ISRAEL 11 ■ •• ■ •
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
SHEILA MILLER
DENIECE & BRIAN
CAROLE ROBINER•SHAW
FRED & BEVERLY KANDEL
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year.
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
BEN & EILEEN RUBENS
MR. & MRS. SZMUL JUTKIEWICZ & FAMILY
JUDGE SUSAN MOISEEV
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
STEVEN, LISA, JAMIE, BRYAN & MORGAN BINDER
BOB & STELLA HOLLENDER
We wish our family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
AL & BEVERLY BETZ
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family.
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family.
MEL & BARB RYCUS
Sedona, AZ
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family.
May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and family.
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family.
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity.
To All Our
Relatives
and Friends,
Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness,
health and prosperity.
C ) k .
4
MADELON, LOU, MELISSA &
ADRIANNE SELIGMAN
102
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991
1,11
ANNE & AARON GINSBERG
Holidays Held
Ethiopian Style
LISA SAMIN
Special to The Jewish News
nd in the seventh
month, on the first
day of the month, you
shall have a holy convocation:
you shall do no work; it is a
day of blowing the Shofar un-
to you" (Numbers 29).
Although the Jews were
dispersed for over 2,000 years,
most of the communities were
informed of the addition of
laws and customs to Judaism
and included them in their
daily observance. The Ethio-
pian Jewish community,
however, had no knowledge of
these additions and continued
to practice Judaism exactly as
written in the Torah.
The Torah is the embodi-
ment of Judaism, which over
the centuries has come to in-
clude laws and customs hand-
ed down by the great rabbis:
Halachah. (the laws of
Judaism), the Mishnah (a col-
lection of Jewish traditions),
the Talmud (the authoritative
body of Jewish tradition) and
a vast realm of textual inter-
pretations.
Kesim, the religious leaders
of the Ethiopian Jewish com-
munity, held a similar role to <
the High Priests during the
First Temple period, being
responsible for the Jewish
community's religious obser-
vance. The Torah and all
other religious books were
written in Ge'ez, an ancient
Semitic language in which
prayers and blessings were
also recited. As the kesim are
the only ones who knew
Ge'ez, it was customary for
them to perform the religious
ceremonies and rituals.
The Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur traditions were
practiced much as they are
celebrated in Israel today,
although some have not been
observed here since the
destruction of the First
Temple.
Once chief kes of the Gon-
dar region of Ethiopia, Kes
Rafael Hadane, whose son
Yosef is now the chief rabbi of
the 'Ethiopian Jewish com-
munity in Israel, came to
Israel six years ago in Opera-
tion Moses. A distinguished
spiritual leader, he describes
Rosh Hashanah in Ethiopia:
"The holiday was called
Bacharan Tzark a, which
means 'remember Abraham,'
in memory of the sacrifice of
Isaac. It was a very special
time when all work stopped
and the whole community re-
joiced. "We began our prayers
at the synagogue at sunrise
and people came from all over,