Falashas

The Falashas (guèze ፈላሻ, Hebrew פלאשים), or Beta Israel (ቤተእስራኤል, Hebrew ביתאישראל), or Bétä Esraél are the Juifs of Ethiopia.

Falasha means in Amharique, “exiled” or “immigrants”. Seldom used by the Jews of Ethiopia, which employ Beta Israel rather (the “house of Israel”, within the meaning of the “family of Israel”), he is generally regarded as disparager. Since immigration in Israel, the term Beta Israel tends to being replaced, in Israel and within the community itself, by “Jews of Ethiopia”. One also finds, according to the areas of Ethiopia, the terms Kayla (of always discussed etymology) and will esra' elawi (Jew).

The Beta Israel have a badly defined origin. They lived during centuries in the North of Ethiopia, in particular the provinces of the Gondar and the Tigré. After having profited from small independent States until the 17th century, they were conquered by the empire of Ethiopia, and became a marginalized minority, to which it was interdict to have grounds, and marked to have the “evil eye”.

They return in contact with the Western Judaïsme at the end of the 19th century. As from the beginning of the 20th century, an in-depth redefinition of the identity of the community is done day, and leads it to regard itself from now on Jewish, and more only as Beta Israel . This evolution reduces strong original religious particularisms gradually and brings the religion closer to the Beta Israel of the orthodoxe Judaïsme.

In 1975, the Israeli government recognizes judaïté of the Beta Israel . Those then will carry out a difficult emigration towards Israel in the years 1980 and 1990. In 2005, they are approximately: 105000 in Israel.

Religion

The religion is central in the definition of the specific identity Beta Israel , as well with respect to the other Ethiopian ones as of the others Juif S. description below was valid in Ethiopia, but evolves/moves quickly in Israel.

The religion of the Falashas was based on the same version of the Pentateuque as that which used the Ethiopian Christians, written in Guèze, the liturgical Langue of the latter. In addition to the five books of the Pentateuque, their version of the Bible includes/understands the “books suitable for the Greek Seventy (Tobie, Judith, the Siracide), as well as the book of Hénoch and the Livre of the Jubilees”. The version of the Seventy has some differences with the current Hebraic gun. They did not use Hebrew Pentateuque in , language which they did not know besides until the 20th century. Joseph Halévy reports besides that the Falashas of 1868 bought sometimes Christian Bibles which they erased for in expurger Christian formulas. At the side of Pentateuque, one also found “a vast literature crowned in Guèze”, partly of Christian, but expurgée origin. All the rabbinical literature, in particular the Talmud, was ignored.

The Beta Israel did not practice Jewish holidays of which it is not made mention in their version of the Bible, like Hanoucca , Pourim , the Jeûne of Guedaliah or Sim' hat Torah . They practiced on the other hand the festivals of Passover, of the Harvest, the fast of Ab ( Tisha Beav ), the fast of Esther, the New year, the Grand Forgiveness, the Tabernacles. The Beta Israel had finally specific festivals: Arfeasärt , Injured and especially the Segd .

The practices of purity were appreciably more strict than in the orthodoxe Judaïsme. There existed thus “huts of blood”, where the woman was to isolate herself during her rules, period of impurity. There existed also “huts of birth” where the woman was to isolate herself 40 days after the birth from a boy, and 80 days after that of a girl. The men in charge of a burial were to remain isolated 7 days and to purify before returning in the village. Lastly, after any contact with people external at the community, a Beta Israel was to be subjected to ceremonies of purification to be reinstated in the group. This command of physical avoidance had as a name attenkuňň (“do not touch me”).

The communities Beta Israel did not have a Synagog nor of Rabbin. Their place of worship was called masgid . The bible there was read, and one sacrificed the paschal lamb to it (biblical habit given up by the other Jewish communities). The officiant was the Qes or Qés or Kés (Prêtre), sometimes assisted of a will däbtära or awäddach (cantor), a clerk well-read man not having received the priesthood. Although there is no central religious leader, there exists some telleq kahen (large priest) with a particular regional weight. Until the 20th century, the community Beta Israel had an important tradition monacale, probably borrowed from the monachism of the Christians of Ethiopia. This institution disappeared in second half of the 20th century, and there is no more Moine S Beta Israel . Lastly, the communities Beta Israel did not use the star of David, this one being a symbol of the Christian royalty (the Negus indeed affirmed to go down from Solomon).

The “Jewish” term ( Ayoud in Amharique) was not unknown Ethiopian company, but it seems to be more used (punctually) by their Christian entourage that by the Beta Israel themselves.

Religious specificities Beta Israel were fought throughout the 20th century by the Juifs representatives in Ethiopia, and did not cease regressing with the profit of the practices of the rabbinical Judaism, but without disappearing. In Israel, under the influence of the orthodoxe Judaism, their characteristics seem very threatened, in spite of a certain resistance of the old practices. See from this point of view the chapter “integration in Israel”.

Origins

The origin of the Beta Israel is obscure: the history of the Ethiopian populations is badly known between the 5th century and 12th century because the empire of Ethiopia practically did not preserve any text of this period.

The traditions Beta Israel

The Beta Israel themselves have two principal traditions concerning their origins. According to the first, “most widespread in the oral tradition”, the Beta Israel would go down from the Israélite S having accompanied the prince Ménélik, wire of the King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba when it brought the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia, at the 10th century before Jesus-Christ. One can note that this tradition is narrowly connected to the legend of the Christians of Ethiopia concerning the Ark of the Covenant. It is perhaps a adaptation.
The second tradition makes Beta Israel the descendants of the tribe Jew of daN, one of the “Ten lost tribes of Israel” (off-set by the Assyrian into -722 before Jesus-Christ). In Israel, this second tradition tends to becoming dominant, undoubtedly because it is that officially accepted by great Israeli rabbinate in 1973 (cf will infra).

