Thursday, September 22, 1949
DETROIT J EWISII CIIRO
NICLE
Black Jews of Ethiopia
Are Remnant of Empire
Page 29
necessity of adapting the laws
contained in the Bible for prac-
tical use under conditions differ-
ent from those originally con-
templated, of commenting • on
them, and of creating new rules
observe the lunar year, every
dress is a large piece of coarse
fourth year having thirteen cloth worn like
a Roman toga.
months. Five of the original Ara-
The standard of life is very low.
maic names for the months are
A few Falashas have migrated
still in use.
to the big towns, mainly the cap-
Circumcision, of course, is ital, Addis Ababa. These few are
By HERBERT A. SCIIABLIN
practiced.
(In India, Israel, Bombay)
thoroughly westernized, speak
Falashes are in a happier posi
E
(Continued on Page 30)
THIOPIAN JEWS aid Israel_. 'he Jewish community in Addis
lion than European Jewry. The
Ababa is collecting funds for relief to Israel. The plan is to
bulk of them are agriculturists
••■■•■
■
collect $5,000 and already $2,500 has been sent to aid children in
and craftsmen, and they do not
old Jerusalem.
suffer under the obvious dis
Happy New Year
Ever since the 9th century
advantages of the paradoxical
legendary r epor t s circulated outwardly Coptic Christians,
position typical of the Jewish in
among the Jewish communities of practise many definitely Jewish
•
habitants of western-European
'Europe and the Near East, reports rites, provides proof of forced
countries
whose
ranks
include
UPHOLSTERING
mass-conversions.
These
as
well
which spoke of a race of Jewish
more university professors than
Custom Built Furniture
warriors, masters and rulers of a as the heavy death rate of con-
farm-hands. Hence economic
dark territory, now known geo- tinuous warfare progressively re-
Draperies
— Slip Covers
anti-Semitism
is
hardly
known
in
duced the number of Falashas
graphically as ANsinia.
Abyssinia, except in certain West-
and at the beginning of this cen-
Many times in the following
ernized circles where it had been
centuries these tales received new tury they were estimated to com-
fostered during the Fascist occu-
impetus from Jewish travellers prise approximately 90,000 souls.
10350 Dexter TO. 8-6120
pation.
Since then the missionary ac-
who succeeded in contacting
• • •
Corner Collingwood
•
Abyssinia's Jews, the Falashas as tivities of the Coptic Church and
STILL PRIMITIVE
..1=0••■• •■
1.01M,
they are called by the rest of the of Protestant missions, the de-
IT WOULD BE erroneous, how-
population, or the Beth Israel structions of the Italo-Abyssinian
ever, to compare the Falashas
(House of Israel) as they call War and of the 2nd World War
soil tiller or artisan with his
have reduced the number still
themselves.
GREETINGS
European counterpart. The Abys-
further and recent estimates
The many reports received, speak of 10,000 Falashas
sinian
villager—and
the
Falashas
(i.e.
however, were discounted or dis-
roughly one in every thousand of
is in no way different—lives in
regarded by geographers of their
the 'population), the pitiful rem
DR. S. ANDHIL FINEBERG's a primitive but without ever
day, until, in the 18th century,
"Punishment Without Crime", having heard about the sanitary
Jacob Bruce, an Englishman who nants of a once mighty empire.
• • •
a book citing the techniques by and other blessings of civil-
had lived in Abyssinia from 1788-
which individuals can fight ization and without having ex-
1774 finally put the Falasha "on NEGROID TYPES
THE FALASHAS are of dis
bigotry, has recently been pub- perienced any appreciable meas-
the map."
ure of progress for several thou-
tinctly Negroid appearance
lished.
• • •
sand years.
black-skinned with short hair and
3646 E. Outer Drive
ORIENTAL VESTIGES
short faces. On the average they
All males carry arms - shields,
GREAT IMPORTANCE must are taller of stature than the sur- in accordance with the general
T1V. 2-2050
spears and daggers - footwear is
tenor of 4he holy writings.
be attributed to this develop-
rounding Amharans. Their origin
unknown, and the main item of
• • •
ment, occuring at the same time is clouded in darkness.
HAVE OWN 'TALMUD'
as Rahabi's "discovery" of the
The most likely theory sug-
Bene Israel in India.
