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Ethiopia's Falasha Jews

By ELIAHU SALPETER

(Copyright, 1959, JTA, Inc.)

(Editor's Note: Mr. Sal-
peter, chief correspondent of
the JTA in Israel, made a trip
to the distant land of Ethiopia
to study the life of the Jew-
ish tribe there. This article
presents a picture of the
Falasha Jews and their prob-
lems.)
* * *
ADDIS ABABA—Reading
about the Falashas—Ethiopia's
black - skinned Jews — in New
York or in Jerusalem, one is
aware only of the exotic air
surrounding this distant tribe
claiming to be one of the most
ancient tribes of the Children
of Israel.
Only when visiting their tiny
villages and the small towns
in the hinterlands of Western
Ethiopia does one become
aware of the complexity of the
problem presented by their
contact with Israel and other
Jewish communities of the
world.
Nobody knows the exact
number of Falashas. Estimates
run from 20,000 to 50,000 or
more. There is no contiguous
Falasha territory in Ethiopia.
The Falasha Jews are scattered
in small villages — many' of
them consisting of not more
than six or eight primitive
huts — and in small native
towns where they live together
with other Ethiopians.
The primitiveness of a typi-
cal village is hard to imagine.
A small muddy square is sur-
rounded by eight huts whose
walls are made of tree
branches and each has a roof
of straw. The only light in the
but comes from the opening
serving as the door.
In the center is a hearth of
a few rough stones with the
smoke seeping through the
straw roof. The beds consist
of straw covered with hides.
A few crates serve to keep the
few utensils and clothing of
the inhabitants.

The Falashas in the vil-
lages are mostly farmers, but
they are also potters and
makers of primitive wooden
ploughs, supplying their
Christian neighbors, many of
whom, to this very day, asso-
ciate handicraft with black
magic.
As we approached the vil-

Simple lines are best for a
dress of lace.

Are They Really. Jews?

after a few of them were
taken by the Jewish Agency
for a year's schooling in Is-
rael, the question whether
the Falashas are truly Jews
is now not only a theoretical
but also a practical problem.

It is fairly well known that
Ethiopia is one of the oldest
Christian countries of the
world. Few people know, how-
ever, that for more than 1,000
years Ethiopia was a Jewish
kingdom.
The Ethiopians are very
proud of their Jewish relation-
ships. Their Emperor claims
direct descent from King .Solo-
mon and the Queen of Sheba,
and the Star of David—which
they call the Star of Solomon
— is an Ethiopian- national
emblem.
The Emperor of Ethiopia
bears the title, "The Lion of
Judah," and of the 14 bishops
of the Ethiopian • Church, 13
are in Ethiopia and one in
Jerusalem. •
In more recent times, the
Emperor Haile 'Selassie spent
the first years of his exile
(when the Italians occupied his
realm on the eve of World
War II), in a villa in the mod-
ern Jewish suburb of Rehavia
in Jerusalem.
An official publication issued
a few weeks ago by the Ethio-
pian government on "The
Ethiopian Church" begins with
the following introduction: "Up
to the time of the meeting be-
tween their Queen of Sheba
and King Solomon about 1,000
B. C., the Ethiopians, like other
ancient peoples, were pagans.
.. . The son born to the Queen
of Sheba and Solomon, Mene-
lik I, founded the dynasty still
reigning today.
"The Queen of Sheba and
her son introduced into their
kingdom, later known as the
Kingdom of Axum, the faith
of the God of Israel, which
lasted until the adoption of
Christianity, and which was
strengthened by Jewish immi-
gration at the time of Nebuch-
adnezzar's persecutions. The
Judaic tribe of the Falashas
dates from that time."
A Difference in Definitions
It is of significance that the
official publication — and the
Ethiopians in general—differ-

entiate the expression "Jews"
which they use in reference to
the people who fled from
Palestine, and "Judaic" used in
r e f e r e n c e to the Falashas,
whom they consider as one of
the numerous indigenous Ethi-
opian tribes.
The question whether the
Falashas are Jews in the ethnic
sense of the word is of signi-
ficance in connection with the
problem of their right to emi-
grate to Israel and Israel's
duty to support that right.
Under Israel's "Law of Re-
turn" every Jew has the right
to come to Israel, and it is one
of the cardinal points of Is-
rael's "raison d'etre" to pro-
tect this right.

