Judaism in Ethiopia (c.70-present)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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Sources:
Galia Sabar Friedman
"Religion and the Marxist State in Ethiopia: the Case of the Ethiopian Jews"
biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rc...
Religion in Communist Lands, Vol. 17, No. 3
Steven Kaplan
The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia: From Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century
amzn.to/3S7qLRP
Emanuela Trevisan Semi
"Between Italy and Ethiopia, Western and African Judaism: The Story of Taamrat Emmanuel, a Jewish Intellectual from Ethiopia"
www.quest-cdecjournal.it/betw...
Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History, No. 19
0:00 Intro
3:19 Mistaken Origins
5:09 The Egyptian Hypothesis
7:15 The Yemenite Hypothesis
8:23 Late Antiquity
10:13 The Ethiopian Dark Age
12:07 The Beta Israel Golden Age
13:44 The House of Gedawon
16:26 The Gondar Period
17:25 The Missionary Crisis
20:58 Kifu-Qen and Its Aftermath
23:54 World War II
25:06 The Derg and Aliyah
As an Ethiopian Jew, this made me cry and feel happy and proud of my forefather. Thank you for remembering and telling our story, which is often forgotten or ignored by everyone as if we never existed. Thank you so much!
It's just odd to me how long you guys have lived there in ethiopia without being expelled like other jews in other nations.
@@benanjerris6744 Ethiopia was never a unified centralized power as many think so until 13th century after which they started their campaign against the Kingdom of Simien(Ethiopian Jewish region and kingdom) and other neighboring groups for expansion. By 18th century they managed to subjugate us into their empire after much massacres. After that we were othered and seen as subhumans until leaving to Israel.
Many things are forgotten but not due to them being unimportant there's just so many stories so many things to know that inevitably things will be forgotten.
Ben that's an interesting point.
EB94 what a shame. Jews contribute at least as much as others wherever we go, but they'd rather get rid of us than enjoy our contributions.
As an Ethiopian Jew who was born in Ethiopia and now lives in Israel, I thank you for telling the story of my people. Here in Israel they don't talk about the history of the Ethiopian Jews. I heard stories from my family about how they tried to make them convert to Christianity and I heard about some of the terms like falasha. but I never knew how deep our history is. thank you for taking the time and investing in this, it was very interesting and intriguing to hear. I really appreciate it.
Why don't live in Ethiopia
Christianity did not have to convert Jews . Jews could enter of their own free will.
@@muhammedjaseemshajeef6781because Israel is the homeland of all Jews
🇸🇴❤️🇪🇹
I’m an argentine jew in Israel. They don’t talk about us too. The same for anyone else.
As an Ethiopian that loves Ethiopian history this might be the best video I’ve ever seen on Beta Israel. I read a really good book on them and it touched on a lot of these topics.
My favorite thing about this is that it speaks on the high points of Ethiopian Jews. Oftentimes they are presented as a perpetually hopeless group when they had agency and were extremely vital contributors to Ethiopian society.
What’s really sad to me is that the Derg sold them for weapons in a losing war. I really wish Ethiopia could play host to a successful and vibrant Beta Israel community again. To me, they’ll always have a home in Ethiopia. And Ethiopians today would be well served to embrace what little of the community is left as brothers and sisters.
Do you live in Ethiopia or in a diaspora?
I just ate at a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant in Louisville last week. The owner is a Jewish Ethiopian from Gonder. Fascinating and kind fellow. His daughter lives in Israel. Some of the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever had.
Amhara Jewish from Gonder of Ethiopia
@@negusofminjar8290 amazing abysinnia history (tarik)
@@rasheedjamal9091 (Doro Wet)
@@mastery2811 yeah I meant wat.
@@rasheedjamal9091
Doro Wot
Beta Israel is one of the greatest stories of our people I'm so glad you covered them
Bet israel not beta
@@ogun9645 What do you want from her ??????? Do you have anything against Askenazis ?????????????????????