IN ASIA MINOR and in Eu-
gests that the Falashas are the rope this necessity led to the New Year's Greetings
These two events, more than
Season's Greetings
descendants, blended with the rest creation of the Talmud whilst
any amount of tradition and rit-
of the population by the inter- in Abyssinia an oral and written
ual, turned the eyes of western
marriage and missionarism, of the tradition developed which, though
Jewry towards the east.
prosperous Jewish colony of different in form, basically is
The Falasha and the Bene Elephantine in upper Egypt, very similar to the Talumd and
Israel provided living proof that which disappears from written provides striking proof of how
the Yemenite Jew is not an iso- history with the victory of the clearcut and uniform the moral
Distributors Weston's and
lated phenomenon, but that Abyssinians over the Egyptians. code really is, which finds ex-
Salerno
Mr. and Mrs. I. Feinberg
Jewry has always remained
The Falashas themselves claim pression in the Pentateuch.
deeply rooted in oriental coun-
Crackers-Cookies-Pretzels
Otherwise it would be incon-
808 Stephenson Bldg.
tries despite many branches to be descended from Solomon
1124 OAKMAN BLVD.
and the Queen of Sheba, and not ceivable that 2.000 years of en-
spreading towards the west.
TR. 5-8319
as is sometimes erroneously stat- tirely independent development
TO. 8-7590
An extensive history of the
under social and economic con-
Falashas still remains to be writ- ed—from the ''lost tribes," who ditions so different and climates
had
been
exiled
to
Media
and
As-
ten.
syria in 772 B. C. Both these so diametrically opposed could
Even the little historical in- claims however, meet with the have led to the evolution of two
GREETINGS
formation available, however, difficulty that Falasha religious sets of laws so similar to each
cannot but convince us of the tradition shows certain features other.
splendid martial past that lies which were non-existent before
The Falashas are monogamous
Louis Margolis, Pres.
behind the Jews of Abyssinia.
the return from the Babylonian and strictly observe the Sabbath
5560 CHENE ST.
Tradition will have it that.they exile (539 B.C.), although the as well as most of the traditional
WA. 1-9756
are the descendants of the union possibility cannot be disregarded Jewish holidays with the excep-
between King Solomon and the that these particular features tion of Rosh Hashonah (New
GREETINGS
Queen of Sheba and that they might be due to later contact, Year).
During the Passover festival
provided Abyssinia with a long possibly through the Elephantine
they eat a kind of unleavened
mythical line of kings. It is an Jewish community.
bread and their practices of
established fact that, at the time
Electric Appliances — Repairing
Although the religious ritual of ritual slaughter of animals are
when Abyssinia's past emerges
Electric Heating Units — Lionel Trains
the Falashas is different in many stricter even than those of oc-
427 RANDOLPH
from myth and passes into
WO 1-5553
history, i.e., in the 9th century, respects from Jewish ritual any- cidental Jewry, but they freely
we find the Falashas ruling the where else, the essence of their mix milk-products and meat in
religion is purely Jewish, and their dishes.
country.
neither anthropologists nor Jew-
Falashas never eat raw meat
Until the 13th century they ish travellers have ever held any
which is the staple diet of the
maintain their predominant posi- doubts in this respect.
surrounding tribes. Their secular
tion. At the end of the 13th
The Bible of the Falashas con- calender is based on the sun
century the Falashas begin to de- sists of the Pentateuch, the whilst in religious matters they
cline and from then on theirs is a Psalms and certain Apocryphal
history of tribal wars and religi- Books, which were discarded
ous persecutions, a history full of when the Old Testament was
outstanding bravery and heroism. compiled in its present shape. The
The existence of a number of later parts of the Old Testament
Abyssinian tribes who, though were not accepted by them as
part of their religious tradition
even after they had become
known through the medium of
Christianity.
Author
l
e.s. . . ■• •■■
•10/Oxaml.m.•
WALTER HERZ
r.....
••111
HYDRO
MFG.
CO.
CENTURY
PORTRAIT
STUDIOS
INDEPENDENT
BISCUIT CO.
'
Margolis Furniture Company, Inc.
Hiram Marks Electrical Co.
Happy New Year!
g reetings .
g reetings
BEAVER
REALTY CO.
BRADY WASTE
MATERIAL
CO.
Naturally, like their brethren
in nor th ern countries, the
Falashas were faced with the
1:1
LERNER - LINDEN
CONSTRUCTION CO.
1533 Mack Ave
Temple 1-0771
9940 Rosela% n
WE. 3-5178
GREETINGS FOR THE. NEW YEAR
1960 E. JEFFERSON
TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS
Happy New Year to All
WO. 2-0758
GREET,' NGS
DETROIT
RENDERING
COMPANY
2500 22nd Street
TA. 5-1711
Max Deutelbaum and Sidney Fox
—of—
WARRINGTON SERVICE
Your Standard Oil Dealers
4120 W. 7 Mile Rd.
Corner Warrington
....414
UN. 1-9733
DICK CONNELL
CHEVROLET, Inc.
12240 Jos. Canipau
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" .."4"."4..9%°"*".144•4"••°%.°94 ■ Ww.‘wrinww•I'V
1