Beta Israel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beta Israel (House of Israel, Amharic ቤተ እስራኤል ) are Ethiopian Jews . They are also referred to with the word Falasha (German: Falaschen ), derived from ancient Ethiopian , which means emigrants, homeless people, outsiders or exiles and has a derogatory connotation. After being displaced several times, most of them live in Israel ; only a minority has remained in Ethiopia .

The Jewish village of Balankab in Ethiopia, from HA Stern, Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia London, 1862

origin

Synagogue in Welega , Ethiopia
Settlement area of ​​the Ethiopian Jews immediately before the wave of emigration

So far there is no consensus among historians on the origin of Beta Israel. The different opinions can be summarized under two basic positions, the Israelite immigration thesis and the Christian origin thesis.

Immigration from Israel

Queen of Sheba

According to the majority opinion of the Beta Israel itself, her ancestors were at the time of the Queen of Sheba - in Ethiopia she is called Queen Makeda , immigrated from Israel in the 10th century BC . The Ethiopian national epic Kebra Negast (Glory of the Kings), the written version from the 14th century, describes how Menelik I , the son of Queen Makeda, came from Ethiopia to visit his father Solomon in Jerusalem. On his return he was accompanied by a large retinue of Israelites, 12,000 men, whose descendants the Beta Israel consider themselves to be.

Immigration through Egypt

Following another theory, they migrated after the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in 586 BC. Chr. To Egypt from. From there they fled to Ethiopia via Elephantine , where the existence of a Jewish community could be proven.

Dispersion from Israel

Another hypothesis is that they belong to the tribe of Dan, one of the twelve tribes of Israel and came to Ethiopia as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the subsequent worldwide dispersion of the Jews . This is the official opinion of the Israeli government, which allowed the Ethiopian Jews to immigrate to Israel.

Apostasy from Christianity

The Aksumite kings were demonstrably adherents of a polytheistic non-Jewish religion before Ezana converted to Christianity around 333. Due to the lack of contemporary evidence, many historians assume that Beta Israel did not yet exist at that time. The formation of this religious and ethnic group can be traced back to the later apostasy of fundamentalist Christian groups who are unfaithful to the king. Proponents of this opinion continue to rely on the Kushite affiliation of the Agau languages Qwara and Kayla, formerly spoken by the Beta Israel . In addition, DNA analyzes do not reveal any particular proximity to Jewish population groups.

groups

The Beta Israel can be divided into three main groups, the Falashes, the Kemant and the Falaschamura .

Falaschen

The Falash practice an early form of the Jewish faith. They lived in the regions of Begemder and Simien north and northeast of Lake Tana , in the mountains of today's Amhara and Tigray provinces . The Falashes were subject to special taxes and were forbidden to buy or own land. So they tried to build their livelihood on leased land, supplemented by manual work such as carpentry, metalworking, pottery and weaving. The men of the Falashes mainly pursued their agricultural and handicraft activities, while the women took care of the upbringing of the children and carried out spinning, weaving and pottery. They were avoided by the Amhars and Tigray . Their language, the Qwara, is one of the Kushitic languages , and their Bible is written in the ancient Ethiopian language and is identical to that of the Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia . In north-west Ethiopia there existed until the end of the 15th century, apart from the Christian empire and temporarily subject to it, a kingdom of the Falashes .

The Falaschen were officially recognized by the Israeli rabbinate in 1975 as descendants of the Dan tribe , one of the ten lost tribes of Israel . This view was based in particular on rabbinical sources from the Middle Ages, and their cult practices corresponded to Jewish customs before the Talmud came into being . With this recognition they were able to immigrate to Israel under the law of return .