One finds also traditions less widespread and which tend today to disappear from the oral tradition Beta Israel . It is for example the assumption according to which the Falashas would go down from a group of Hebrew having refused to follow Moïse at the time of the exit of Egypt. To the 19th century, a large priest had reported a tradition, which seems disappeared today, according to which the Falashas would be Ethiopian converts by Moïse at the time of an old visit in Ethiopia. Another tradition makes go up the Jewish presence in Ethiopia with the escape of Israélite S after the catch of Jerusalem into -587 by the Babylonian S.

One can retain these various traditions two things. On the one hand that the Beta Israel are regarded as the descendants of Hebrew, and other share whom they do not have a clear and single perception bond between themselves and their supposed ancestors.

Textual sources

Until the 5th century, the textual sources indicate the presence of a Jewish community in Ethiopia, as in other bordering countries of the Red Sea besides. In 327, for example, Physostorgios mentions the opposition of the Jews during conversion to the Christianity of the kingdom of Abyssinie. These Jews are not named “ Beta Israel ” and nothing indicates that they had specific rites.

As from the 12th century, the textual sources, indicate the existence of Beta Israel , but do not speak any more a presence of Jews practitioner the traditional religion. In the Kebra Nagast , an Ethiopian text of the 13th century, it is made to allusion to Yodit (Judith) a Jewish queen. The first relatively clear reference concerning the Beta Israel date only of the 14th century, in a text named the glorious victories of Amda-Syon . During the reign of this Christian king (1314-1344), probably at the beginning of 1332, campaigns in the areas of the North-West of Semien, Wegera, Tsellemt, Tsegedé and Bégemder (or Gondar) “renegades are mentioned against who are like Jews” (in Guèze: kama ayhud ).

A Christian monk of the 14th century, Zena Marqos, nephew of the king Yekouno Amlak (1270-1285) wrote a rather precise report of the history and religion of the Beta Israel , obtained from a single source, a convert. This one states in particular that the Falashas came in the country with Ménélik I {{er}}, wire of the Queen of Sheba and of the King Solomon, that they know the Bible but do not believe in the childbirth of the Christ by Marie.

Two families of assumptions are advanced by the historians for the appearance of the communities Beta Israel .

The Jewish assumption

The Beta Israel would have appeared on the basis of core Juif present in the Ethiopia of before the 5th century. This core would have widened by mixed marriage and conversion. Those had to be either important, or the original Jewish community was already largely Ethiopian, since studies on DNA of the Ethiopian populations took place not showing any genetic specificity of the Beta Israel compared to the other Ethiopian populations.

The presence of Jews in Ethiopia at the 5th century, before the drying up of the documentary sources, militates in favor of this assumption.

At the 17th century, Manoel de Almeida, a Portuguese diplomat and traveller, wrote (in its history of high Ethiopia or Abassia ): “Falashas, or Jews, is of spoken Arabic race Hebrew, although it is very corrupted. They have their Hebraic bibles and sing the psalms in their synagogs”. If this report/ratio is exact, the permanence of a knowledge of the Hebrew at the 17th century militates in favor of an older knowledge, and thus of a Jewish contribution come from outside. One can however note that the assertion of Manoel de Almeida according to which the Beta Israel are of “Arab race” is obviously erroneous, which raises question as for the validity of its sources and its testimony.

The Christian assumption

According to this assumption, the Beta Israel would be resulting from Christian groups Fondamentaliste S regarding as authentic only the Pentateuque and rejecting the remainder of the Bible, in particular the New Testament. A rejection of the dominant religion would have been facilitated by the refusal of the imperial capacity by the populations of North, legitimate power by the religion copte.

Several elements corroborate this assumption:

  • character already very judaïsant Ethiopian Christianity copte: respect of the food Shabbat, Circumcision, interdicts, presumedly Jewish origin of the Christian dynasty. This strong legitimation of the Old Testament perhaps encouraged some to relativize then to reject the New Testament.
  • the Christian origin of the version of Pentateuque used by the Beta Israel , and the use of the Guèze like liturgical language,
  • the absence of the traditional name Jewish, certain Jewish holidays, as well as the absence of the traditional Jewish symbols like the star of David,
  • the presence of Monk S, Priest S ( Kés ), and not of Rabbi S,
  • the absence of Synagog S, replaced by masgid (temples),
  • later conversions of Christians to the faith of the Beta Israel , attested by the Christian texts. These conversions show a certain attractivity of the Beta Israel on the Christians, which does not mean obligatorily that the first Beta Israel came from the Christian mediums.
  • the genetic studies, which do not show bonds between the Beta Israel and the other Jewish communities, but insist on the genetic similarity with the local populations. However, if the genetics shows the local origin of the populations Beta Israel , it does not slice as for the origin of their religion: conversion by Jews or car conversion.

In the absence of formal evidences, the two assumptions remain.

Old story

The history of the Beta Israel becomes really accessible by the texts only as from the 14th century. It is important to stress that it is primarily through Christian texts that the events of the time are known, which poses obviously the problem of exhaustiveness and the neutrality of the sources. In spite of this reserve, these texts make it possible to break up the history of the Beta Israel into three periods.

The gradual loss of independence - 14th century at 1624

The Ethiopian texts present one long period of war between the empire of Ethiopia and the small States independent of North. Those were Beta Israel , Christians, Moslem or pagan, generally speaking about the languages Agäw. The imperial push was not thus done solely against the Beta Israel .

