OK, I was hoping someone else would bring this up, and I apologize in advance for any insensitivity I demonstrate by way of my goyishness.
Here goes: Are Ethiopian Jews Jews? It is my understanding that there are two groups of Ethiopian (potential) Jewry. First, the group that (by and large) emigrated to Israel in the early 90’s. This group (again, by and large) practices Biblical Judaism (Temple Judaism?). The primary argument against this group’s claimed Judaism is that, due to their long isolation, they do not follow the Talmud.
The second group is still in Ethiopia. This group (whose name I forget - there was a recent NYTimes article on them, which I will try to dig up) converted from (Ethiopian Biblical) Judaism to escape persecution but are now coming back to the faith. So far, this group has tried to emigrate to Israel, but have been denied the right to return.
What’s the deal? IIRC, you’re still Jewish even if you leave the faith. (Now Sua treads carefully) Isn’t this, at least to some extent, racism? As I understand it, if you’re Russian, you can emigrate to Israel if you know a few good rabbi jokes.
My (admitted limited) understanding of the problem is that it’s unclear whether the people now in Ethiopia are indeed converted Jews who want to return… or simply Christians who are pretending to be Jewish so as to get the heck out of Ethiopia. The general feeling is that all Jews were evacuated in the great airlift operation.
The “Jewishness” of the Biblical Judaism was not at doubt because it wasn’t Talmudic… there was doubt whether it was, in fact, Biblical. However, those were people who faced persecution rather than convert, and therefore Israel ruled that they were Jews, regardless of any dubiousness about their lineage claim.
For the people who are currently in Ethiopia trying to get out, the lineage claims are dubious and they haven’t “faced persecution rather than convert” – in fact, they converted. Therefore, Israel is not willing to accept them as Jews.
This is not to say that they are not in dire plights. But there are lots of peoples in dire plight.
Not a determining factor. Karaites reject not only the Talmud, but the Oral Law, and it is not doubted that they’re Jews (heterodox ones, in the eyes of rabbinic Judaism, but Jews).
Subject to the corrections of CkDextHavvn, cmkeller, and others better educated in this subject than myself, it may be appropriate to point out what the Talmud is and is not. It is comprised of the Mishnah (terse Hebrew statements of the Halakhah, or normative law, as discussed by the Tanna’im (rabbis from sometime after Ezra’s time up to the end of the second century CE)), and the Gemaras (discusion of the Mishnayot (plural of Mishnah) by the Amora’im (rabbis from the third to sixth centuries), mostly in Aramaic). The Gemaras also contain a lot of Aggadah, or non-normative material. There are actually two Gemaras and two Talmuds: the Babylonian (BT or Talmud Bavli) and Jerusalem (JT or Talmud Yerushalmi); the Talmud Bavli, being reacted later and being more complete, is considered the more authoritative, and is the one meant when “Talmud” unqualified is mentioned.
And that’s it! The Talmud is not “sacred” in any sense (save that it discusses sacred subjects), nor is it considered “inspired” in the sense that Christians generally consider Paul’s letters inspired. It is a work of centuries, to which thousands undoubtedly contributed (if only the greatest are named in it).
To the OP: The general consensus seems to be that they definitely have some Jewish roots. To what degree, no one is completely certain.
akatsukami:
I don’t think that’s true. The Talmud is (According to Orthodox Judaism) the Oral Torah written down, and thus, is considered sacred. In addition, (most of) the laws contained in it are referenced to their sources in the Written Torah, giving it a more concrete connection to the sacred scriptures.
This, on the other hand, I’ll admit is true. The authors of the Talmud did not write through divine inspiration (like those of the Scriptures did), but rather, through remembering what they’d been taught.
Finally! A topic I really know about! (I took a course on Ethiopian Jewry when I was in Israel). The Ethiopian Jews are considered Jews because the Israeli rabbinate has declared them to be the lost tribe of Dan. There is almost nothing to substantiate this claim, but whatever. Historically, the Beta Yisrael (the EJs’ own name for themselves; it means ‘house of Israel’ in Amharic) claimed their Judaism on the basis that they are the descendents of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, which would be a pretty good way out for the rabbis, except that ALL Ethiopians make the same claim. (Ethiopian Christianity is very different from Western Christianity and follows the Old Testament to a much higher degree.)