The only conceivable Jew-
ish activity for the Falashas
—the one that would pre-
sumably receive the support
of the Ethiopian government
—is for the Jewish or Israel
organizations to open schools
for general and particularly
for professional education in
areas where there is a large
percentage of Falashas.

These schools, however,
would have to be open for
young people of all religions
and not only for Falashas, and
no particular Jewish indoc-
trination could take place
there. Such schools, under
similar conditions, are -being
maintained in Ethiopia by vari-
ous Christian religious and
charitable organizations.

It is a most welcome devel-
opment that an ORT delega-
tion from Switzerland which
recently visited Ethiopia has
negotiated the opening of an
ORT school under those prin-
ciples.

"The Torah cannot assume
perfection except in Israel."—
Nahmanides.

ARTHUR HIRSCH

of

3359 CORTLAND

Extends greetings to his
relatives and friends for a
year of Health & Happiness

Our Sincerest Best Wishes

•

To Everyone

For

A

Happy and Healthy

New Year

from

HERMAN J. AGINS
EUGENE N. AGINS

AND THEIR FAMILIES

U. S. District Court

lage, the women and children in Pennsylvania Bars
the former dressed in long
night-shirt like apparel, the lat- Schools' Bible Reading
PHILADELPHIA, (JTA) —
ter half-naked and all of them
barefooted—emerged from the A United States District Court
huts. The men were at work decision outlawing Pennsylvan-
ia's Bible-reading law in -public
in the fields.
When our guide told them schools as unconstitutional and
that we came from Israel, the banning the recitation of the
older women prostrated them- Lord's Prayer in schools was
selves on the - ground paying hailed this week as a major
honor to visitors from the Holy victory for religious freedom.
The ten-year-old state law
Land. Some children were
quickly sent to call in the men, was deemed unconstitutional
because it violated the First and
who arrived running.
amendments of the
The Falashas do not speak Fourteenth
S. Constitution. The law was
Hebrew, nor do their rabbis U.
in a suit filed by Mr.
understand the language of the tested
and Mrs. Edward L. Schempp
Bible. The Torah and the rest against the Abington Township
of the Scriptures, written on School District. The American
parchment leaves bound into a Jewish Congress filed a brief
book, is in Gheez, -which is the as "friend-of-the-court" in the
ancient language of Ethiopia suit. The court decision was
and still is the liturgical lan- unanimous.
guage of the Ethiopian Church,
The law requires classrooms
as Latin is of the Catholic reading of ten verses from the
Church.
Bible each day, without teacher
The discoverer of the Fa- comment. The practice has been
lashas—Prof. Feitelowich, who to follow this reading with a
found them 50 years ago, is recitation of the Lord's Prayer,
convinced they are Jews (as . both being part of a _single ex-
are the Falashas themselves), ercise.
even if off-beat ones, in the
Benjamin B. Levin, president
usual sense of the Word. There of the Delaware Valley Council
are other, more recent scien- of the AJC said children of
tists, however, who dispute the minority religious groups, "are
genuine Jewishness of the Fa- faced with adilemma whenever
lashas.
religion intrudes upon the pub-
With the constantly-in- lic school. Not infrequently,
creasing relations between Catholic and Jewish children
Israel and Ethiopia, on one will participate in convictions
hand, the first stirrings of and upbringing rather than sub-
the wish to emigrate to Is- ject themselves to the pain of
rael, felt among the Falashas not belonging."

THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE PEACE; AND THE EFFECT

OF RIGHTEOUSNESS QUIETNESS AND ASSURANCE FOREVER.

Isaiah 32:17

HOLIDAY GREETINGS • FORD MOTOR COMPANY

THE AMERICAN ROAD, DEARBORN, MICH.,