There is not at that time only one State Beta Israel in North, but a whole of small kingdoms, which one knows only little thing besides. The Ethiopian chronicles paint the picture of a community Beta Israel relatively open on its Christian environment. They indeed bring back rather many conversions of Christians to the religion of the Beta Israel , which states at the same time that those had a certain proselyte activity, and in addition that this one met a certain success. It was posed as assumption that part of this success was explained by the will of a certain number of Christians of North to escape the imperial supervision. It is thus at the 15th century that a monachism Beta Israel is organized by Abba Sabra, a former Christian monk. The monachism Beta Israel seems to be older, but it is well Abba Sabra which gave him all its importance. One also notes that many Christian liturgical elements penetrate the religion Beta Israel , after “to be purified” their Christian aspects, undoubtedly always under the influence of the converts.

In spite of this attractivity, the Beta Israel do not cease losing ground vis-a-vis the imperial troops. At the beginning of the 15th century, the king Yeshaq I {{er}} of Ethiopia issues “that which is baptized in the Christian religion can inherit the ground of its ancestors; if not, that it is a falasi ” (wandering, exiled). The term does not indicate only the Beta Israel , but all nonthe Christians. In the long term, it indicates nothing any more but the Beta Israel . By losing the right to have ground in the zones conquered by the empire, those are transformed gradually into a class of peasants without ground, working the fields of large feudal. Many massacres and more or less forced or voluntary conversions (according to the places and the times) are reported, and the population Beta Israel strongly seems to decrease as of this period, starting from an original population estimated in a very approximate way at: 500000 people. The Agäw languages also start to regress with the profit of the Amharique.

Integration with the empire - 1624-1769

In 1624, the last independent Beta Israel are beaten by the Ethiopian Christian army, supported by the Portuguese, which were present in the Corne of Africa since the 16th century. The Portuguese diplomat Manoel de Almeida speaks about them in his Histoire about high Ethiopia or Abassia .

The destruction of the institutional bases Beta Israel in the North of Ethiopia undoubtedly involved the destruction of their files and their books, thus erasing the memory of their history and their origins.

The population Beta Israel is concentrated in the two provinces of North, especially the Gondar, and in less measurement the Tigré (see chart). With independence, the Falashas of Gondar lose the characteristics of a diversified company. There are no more the noble ones or of social hierarchy. Remain now a class of peasants without ground, with however a small middle-class related to the imperial administration. This one installed its new capital in the Gondar, the old territory of the Beta Israel . It is in particular in the field of the construction of governmental buildings that this middle-class specializes.

The Beta Israel of the Tigré on the other hand preserve the right to have the ground, and their social situation is some less depreciated.

In 1769, the Scottish explorer James Bruce, with the research of the sources of the the Nile, estimated their population at still: 100000 people. He also notes “the spoken language is the falasha , although it is now used only by the Jews. In the past, it was the language of all the province of Dembea”. The language reported by Bruce is obviously a form of the Agäw, the original language of the populations of North. The amharisation, i.e. linguistic acculturation with the group dominating of the empire, Amharas, according to Bruce are already well advanced for the populations of North, except for the Falashas , which confirms the statute of isolated group which is theirs.

The disappearance of the Central state - 1769-1855

From 1769 to 1855, the Central state is erased. The country becomes dominated by the lords of the war and the large feudal ones, and the general situation of the campaigns is strongly degraded. Public constructions cease, and the middle-class Beta Israel disappears. In compensation, some Beta Israel specialize in the craft industry, more specifically in the couple blacksmiths (for the men) and potters (for the women). However, in Ethiopia as in part of Africa, the blacksmiths and the potters are regarded as wizards. In Ethiopia, one speaks about Buda . The Buda has the evil eye, can be transformed into hyena to devour human beings, “eats the hearts” of the alive ones. Any contact with him must thus be avoided.

At the 19th century, the company Beta Israel was radically modified. Of an independent and diversified company, it became a caste of peasants without ground, blacksmiths and potters, with some monks. She lives in reserved villages (approximately 500 before immigration in Israel), and is avoided by all. Far from its preceding proselytism, it was folded up on itself to survive, insisting always more on its practices of purification and avoidance of non the Jews. All Beta Israel in liaison with non Jews must thus purify before being able to reinstate the community.

The more restricted population of the Tigré saw a a little better social reality: she kept the right to have grounds, and its setting with the variation is less thorough.

Modern history

The modern history of the Beta Israel begins with the reunification of Ethiopia under the reign of Theodore II (or Théodoros II), in 1855. At that time, the population Beta Israel is estimated between: 50000 and: 100000 people.

Protestant missions and Jewish against-mission

In spite of the preceding episodical contacts, the Occident is informed really of their existence only when the Beta Israel come into contact with missionaries Protesting S of the “London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews” (1859). This company had specialized in the conversion of the Jews. The advertisement of its establishment in the North of Ethiopia, under the direction of a converted Jew of the name of Henri Aaron Stern, causes a certain emotion in the Western Jewish world. Several rabbis proclaim in reaction judaïté of the Beta Israel , and the Alliance universal Jew decides on against mission in Ethiopia, with which is charged Joseph Halévy in 1867 - 1868.

Halévy submits a report/ratio very favorable to the Beta Israel . He asks the installation of Jewish schools, and even proposes “to bring back to Palestine thousands of colonists falashas ”, a dozen years before the formation of the first organization Zionist.

But after the short emotion caused by the mediatization of the mission of the London Society , the Beta Israel are the new ones been unaware of. Serious doubt remains on their judaïté, and the Alliance universal Jew does not give following the recommendations of Halévy.