The Falashes celebrated neither Purim nor Hanukkah because historically they had already moved away from the center of Judaism before these festivals came up. After arriving in the State of Israel, most of Beta Israel observe these holidays. They have their own orally transmitted law, which in many ways resembles that of the Karaites . However, their elders or the priestly caste, the so-called kessim or qessotch , interpret the Halacha in a way that differs only slightly from what other rabbinical Jewish communities in other parts of the world practice. In this sense, the Beta Israel follow a tradition similar to the Talmud , although at times it is in conflict with the teaching and practice of other Jewish communities around the world. Today they are a community in the river and have already adopted many of the traditions of normative Judaism .

Kemant

The Kemant populate the area north of Lake Tana and are historically and ethnically closely related to the Beta Israel . Like the Falaschen, they are to be regarded as a caste of craftsmen, but their specialty is the construction of papyrus boats on Lake Tana. They have now given up their former pagan Hebrew religion in favor of Ethiopian Christianity. They are critically endangered and have melted down to a community of fewer than 300 members these days.

Falasha Mura

The Falascha Mura , whose name means Falascha, outsider and Mura, Maria, do not belong to the Falash family, but are regarded by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate as forced Christianized Falashians. They are of various origins, but ultimately claim to be descended from the Falashes . In the 19th century, they converted to Christianity partly voluntarily and partly under duress. These include in particular the tabiban (blacksmiths) scattered across the Shoah province .

The Israeli government decided in 2003 that every Ethiopian who can prove a connection to Judaism on his mother's side, even if it was many generations ago, can immigrate to Israel with his or her family. It was not until January 2005 that a concrete decision was made to bring all of the 20,000 or so Falascha Mura who remained in Ethiopia to Israel over the course of three years.

After immigrating to Israel , a facilitated conversion process to Judaism is carried out. It was controversial whether they should be granted Israeli citizenship, but some ultra-Orthodox Jews refused. The Falaschamura formed a strong group within the messianic Jews of Israel.

Since the Israeli state only allows the Falascha Mura to immigrate to a limited extent, there were just under 8,000 in Ethiopia waiting to emigrate to Israel by 2019.

In the Ethiopian state

Since Christianity spread to Ethiopia in the 4th century and became the state religion, the Jews have been persecuted. Some converted to Christianity to avoid persecution and abuse. Those who refused to convert to Christianity lost their land. They were not allowed to hold state or public offices. In response to their continued persecution, the Jews withdrew from the coastal areas to settle in the mountains of northern Ethiopia. In the mountains they had little contact with the outside world and rather lived in their own world.

During the Middle Ages, a Jewish kingdom existed in northwest Ethiopia until 1616. It was conquered by its neighbors, and with that began the decline of Beta Israel. At the beginning of the 18th century their number was estimated at 250,000; at the end of this era there were only 100,000.

With the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie on September 12, 1974, the situation of Beta Israel worsened. Around 2,500 Beta Israel lost their lives during the coup and another 7,000 were left homeless. During the socialist military dictatorship from 1974 onwards, the Beta Israel were also expropriated and integrated into agricultural cooperatives with a majority of non-Jewish residents. There were also many forced recruits into the Ethiopian army , including boys who were only twelve years old.

By 1985 the number of Beta Israel had shrunk to 25,000 people.

On April 22, 2018, Israeli Justice Minister Ajelet Schaked visited a synagogue in Addis Ababa. She promised to enable the remaining 8,000 Falaschamura to enter Israel quickly.

Return to Israel

requirements

The Falashes were recognized as Jews from the Dan tribe by the Egyptian Rabbi ben Salomon ibn Avi Zimra (Radbaz) in the 16th century . However, confirmation from rabbis from 45 countries did not take place until 1908.

Beta Israel was not recognized by the Israeli government as "official" Jews until 1975 after a decision by the Sephardic Rabbi Ovadja Josef . Accordingly, they were considered to be descendants of the Dan tribe, one of the ten lost tribes of Israel . This gave them the right to settle in Israel under the Return Act of July 5, 1950.

