is the capital of Ethiopia. ... May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ... In 1990, Ethiopia and Israel came to an agreement under which Ethiopian Jews would be allowed to leave under the auspices of family reunification. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Companies of Israel | Transportation in Israel | Airlines of Israel ... The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop aircraft, is the main tactical air transport aircraft of the United States and United Kingdom military forces. ...

Origins

Traditions of the Beta Israel

Ethiopian legend 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 Makida, in the legend). The legend relates that Menelik, as an adult, returned to his father in Jerusalem, and then resettled in Ethiopia. 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. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. ... Menelik I first Emperor of Ethiopia, traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and Makeda, Queen of Sheba. ... Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh, meaning peace) in the Tanakh (Old Testament), is the third king of Israel (including Judah), builder of the temple in Jerusalem, renowned for his great wisdom and wealth and power, but also blamed for falling away from worshipping the... The Queen of Sheba, referred to in the Bible, the Quran, and Ethiopic history, was the ruler of Sheba, which modern archeology places in present-day Yemen. ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλιος biblios, meaning book, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is a word applied to sacred scriptures. ... For the son of Rama and Sita from Indian epic of Ramayana, go to Kush (hindu). ...

However, the Beta Israel generally consider this 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. ( 8th century - 9th century - 10th century - other centuries) Events Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century Reign of Charlemagne, and concurrent (and controversially labeled) Carolingian Renaissance in western Europe Viking attacks on Europe begin Oseberg ship burial The... The Kingdom of Israel (Hebrew מַלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Standard Hebrew Malḫut Yisraʾel, Tiberian Hebrew Malḵûṯ Yiśrāʾēl) according to the Bible, was the nation formed around 1021BC from the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, who was given the name Israel, meaning Struggles With God. ... Rehoboam (ree-uh-BOH-um) was king of Judah, succeeding his father Solomon. ... Jeroboam (increase of the people), the son of Nebat an Ephrathite (1 Kings 11:26-39), was the first king of the break-away ten tribes or Kingdom of Israel, over whom he reigned twenty-two years. ...

Rabbinical view

Some Jewish halakhic authorities have asserted that the Beta Israel are the descendants of the tribe of Dan, one of the Ten Lost Tribes. In their view, these people established a Jewish kingdom which lasted for hundreds of years. With the rise of Christianity and later Islam, schisms arose and three kingdoms competed (probably others as well in Africa). Eventually, the Christian and Islamic 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, 1462–1572). A recent authority who has ruled this way is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in 1973. For a discussion of Jews as an ethnicity or ethnic group see the article on Jew. ... Halakha (הלכה in Hebrew or Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish law, custom and tradition regulating all aspects of behavior. ... The Tribe of Dan (דָּן Judge, Standard Hebrew Dan, Tiberian Hebrew Dān) is one of the Hebrew tribes, which the bible claims was founded by Dan, son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachels maidservant (Genesis 30:4). ... An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Bible. ... Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. ... Islam ( Arabic al-islām الإسلام,  listen?) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Other halakhic authorities have maintained that the Jewishness of the Beta Israel is seriously suspect. The earliest to do so was Rabbi Ya'akov Kastro, a student of the Radbaz (who had ruled that the Beta Israel were Jews). Most recent authorities have also ruled this way, including Rabbis Moshe Feinstein, Elazar Shach, Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) was an Orthodox Rabbi who was world renowned for his expertise in halacha (Jewish Law) and was the de facto supreme Rabbinic authority for the Orthodox Jewry of North America. ...

In either case, 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 Ethopian 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) [1] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10592688&dopt=Abstract) 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." [2] (http://www.ethioguide.com/aa-ethioguide/ethioguide/News_Archive/1299/origin%20of%20falasha_jews122399.htm) 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). [3] (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=2050504&dopt=Abstract) 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". [4]  (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769) DNA replication Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid which is capable of carrying genetic instructions for the biological development of all cellular forms of life and many viruses. ... The State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration: ; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ اِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Addis Ababa (Amharic new flower) is the capital of Ethiopia. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Scholarly view

In the past secular scholars were divided on the origins of the Beta Israel; whether they were the descendents of an Israeli tribe, or converted by Jews living in Yemen, by the Jewish community in southern Egypt (Elephantine), or even by the permanent Jewish community in Ethiopia implied in Isaiah 11:11 (ca 740 BCE). However, 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 in the 14th to 16th centuries, and came to see themselves as Jews. Marcus pinpoints their origins to the persecutions of the sabbatarian movement of Abba Ewostatewos (c. 1273–1352), the remnants of which he believes grew into the Beta Israel of today. These views also accord with the DNA evidence on the Beta Israel. The Republic of Yemen is a country in the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia, and is a part of the Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. ... Elephantine Island, showing the nilometer (lower left) and the Aswan Museum. ...

Photos

• Ethiopian Jews in the Sigd ceremony (http://www.pbase.com/yalop/sigd)

References

• Kaplan, Steve The Beta Israel (Falasha in Ethiopia: from Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century). New York University Press, re-issue edition, 1994. ISBN 0814746640
• Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia. University of California Press, updated edition, 2002. ISBN 0520224795
• Quirin, James. The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews: A History of the Beta Israel (Falasha) to 1920. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. ISBN 0812231163
• Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. Music, Ritual, and Falasha History. Michigan State University Press; 1989. ISBN 0870132741

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=13&letter=F)
• Falasha.org (http://www.falasha.org/)
• Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews (http://www.iaej.co.il/)
• Abstract of the Lucotte-Smets article. (http://www.ethioguide.com/aa-ethioguide/ethioguide/News_Archive/1299/origin%20of%20falasha_jews122399.htm)
• Marc Shapiro, "Return of a lost tribe." details the rediscovery of the Falasha. (http://www.worldandi.com/public/1988/april/cl2.cfm)
• History of Ethiopian Jews (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html)
• North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (http://www.nacoej.org/)