Until 1904, the only continuous contacts with the Westerners whom the Beta Israel have are those established with the missionaries of the London Society . Between 1859 and 1922, this one does not convert with Christianity copte (and not with Protestantism, under the terms of an agreement made with the Ethiopian capacity) that approximately: 2000 Beta Israel . This result is modest, and is explained partly by a strong religious reaction of the monks Beta Israel , but it has three consequences.

On the one hand, the London Society regards the Beta Israel as Jews, and its speech seems to have had for involuntary consequence to support the appearance of a certain feeling of community with a world Judaism hitherto completely unknown.

In addition, conversions take part in a certain destructuration of the company Beta Israel . The converts are excluded from the community. Villages and families cut themselves into two.

Lastly, a new group of converts is created. Rejected by the Beta Israel , but not really accepted by the Christians because always suspected of being Buda , the situation of this group wedged between two worlds seems to have been difficult. One on their premises finds one of the origins of current the Falash Mura .

“Bad days”

Between 1888 and 1892, the North of Ethiopia knows a series of catastrophes: famines devastators, invasion of the Sudanese dervishes of Madhi, epidemics. The number of deaths is very important. “Of the mothers and their own children ate cooked. Horrible things are made, which are inexpressible”. The Beta Israel , as a very poor minority group are particularly touched. It is estimated that between half and two thirds of the community disappear, terrible blow which it is only concerned very with difficulty. The Jewish monasteries particularly seem to have suffered, and this with the approach of one 20th century which is fatal for them, because of firm opposition of the world Judaism. The period kept the name of Kefu-qän , the “bad days”.

Establishment of permanent bonds with the world Judaism

In 1904, Jacques Faitlovitch, Jew and former student of Joseph Halévy at the School of the High Studies of Paris decided to carry out a new mission in the North of Ethiopia. It obtains a financing of the Jewish philanthropist Edmond de Rothschild.

Following its voyage, Faitlovitch undertakes an intense activity, with three objectives:

  • to make recognize the Beta Israel like Jews;
  • to make accept with the Beta Israel their membership of the Jewish people;
  • “to reform” their religious practice to bring it closer to the orthodoxe Judaism. He intends in particular to fight against the monks, the strict rules of purity and the sacrifices of animals. For this reason, Faitlovitch goes in the same direction as the Protestant missionaries, even if the final objective is not the same one.

These objectives do not go from themselves. Indeed, if the Beta Israel follow the Pentateuque and regard as descendants of the Hebrew , there exist substantial differences between the religious practices of the two groups, and the “Jewish” term is then not used by the Beta Israel . At the 19th century and during a good part of the 20th century, the differences in skin color were also perceived like carrying basic differences.

In first half of the 20th century, Faitlovitch creates an international committee in favor of the Beta Israel , popularizes their existence thanks to his book Notes of voyage to Falashas , and collects funds which enable him to establish schools in their villages, as from 1910.

He encourages also the formation of an elite Beta Israel (numerically very few) in Western Jewish institutions sympathizers. Since 1905, it brings back to Europe that which is the large leader of the Beta Israel in first half of the 20th century, Taamrat Emmanuel, one of the first Ethiopian ones educated with the Western one, which is in the years 1940 and 1950 one of the advisers of the Negus. This elite plays a big role, once returned with the country, to attach the Beta Israel to the orthodoxe Judaïsme (introduction of the star of David, certain Jewish holidays, acceptance by the Beta Israel of their membership of the people Juif). A certain cultural “modernization” results from this, although it is not only related to the influence of the external Jewish communities, but also with the efforts of the various Ethiopian governments. The Excision of the women, rather widespread in the Horn of Africa, would have thus almost disappeared from the communities Beta Israel with the beginning of the year 1980.

The question of judaïté of the Beta Israel is received with a certain sympathy within the Western Judaism in the interval wars. The world Jewish Congress or the joint thus has actions in favor of the falashas. The Rav kook, spiritual father of the current religious Zionist and chief rabbi of Palestine, recognizes them like Jews in 1921.

Spoken languages by the Beta Israel

When it meets them in 1867, Joseph Halévy note a cohabitation between the Amharique and the Agäw: “They speak at the same time two languages Amharique and a dialect about the language agaou. They usually make use of it within their families”.

Forty years later, Jacques Faitlovitch notes progress of the amharisation. “The dialect quouarena is more spoken only in the province of Quouara and with the surroundings, or the other populations also speak it. In Dembea and Siemen the young generation is unaware of it completely”.

During the 20th century, the traditional languages of North disappear completely from the communities Beta Israel , replaced by the Amharique in the Gondar, and the Tigrinya in the Tigré. With the beginning of the year 1990, however, “a language Agäw , the quarennia was still spoken by: 2000 Beta Israel very isolated from the area of Quara, just as by their neighbors, also of origin Agäw ”.

The liturgical language is on the other hand the Guèze for the three surviving linguistic groups at the 20th century. The Hebrew made a shy person appearance in Ethiopia under the influence of the Jewish schools, especially as from the years 1950.

The Baryas Falasha

The company Beta Israel includes/understands a sub-group of lower statute, true minority of the minority, the Baryas , or prisoners. Their origin is not dated, but they are well attested at the time modern, and exist always today in Israel. The Baryas kill servants bought by Beta Israel on the old markets from slaves, and converted with the religion of their Masters. They are regarded as “blacks” ( you equr , or shanqilla , a word of origin Agäw who reference very black nilotic people) by the Falashas . “The Beta Israel are perceived them-even like qey or you eyem - never like racialement lower the you equr ”. In fact, their skin is clearer, and the “means-Eastern” features of the face more that those of the populations of the interior of the continent. The Baryas , them, refer more classically African, although according to Hagar Salamon, “the proliferation of the master-slave marital relations” (normally prohibited) gradually blurred the differences. They are victims various prejudices, being supposed to be “primitive”. They had in Ethiopia only one access restricted to the places of worship ( Masgid ), variable according to the areas. Hagar Salamon pays thus that according to those, they were to remain in the court of the Masgid , or were to leave it during the reading of the Orit (the Bible), or could penetrate there only after several years. They did not have in general the right to be buried in the same cemeteries as the others Falashas , and those did not consume the meat of the animals which they cut down.