Practical implementation

Until 1977 only individual groups of Falashes came to Israel. Since 1977, the Israeli government under Menachem Begin has been intensively negotiating permission to immigrate. From 1977 to 1984 more than 8,000 Falashes came to Israel, some of them fled via Sudan or in exchange for arms deliveries to the Ethiopian government. Even so, the Ethiopian government banned the study of Hebrew and the kesim (i.e. religious leaders) were harassed and monitored by the government.

Operation brothers

Prime Minister Menachem Begin tasked Israel's intelligence service with saving the Mossad , the Ethiopian Jewish community, and bringing them back to Israel.

The Mossad agents built a holiday village on the Red Sea as a paradise for divers and tourists. They could now operate trucks and buses to bring real tourists to the “resort” alongside “Ethiopian tourists”, as well as the boats they needed to bring Jewish refugees across the Red Sea to Israel. The operation brothers was filmed in 2019 under the title "The Red Sea Diving Resort".

Operation Moses

Between November 21, 1984 and January 5, 1985, around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews left Sudan. They had fled there because of a famine. Presumably many more Beta Israel tried to flee to Sudan, but perished on the long walk from hunger and disease.

The flights allowed by Sudan were carried out in secret at night. When the story hit the media, some Arab states forced Sudan to stop the flights. Therefore about 1000 Beta Israel had to be left behind in Sudan.

Operation Joshua

During Operation Joshua, also known as Operation Sheba, around 500 Ethiopian Jews were subsequently flown to Israel from refugee camps in Sudan.

Operation Solomon

From 23-25 May 1991, 14,324 Jews were brought in another airlift within 35 hours and 25 minutes with 41 flights from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv . This airlift, which is still unique today, took place from the Ethiopian capital, which was surrounded by rebels . This increased the number of Beta Israel in Israel to 36,000.

From the province of Quara

The Jews from the province of Quara stayed behind during the repatriations because they were ruled by rebels and therefore they could not make the way to Addis Ababa. In 1999 the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea escalated, so that the already difficult situation of the Jews of Quara continued to deteriorate. Since no air traffic with Gondar was maintained in the country, the Jewish Agency organized buses to bring the Jews from Quara to Addis Ababa. Because of the flooding and the desolate road conditions, the refugees had a difficult journey to cope with. Nevertheless, the Jewish Agency managed to bring a total of 2,173 Jews from Quara to Israel in 37 days.

Operation pigeon wings

From November 2011 until August 28, 2013, a total of 7846 additional falashmura were brought to Israel in 93 flights organized by the government. In a refugee camp in the city of Gonder , they had been cared for and prepared for departure since 2012. Another 5000 Falaschamura were refused recognition as practicing Jews, so the immigration of the Falasch is supposed to be officially completed through the operation. A “right to return” as a Jew should only be examined within the framework of individually submitted applications for admission.

number

Alija from Ethiopia compared to total immigration
Year / period Immigrants from
Ethiopia
Total immigrants to
Israel
1948-51 10 687.624
1952-60 59 297.138
1961-71 98 427.828
1972-79 306 267,580
1980-89 16.965 153.833
1990-99 39.651 956.319
2000-04 14.859 181.505
2005-09 12,586 86.855
2010 1.652 16.635
2011 2,666 16.893
2012 2,432 16,560
2013 450 16,929
2014 213 24,120
2015 91 27,908
2016 43 25,977
2017 37 28,598
2018 208
Group of immigrants number
Before Operation Moses (1948–1984) 6,720
Through Operation Moses (1985) 7,500-8,000
Through Operation Joshua (1985) about 550
Through Operation Salomon (1991) 14,324
Falaschen from 1992 - 1997 10.092
Immigrants from Quara Province in 1999 2.173
Falaschamura (1998-2017) 38,242

In Israel

Formal conversion

Modern Beta Israel Synagogue in Israel

Rabbi Yosef decreed a pro forma - conversion to Judaism of all Beta Israel after their arrival in the State of Israel and a declaration of submission under the lifestyle of Halacha , or teaching and practice of Orthodox rabbinic Judaism . Many rabbinical authorities see conversion to Judaism not as pro forma but as real. The practice of Beta Israel differs considerably in certain areas from that of other forms of Judaism , since the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia mostly lived in ignorance of the Talmud .

integration

After their arrival the long process of acceptance and integration into Israeli society began. The Beta Israel seemed strange to some Israelis because of their strict religious rites, the foreign language and the dark skin. The Falashes also felt strange in Israel and had great difficulties living in and with a completely different society. Many had been farmers, had lived in shabby huts and knew neither electricity nor running water.