The Falas Mura, the Jewish-Christians, remain in Ethiopia for reasons already stated. Israelis are very hesitant to allow in a lot of people who have crosses tattooed to their foreheads.
As for the contrast with the Russian experience…yeah, there is definitely racism involved. The most notable example is what’s called the Parashat HaAdam, or the Blood Affair, in which it was discovered that the Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, had been regularly throwing out the donated blood of Ethiopians. They claimed that there was a higher rate of HIV infection among the EJs, and rather than test all the blood, they tossed it out. Of course, the Ethiopians were the only ethnic group that had been tested for HIV as a group (upon their aliyah), so there was nothing to compare the statistics against. The whole thing sparked a riot. All EJs are required to convert to Orthodox Judaism to be married in a Jewish wedding - except in the town of Netanya, which means that a lot of people go there to get married. Additionally, a great number of the Russians who have immigrated to Israel are Christians and have almost no link to Judaism (ie, you can make aliyah if you’re married to someone with one Jewish grandparent), and they left for no other reason that to get the heck out of Russia, so the situation is fairly comparable in that respect.
Wow, nice work, Kyla. You pretty much closed the book on that one. Might I ask a couple of follow ups?
I have heard of a particular group of Europeans who were forced to convert to Christianity during to the Inquisition, I think in either France or Spain. They secretly maintained their original faith, but over the generations it degraded until the only remaining practice involved showing their children a menorah on Christmas eve. Would these people be considered “Jewish” by Israel? (Please excuse my poor recollection.)
Second, and more basic, is there a simple definition of “Jewish?” I find it difficult to explain to people that only a part of being an American Indian involves genealogical descent, and I sense a similar occurence here, where the definition itself is called into question along “raciallist” lines.
I’ll be happy to drop these questions into a new thread if anyone takes aversion to my hijacking, but it looks like a few citations will seal this one up well.
The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. Those that didn’t leave (unimportant but interesting side note: most went to Morocco) kind of converted to Judaism, and are called Marranos. Basically, this happened so long ago that most Jewish traditions, even ones as minor as displaying a menorah, were eventually lost, and most Marranos became Catholics. So even if they knew their own heritage, yes, they would be required to convert to Judaism to suit Israel’s standards. Making aliyah generally requires some kind of proof that one is Jewish, and if your family has practiced Catholicism for 400 years, you probably don’t have very much.
Anecdotal evidence: in Israel, I knew a Puerto Rican Marrana. She was raised Protestant, and discovered her Jewish roots when she was a teenager. Her older brother decided to make aliyah, and was indeed required to convert to Judaism to do so, and she eventually decided to do the same.
On the definition of who is a Jew, it’s fairly simple to state, but fairly complicated to administer. And the administration is necessary because, under Israeli law, any Jew has the right to “return” to Israel and receive instant citizenship.
On the question of the “hidden Jews”, those Spanish and Portuguese Jews who converted to Christianity under threats of death by the Inquistion… but who still practiced some Jewish rituals. The rituals were handed down as “secret” from generation to generation, and the reasons behind them faded from memory over centuries. Those people are Christians, and generally have expressed no desire to become Jews, regardless of possible (but unprovable) ancestry.
i’m only doing the searchin myself now, but i’ve heard about other “lost tribes” existing in Iran, India, and Pakistan, is there any claim to those as being even close to truth now? or is that just a rumour i’ve heard.
again, i am only searching the net for this now… but anyone elses input would be appreciated.
duh!
don’t know why i never searched the SDMB forum?!? :rolleyes:
oy.
thanx CKDex, as always, you, CMK, SDimbert, PLDen, are always a help in my lost teachings of Judaism. Yeshiva went in one ear and out the other for me.