Until their immigration in Israel, the Baryas preserved a statute of servant, in spite of the official abolition of slavery in 1924. They were “de facto a share of the family property and continued to be bequeathed of a generation to another. there was even a general vision of the baryas like not-human.

Emigration

As of the end of the year 1940, one finds some Falashas in Israel. They are women having married Yemeni Jewish soldiers of the British army, and some students. In 1955, a score of teenagers are provided education for with Kfar Batya , for becoming teachers in Ethiopia. The majority go back there indeed to the beginning of the year 1960.

Clandestine immigration and recognition by Israel

Between 1965 and 1975 sets up a small emigration Beta Israel towards Israel. It is especially the fact of men, far from many, having made studies, which come to Israel with a visa from tourism (the Ethiopia, country officially Christian, knows a flow of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land), then which remains there illegally. They on the spot find sympathizers, who recognize them like Juifs and help them. These sympathizers organize themselves in association, under the direction inter alia Ovadia Hazzi, Juif Yemeni and former sergeant of the Israeli Armée, married to a Beta Israel since the second world war. Some obtain a regularization of their situation thanks to these supports. Some agree “to convert” with the Judaïsme, which regulates their personal problem, but not the situation of their community. The people who obtain their regularization often make come their family.

In 1973, Ovadia Hazzi raises officially the question of judaïté of the Beta Israel with the chief rabbi Sépharade of Israel, Ovadia Yossef. The chief rabbi, quoting an Egyptian rabbinical decision of the 16th century, that of the Radbaz (Rabbi David Ben Zimra, 1462-1572) and taking again his thesis according to which the Beta Israel go down from the lost tribe of daN, recognizes judaïté in February 1973 to them. This one is initially rejected by the chief rabbi Ashkénaze, Shlomo Goren, which ends however up joining there in 1974.

In 1975, the government of Yitzhak Rabin accepts officially the character Juif Beta Israel , and opens to them the benefit of the Loi of the return (law allowing any Jew in the world to immigrate in Israel).

Emigration of mass of the Beta Israel

The emigration Beta Israel towards Israel remains officially prohibited by the Ethiopian government of 1973 with 1990. It is initially about the consequence of the rupture of the diplomatic relations by Hailé Sélassié Ier in 1973 between Israel and imperial Ethiopia, following the Guerre of Kippour. It is then about the consequence of the military coup d'etat of 1974, which directs the diplomacy in a Soviet direction pro , and this until the re-establishment of the diplomatic relations in 1989. In spite of this official prohibition, an emigration takes place, proceeding in several waves. It empties the few 500 villages Beta Israel of the North of their inhabitants:

1977 - Hundred blackjacks Beta Israel emigrate in Israel with the agreement of the Ethiopian government, within the framework of a secret agreement of supply of weapons by the Israeli government with the new Ethiopian revolutionary government, which was then in war against the Somalia for the control of the Ogaden. The agreement is broken by the Ethiopia after its revelation with the press by Moshe Dayan in February 1978. It indeed put at evil new “anti-impérialiste” positioning and pro-Soviet of the Ethiopian diplomacy, Israel being the ally of the United States.

1980-1984 - Driven out by the civil war, of Ethiopian of the North, among which Beta Israel , take refuge with the Southern Sudan. According to the Jerusalem Post of May 15th, 1986: 6649 people, especially of Tigréens, gain Israel by ways diverted between January 1980 and the autumn 1984 (the Sudanese government, officially in war with Israel, more or less closes the eyes under the pressure of the USA), with the assistance of the Israeli special services. Beyond the war, the Falashas of Striped also leave under the influence the word of mount: the families made to Israel the first inform their close relations of the success of their emigration, involving new departures.

Fall 1984 - spring 1985 - Partly moved by information on the success of the emigration tigréenne, the Jewish refugees of Gondar, much more than the tigréens, affluent in Sudan as from 1983, and the clandestine channels of evacuation are not enough any more. The great famine of 1984-1985 moves hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian North towards the refugee camps of Ethiopia of North and the Sudan. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian die of hunger at the time of true “steps of death”, and mortality explodes in the camps of the Sudan. Among these victims, one estimates that 3 with: 4000 are Falashas . At the end of 1984, the Sudanese government, following the intervention of the the United States of America, secretly lets leave them: 7200 refugees remaining Beta Israel towards the Europe, from where they gain Israel immediately. There are two waves: the Opération Braces from November 20th, 1984 to January 4th, 1985, concern: 6500 people. This operation is stopped by Sudan when the press reveals it; the Operation Queen of Sheba, carried out by the CIA a few weeks later, to evacuate 650 people remaining with the Sudan. This second operation is the fruit of very important American pressures. Twenty percent of the newcomers must be hospitalized, the others are generally in a catastrophic medical condition.

1985-1989 - the Ethiopian mode blocks the emigration, and the relative stabilization of the situation in North stops the exodus towards the Sudanese camps. A small clandestine immigration remains, always assisted by the Mossad. Its scale is very modest.