The social and cultural barriers were difficult to overcome for many, and so today they often live under socially disadvantaged and sometimes discriminatory conditions, mostly in cities, especially Netanya , Haifa , Jerusalem , Beersheba , Rechovot , Ashdod , Ashkelon and Kirjat Mal'achi .

After their arrival, the female Beta Israel were given hormone injections without education and sometimes against their will, so that fewer women among them would give birth to children; the birth rate thus fell rapidly. In 1996 the daily Maariv reported that the Magen David Adom , who is also responsible for blood donation services, destroyed all blood donations from Ethiopian Jews over several years or refused to accept blood donations from Jews in Africa.

Some of the young Falashes conformed to the prevailing form of Orthodox Judaism in Israel , while others oriented themselves to the secular lifestyle in Israel. Older Falashes and especially the Kessim , despite the formal adoption of "normative" Judaism, continue to insist on maintaining their own form of Judaism, as practiced in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

With the generation change, the differences between the Ethiopian Jews and the Israelis become smaller. Consequently, their incorporation is also a matter of time.

On June 30, 2008, the Knesset officially adopted the Sigd Festival as a public holiday for Ethiopian Jews. The holiday commemorates the reception of the Torah on Mount Sinai on the 29th day of the Jewish month of Cheshvan .

The State of Israel officially recognized the Kessim on February 19, 2018, allowing them to participate in the state's religious bodies. In this way, they can stand up for the interests of their faith group, carry out marriages and seal divorces.

High priest

Raphael Hadane

Raphael Hadane is the Liqa Kahenat, the current high priest of Beta Israel in Israel.

Ethiopian Heritage Museum

In 2009, plans were presented in Rechovot to establish an Ethiopian Museum of Local History dedicated to the heritage and culture of the Ethiopian Jewish community. The museum will include a model of an Ethiopian village, an artificial stream, a garden, classrooms, an amphitheater and a memorial to Ethiopian Zionist activists and Ethiopian Jews who died en route to Israel.

Demographics

year 2010 2015
In Israel 120,000 135,000
In Ethiopia

Source: 2010; 2015

people

See also

literature

  • Carol Beckwith, Angela Fisher, Graham Hancock : African Ark. Peoples of the Horn. Collins-Harvill, London 1990, ISBN 0-00-272780-3 (Chapter II: The Heavenly World Gondar: the Falasha and Amahara. ).
  • EA Wallis Budge : The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menyelek . Oxford University Press et al., London 1932.
  • Daniel Friedmann : Les enfants de la reine de Saba. Les Juifs d'Ethiopie (Falachas). History, exode and integration. Éditions Métailié, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-86424-185-4 .
  • Frederic C. Gamst: The Qemant. A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York NY et al. 1969.
  • Friedrich Heyer : The Falascha in Israel. In: Church and School in Ethiopia. No. 50, 1997, ISSN  1615-3197 , p. 10.
  • Steven Kaplan: The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia. From earliest Times to the Twentieth Century. New York University Press, New York NY et al. 1992, ISBN 0-8147-4625-X .
  • David Kessler: The Falashas: A Short History of the Ethiopian Jews. 3rd, revised edition. Cass, London et al. 1996, ISBN 0-7146-4646-6 .
  • Veronika Krempel: The social and economic position of the Falascha in the Christian-Amharic society of Ethiopia. Berlin 1972, (Berlin, Free University, dissertation, 1972).
  • Wolf Leslau : Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1991, ISBN 3-447-02592-1 .
  • Edith Ochs, Bernard Nantet: Les Falasha. La tribu retrouvée. Editions Manya, Levallois-Perret 1992, ISBN 2-87896-042-4 (later as: À la découverte des Falasha. Le voyage de Joseph Halévy en Abyssinie (1867) (= Petite bibliothèque Payot. 351). Payot et Rivages, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-228-89191-6 ).
  • James A. Quirin: Beta Israel. In: Dan Diner (ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture. (EJGK). Volume 1: A-Cl. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-476-02501-2 , pp. 299-302.
  • Tudor Parfitt, Emanuela Trevisan Semi (Ed.): The Jews of Ethiopia. The Birth of an Elite. Routledge, London et al. 2005, ISBN 0-415-31838-6 .
  • Carl Rathjens : The Jews in Abyssinia. Gente, Hamburg 1921, ( digitized version ).
  • Richard Chaim Schneider , Esaias Baitel: The forgotten trunk. The Ethiopian Jews and their history. Brandstätter, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-85447-588-8 .