1990-1991 - Subjected to a strong pressure of the rebels Striped ens and érythrée NS, and losing its Soviet military support within the framework of the collapse of the Eastern bloc, the Ethiopian government lets leave: 6000 Beta Israel towards Israel, by small groups, in the hope to approach the the United States of America, combined Israel. Many a Beta Israel gains Addis-Abeba, capital of the Ethiopia, hoping to escape the civil war which devastates the North of the country (their area of origin), and hoping to be able to leave for Israel. They pile up in camps with the periphery of the city.

1991 and the operation Solomon - During the collapse of the Communist mode Ethiopian, them: 14324 Beta Israel taken refuge with Addis-Abeba are evacuated in two days towards Israel by an airlift (Opération Solomon). There are 34 rotations of planes of El Al, which one had withdrawn the seats to charge there more people. Again, of strong American pressures facilitated the operation, as well as a transfer of 35 million dollars towards the accounts of the last representatives of the mode.

1991-1994 - the last Beta Israel remained in Ethiopia emigrate towards Israel, in particular those of the area of Quara or Qwara (between the Lac Tanned and Sudan), in 1992, which are the only ones to pass their villages to Israel without the filter of refugee camps.

Falash Walled - Starting from 1992 begins an irregular emigration, subjected to the political evolution in Israel, that of the Falash Mura .

The difficult immigration of the Falash Walled

Since 1991, the Israeli authorities announced that the question of the emigration Beta Israel was on the way to be regulated, thanks to the departure of almost all the Juif S. But as of this date, of the thousands of people left the North of the country to come to take refuge with Addis-Abeba, being declared Jewish and requiring to emigrate towards Israel.

A new term appears to indicate this group: the Falash Walled .

These people, who do not belong to the communities Beta Israel made up, are not recognized like Juives by Israel, and are initially not authorized to emigrate. They are in theory of origin Beta Israel (with doubts for some), but left the communities organized, sometimes since two or three generations.

The Israeli authorities consider that these people are from now on Christian and cannot profit from the law of the return as Juives. They also affirm that much is not even ascent Beta Israel , but are Christian of stock seeking to emigrate in Occident. They thus regard the Falash Mura as economic emigrants.

The interested parties affirm being of the assimilated Jews, which did not put ahead their membership in a medium where to be Beta Israel is devalued. They deny any conversion with the Christianisme, or admit it like answering a constraint.

For a long time existed groups of converts besides. They were not really forced conversions, but rather conversions aiming at escaping a painful social situation. Good number of these groups continued to practice their religion into private. The anthropologist Simon Messing thus carried out a survey into 1962 within the Maryam Wodadj (friends of Marie), an openly Christian group (their wives tattoo crosses on the face), but practitioner always the religion Beta Israel into private, strictly endogame (not marrying with the Christians) and alive in Dembea (between the town of Gondar and the Lac Tanned). “With the beginning of the year 1980, G.J. Abbink counts other groups of converts” judaïsants: the Färäs will muqra , the Chämmané (“people of Chämma”) in the west of the lake Tana, the Tä' biban (“wise men”, or “magicians”), a group of blacksmiths living with Ankober and Addis-Abeba, and about which Faïtlovitch had already spoken. Yona Bogale, one of the principal leaders Beta Israel of Gondar, “personally knew in Addis-Abeba a group of Falashas . They had been assimilated, and did not present any the distinctive signs of the Falashas while continuing to regard itself as Beta Israel in the intimacy”.

The Falash Mura are however not a homogeneous group, and it is only their will to emigrate which gathers them under this term. One finds seems it many cases, since comparable Beta Israel but ever converted, until Christian of stock lying on their origin, while passing through people resulting families converted more or less by obligation, or more or less by conviction, without counting families resulting from mixed marriages.

In addition, the Jewish religious law (but not the Israeli law) considers that even converted, a Jew remains Juif. For the Rabbi S, a return to the Judaism of the convert or his children (so at least the mother was Jewish) thus remains possible. Subject proving its ascent Beta Israel , which is not always simple, even when it is true.

Taking into account these divergent points of view, and difficulty of slicing, a rather sharp debate rose in Israel, and with the center even of the Israeli community Beta Israel , between partisans and opponents with the emigration of the Falash Mura . The governmental position remained overall rather restrictive, but was subjected to many criticisms, including certain monks who want to support the return (when there was well conversion, which is undoubtedly not always the case) with the Judaism of these groups known as “ Falash Mura ”. The Israeli, reticent laymen with a purely religious definition of the Jewish identity, were often more reticent than monks with the recognition of the Falash Mura .

During Years 1990, the government finally authorized the majority of those which had taken refuge with Addis-Abeba to emigrate in Israel. Some could do it thanks to the Loi of the return, which makes it possible a relative not Juif of an Israeli Jew to emigrate, others were accommodated on a purely humane basis.

The Israeli government hoped to regulate the problem, but information according to which the people of origin Beta Israel could emigrate towards Israel attracted a wave of refugees even more important towards Addis-Abeba, which led the Israeli government to harden its position towards the end of the year 1990. Beginning 2003, there was a little less: 20000 Falash Walled taken refuge with Addis-Abeba, sometimes since years. One speaks (in a very vague way) about an equivalent number of Falash Mura which would always live in the North of the Ethiopia. In April 2005, the Jerusalem Post announced to have carried out a survey in Ethiopia, following which it concluded that tens of thousands of Falash Mura always lived in the campaigns of the north of Ethiopia, not listed not the Jewish organizations, but tried by the emigration towards Israel.

In February 2003, the Israeli government decided to accept that the Israeli religious authorities organize official conversions with the Judaism of the people really of origin Beta Israel , and that these people can then emigrate as Jewish towards Israel. The new position, more open, of the governmental and religious Israeli authorities must in theory allow the emigration towards Israel of the majority of the Falash Mura wishing it (those whose origin Beta Israel is recognized). In practice, however, this immigration remains slow, and the Israeli government continued to limit, of 2003 to 2006, the entry of the Falash Mura with approximately 300 emigrants per month. In 2004, the services of the Israeli ministry in charge of immigration thus indicated that: 3700 Ethiopian only had emigrated towards Israel. The Israeli government however confirmed in January 2005 that the objective remained well to bring all the Falash Mura Jewish origin in Israel, and that the rate/rhythm would pass from 300 to 600 people per month as from June 2005. Mid 2007, however, the quota of 300 immigrants per month remains in force, and seems to have to remain it.

One of the explanations of the Israeli reserve vis-a-vis this immigration is the difficulty of defining the reality of the claims of the Falash Mura in an ascent Beta Israel . The articles of the Israeli press report that the Ethiopian eager ones to emigrate pay Beta Israel or eligible Falash Mura with the emigration to declare them like member of their family. Israel does not want a wave of African economic emigration.

Integration in Israel

In 2005, there was approximately: 105000 people of Ethiopian origin in Israel, of which: 30000 born in the country. They gather as a majority of the Falashas as well as old Falash Mura . The latter generally insist on their judaïté. An small group remains however Christian, and has even proselytes activities highly denounced by the community.

In spite of this strong insistence of the quasi totality of Ethiopian (all confused origins), on their Judaism and their attachment in Israel, concrete integration poses certain problems.

The cultural shock

The first contact with Israel was generally violent a enough shock for the new immigrants. For a rural population with a very low school level, the Israeli urban universe posed problems of adaptation. Good number of the new immigrants, especially those of the most moved back villages, did not know electricity, the elevators or television. The adaptation to Israeli food was particularly difficult. The bursting of the families during the exodus, and sometimes during the distribution between Israeli centers of insertion, because of many traumatisms. The name changes caused a rupture symbolic system with the past. Indeed, the administration hébraïse the first names, and requires family names, which do not exist in the Ethiopian company. These name changes created a system on two levels, where old and new names are superimposed, are used and compete with themselves. The immersion in Hebrew was not simple, a majority of immigrants not arriving, even after years to Israel, to control it, which involves a strong social marginalisation. Lastly, the questioning of the traditional religious practices by rabbinate was one moment of distress.

The Israeli sociologists noted various problems of adaptation, involving at a minority of the acute psychological problems, even of the suicides in the following years immediately immigration. At the end of the years 1980, “the proportion of suicides at the Ethiopian Jews thus exceeded that of all the other immigrant national communities”, before dropping.

The new generations were on the other hand quickly melted in the Israeli culture, with some specificities: “the development of under culture israélo - Afro-American E, and the identification with the negro music like the Reggae and the Rap, are used to structure their identity”. This identification with the vestimentary and musical codes of the American blacks also takes part of a “shock of the generations” with the immigrant adults of Ethiopia.

The constitution of specific districts

The housing problem is a recurring problem with each massive immigration in Israel, and this since the years 1950. In the case of the Ethiopian ones, various solutions were implemented, in particular of the camps of mobile home. Satisfactory in term of comfort, these “provisional” solutions, but which tend sometimes to last, had two disadvantages. On the one hand, they push back with the periphery of the cities the new populations, creating rather homogeneous groups ethniquement and slowing down their integration. In addition, these zones are sometimes far from the employment offered by the Israeli economy, or are badly not served by public transport, thus amplifying the problems of unemployment.

With time, the Ethiopian ones settle downtown, creating “ethnic enclaves or wide families voluntarily gather”. The “white” have moreover tendency to leave the zones of strong Ethiopian concentrations, with the risk in the long term of constitution of ghettos.

Religious evolution

Some Haredim (ultra orthodoxe) still do not recognize the Beta Israel like Jews, and not only those of origin Falash Mura .

Without going until there, Israeli rabbinate always expressed doubts about the validity of the marriages and the conversions carried out by the Beta Israel , those being nonin conformity with the Halakha. He was thus asked the conversions simplified before each marriage, in order to make safe the statute of Jew of the new immigrants. Accepted by the first immigrants of Striped, this ceremony was mainly refused as from 1985 by the immigrants of the Gondar, involving a long conflict with great rabbinate. This one finally agreed to limit the number of these conversions symbolic systems to the only most doubtful cases. Paradoxically, the Falash Mura often being converted in due form during their immigration can have less problem of personal status.

Concerning the religious framing, about sixty Kessim (priests) Ethiopian emigrants in Israel were paid by the ministry for the worships, and continue to animate many religious ceremonies. They are however not recognized like Rabbin S and thus do not have for example not the right to celebrate marriages (monopoly of the rabbis in Israel, at least for the Jews). For those which were the guarantors of the community, the loss of prestige and social status thus important, and is generally badly lived. Many rabbis however associate them still with the marriages community. A new generation of Rabbin S of Ethiopian origin is also appearing, gradually taking again the religious capacity with the Kessim , after being formed in the Israeli Yeshivot. In 2005, one counted nevertheless 8 new Kessim ordered in Israel since the beginning of immigration. They are not recognized by the ministry for the worships, which in the long term wishes an alignment Ethiopian religious practices on those of the orthodoxe Jews. The old ones and new the Kessim generally reject with more or less strength the rabbinical rules drawn from the Talmud, of which they consider that they are not prescribed by the Orit (the Bible).