Movies

Web links

Commons : Beta Israel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Falasche  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leslau, Dictionary , 160.
  2. Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The challenges in the integration of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel, page 3. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  3. a b c Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The challenges in the integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, page 4. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  4. ^ Budge, Queen of Sheba , n ° 38-55.
  5. ^ Kaplan, Beta Israel , pp. 14-32.
  6. Kaplan, Beta Israel , pp. 63-65, 77-78.
  7. Kessler, Falashas , pp. 9-57.
  8. ^ Kaplan, Beta Israel , pp. 24-26; Kessler, Falashas , XXI-XXIV, 74, 85, 161.
  9. Gamst, Qemant , pp. 29-43.
  10. The History of the Ethiopian Jewish Community. In: Ebenezer Aid Fund Germany eV Retrieved on August 2, 2019 .
  11. Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The challenges in the integration of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  12. Ratjens, Juden , 92.
  13. The History of the Ethiopian Jewish Community. In: Ebenezer Aid Fund Germany eV Retrieved on August 2, 2019 .
  14. Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The Challenges in Integrating Ethiopian Jews in Israel, page 5. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  15. a b c d Ethiopia Virtual Jewish Tour . In: Jewish Virtual Library . American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise , accessed December 4, 2018 .
  16. Getting Ethiopian Jews to Israel quickly In: israelnetz.de. Israelnetz , April 23, 2018, accessed April 30, 2018.
  17. Kessler, Falashas , 22.
  18. Nissim Mischal: Mossad: Missions of the Israeli Secret Service . Bastei Entertainment, 10 September 2015, ISBN 978-3-7325-1379-6 , p. 494–.
  19. ^ The Red Sea Diving Resort , Netflix. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  20. The History of the Ethiopian Jewish Community. In: Ebenezer Aid Fund Germany eV Retrieved on August 2, 2019 .
  21. ^ Total Immigration from Ethiopia (1948 – present). In: Jewish Virtual Library .de, English. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .
  22. ^ Total Immigration from Ethiopia (1948 – present). In: Jewish Virtual Library .de, English. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .
  23. Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The challenges in the integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, page 16. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  24. Sarah Eichhorn: Beta Israel - The Challenges in Integrating Ethiopian Jews in Israel, page 15. In: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Stuttgart eV Accessed on August 2, 2019 .
  25. Israelnetz.de from February 20, 2018: Government recognizes heads of Ethiopian Jews
  26. Jews from Ethiopia celebrate Sigd festival. Israelnetz.de , November 26, 2019, accessed on December 28, 2019 .
  27. Israelnetz.de from February 20, 2018: Government recognizes heads of Ethiopian Jews
  28. ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics : The Ethiopian Community in Israel.
  29. Israelnetz.de from February 20, 2018: Government recognizes heads of Ethiopian Jews
  30. film start. In: Filmstart.de. Retrieved August 1, 2019 .