Still more in rupture with Israeli rabbinate are the disciples of Abba Beyene, which is presented in the form of a last monk Beta Israel Ethiopian (cf supra). This one, imprisoned in Ethiopia for Zionism, “does not accept the rabbinical position when it is in conflict with its own comprehension of the Jewish practice, which is initially based on the five books of Brace (Pentateuque), and not on the Talmud”. Its ascetic and Community practices attract young Israelis of Ethiopian origin, who aspire to find their religious roots, vis-a-vis the cultural assimilation of the majority of their community. Its step also fits in a will to see reappearing the practical antique of the Ethiopian Jewish monks. In spite of this attachment of some with the Ethiopian practices, the religious traditions Beta Israel quickly seem to move back, fought by rabbinate and the Israeli lifestyle. The large majority of the pupils resulting from immigration were dealt with by the religious school network of State, which promotes the Jewish practices “orthodoxe”. “This shift intergénérationnel involves a gap between the young people, who request in Hebrew according to the orthodoxe Jewish rite, and the parents, who after a fashion try not to give up the structures of the traditional worship”. However, with time, “the teenagers are less and less provided education for in the religious educational network”, and secularization progresses.

The extreme laws of purity strongly regress, even if one could note women still isolating itself during their rules. In the absence of “hut of blood”, this insulation could be done in a room, on a balcony, and sometimes even in a wall cupboard. The sociologists noted that parallel to the regression of the traditional practices (already started in Ethiopia since the years 1950), of the feelings of loss, culpability and even of the phobias developed among new immigrants. According to the words of the Qés Maru, “in Israel, the children do what they want we cannot preserve our religion, all is destroyed here”. The abandonment of the practices of purity particularly shocks the immigrant adults. In Ethiopia, these practices differentiated the Beta Israel from the Christians. The “impure” behavior of the Israeli Jews thus seems particularly blamable. The refusal to consume meat Casher, regarded as impure, because not shot down according to the habits Beta Israel , is particularly strong in the old generation.

The Israeli orthodoxe Judaism accepted some practical very few, like the festival of the Sigd (or Seged , or Segd ). The 29 of the Hebrew month of Heshvan , the members of the Ethiopian Jewish community fast and go to Jerusalem in pilgrimage, where the Kessim recite parts of the Orit . The festival lost however part of its religious significance, and became also a Community and political gathering, where has a presentiment of the representatives of the State.

Socio-economic situation

The greatest difficulty of Ethiopian undoubtedly lies in the very low education level of the immigrants. With some exceptions, those did not have on their arrival any formation usable by an economy developed like that of Israel, and did not know the Hebrew . Illiteracy was very widespread (90% in the 37 year old adults or more, according to an estimate), even if the young people were trained better and that a minority had attended the secondary schools in Ethiopia. Concerning the more recent immigration of the Falash Walled , of ONG (as the North American Conference one Ethiopian Jewry ) try to give to those which await years in Ethiopia their immigration a formation (enough basic) usable in Israel, and concepts of Hebrew. Eighty percent of the adults Falash Mura would become however unemployed in Israel.

Taking into account this important difference between the qualifications of the Beta Israel and the needs for the Israeli companies, an important unemployment is noted among immigrants: 65% of more than 45 years in 2005), and slow down the appearance of a true middle-class of Ethiopian origin. In 2005: 3000 young people are however already graduate of higher education, and: 1500 others are at the university. Certain mayors, like that of Gold Yehuda, as refused the establishment of Ethiopian in their communes, considering as a “tolerance level” was exceeded and fearing a fall of the school level and a rise of the delinquency.

These reactions take part of the rise of claims and disputes in the Ethiopian young people, a minority being able even to be very virulent: “Israel is one of the most racist States in the world towards the blacks. When I was younger, I tried to go in clubs with white friends, but one did not let to me enter”. In a less abrupt way, the same article indicates as “much the Ethiopian ones of 20 or 30 years, which were born in Israel or there have immigrant young people, admit that although they passed by " the creuset" military service, they feel always different and nondesired in the meeting places of the Israelis and prefer to trail in their own places” (like “black” clubs).

Confirming this feeling of exclusion, a survey published by the Jerusalem Post in 2005 indicated that 43% of the Israelis did not wish that themselves or their children marry one or a Beta Israel .

The use now current of the “Ethiopian” term, instead of Beta Israel or even of “Jew of Ethiopia”, and this so much by the interested parties than by their Israeli environment, the ethno-Community structuring of the young generations around a skin color and an origin confirms.

If the “black” term starts to be asserted by the young generation, it was on the other hand rejected by his parents, because in Ethiopia, in “the system of racial perceptions which dominates the world of the Beta Israel ”. The company Beta Israel is indeed based on the village and the widened family, and to build solidarity transcending old divisions seems still difficult. The crumbling of associations remains important, even if the majority are gathered within “the Organization of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel”. But these divergences do not prevent rather regular movements of claim.

Most important was that of 1996, when it was discovered that the blood donations made by the Ethiopian ones discreetly and were systematically destroyed by the departments of health, due to contamination of a minority by the virus of the Sida. Anger was very sharp, and the particularly virulent charges of racism, punctuated of and strong mobilization mass demonstrations of the community.

The Israeli political parties tried to allure this electorate. From 1996 to 1999 the lawyer Addisu Messele thus sat within the 14th Knesset under the colors of the workers party. It is to date the single Israeli of Ethiopian origin to be elected at the Parliament israélien.
All in all, the “Ethiopian” electorate shows rather sensitive to the theses Israeli line, in particular because of more favorable attitude of this one in favor of their immigration, and this starting from the government of Menahem Begin (1977).

Integration: synthesis

To final, the integration of Ethiopian at the Israeli company progresses, but the social situation and cultural of the Beta Israel remains difficult. Their traditional culture, based on the insulation of the Christian medium, the village life, the family widened and of the specific religious traditions seems in any assumption not to be able to survive in the state in the urban and “modern” company of Israel.

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