I knew that there were Jews in Ethiopia but to see this level of detail and explanation of the entire situation from the past and present is pretty amazing. It's interesting to see how they were able to retain their Jewish identity after being illiterate for so long as well. Thank you for being a part of this collaboration!
good evening from Israel
I have been following your amazing channel for quite some time and I am happy to see you here as well
I would appreciate it if you could make a video about Ethiopian Jews or North African Jews
Ah
And I heard that there is in America
An extreme cult called "Black Hebrew Israelites"
and that they are trying to appropriate the identity of the Jewish people for themselves
I would be very happy if you could make a video of them
In any case Shabbat Shalom (=
@@israeliteforpeace7246 isn’t this because of the Rasta traditions/religious customs that view Halie Salassie as a Devine figure/messianic figure? I know in Rasta they use a slightly different version of the Lion of Judah and Star of David but they see themselves as Israelites
Contrary to this hogwash Zio-atheistic propoganda video, Ethopian "Jews" are the onIy jews in lsrael.
@@1HuntingShark u r right about rasta but its not direct connected with falasha or the beta israel
@@svenkonig778 i knew that but thank you for the clarification
One of the most unique weddings I've been to, was of a couple of friends, one of Ethiopian and the other of Russian origins. An Ashkenazi Rabbi and a Beta Israel Kes both took turns saying the blessings in Hebrew and Ge'ez. It was absolutely amazing.
You do know Hebrew originated from Geez as well as Arabic. Geez is a semite language and the first one the Bible mentions. The adamites possibly might have been speaking this dialect.
@@johnstephanos1128
Those three languages are Semitic, and they have a common ancestor, but they are not derived from each other.
@@EladLerner Old Hebrew is believed by scholars to be the one written on the book of Enoch. Geez is the old Hebrew language. Its the oldest language and humanities language before the Babel tower was built.
@@johnstephanos1128 Lol what? Most actual researchers of the Semitic languages say that the original Semitic "split" happend in Northern Syria/Iraq/Southern Turkey(East Semitic family splitting off),the Semitic languages of Africa came MUCH later and from South Arabia which themselves diverged far of from the West Semitic(Arabic/Aramaic/Caanenite/Hebrew),not of your claims make sense.
@@yakov95000 OK, research on Geez. This is an ancient Ethiopian language used over 5000 years ago. It is older than any semite language. Geez is the first Semitic language and the first language of man kind. Its humanities first language. This should make alot more sense.
My dad grew up in Albany. Outside one of chabad shuls was huge sign which said: "SAVE THE JEWS OF ETHIOPIA AND THE SOVIET UNION!" My dad never thought he'd see the day where the signs were taken down.
As an Ethiopian Jew who were born in Israel, I want to thank you for covering this topic.
Great video, very detailed and enriching.
People don’t understand how much Beta Israel sacrificed to fulfill the dream of returning to Israel, just this part of history needs a video of it’s own.
I'm a Halabi Jew but I've always been fascinated with the Beta Israel. We are lucky to have them.
🇪🇹🇮🇱💙
Love Ethiopia and Israel from Somalia
🇸🇴❤️🇪🇹
@JustinYiseverywhere Thank you, my brother, may G-d bless Somalia.
@@EzraB123Free Palestine 🇪🇹❤️🇵🇸
@@purpleblastoise Fake country that never existed.
@@purpleblastoisewhy spend your last days on earth watching internet videos
Love when African history gets this much detail and deep discussion. Definitely something we don't see enough of, especially in more public facing media. Good vid.
@Big Niggs *bantu* is such redundant classification
@Big Niggs you are the one inserting bantus into it, if you want more content on non bantu african history, make some
@Big Niggs the point of the comment is that the entire continent is not discussed enough in detail. You're the only one "bantu washing" by equivocating the term "African" with Bantus. Bugger off.
African history is super interesting. Especially pre Europeean domination.
@Big Niggs He didn’t even say the word "Bantu" but thanks for telling everyone that your racist.
it was an amazing experience to be working with you on this video, really love how the video came out!!!
shana tova!!
Very interesting and informative video. Thank you.
In Ethiopian Historiography it wasn't Emperor Kaleb that turned against the Jews in Aksum after his victory against Dhu-Nuwas (Finhas/Pinchas). It is written that Emperor Kaleb had two sons. The Elder was called "Bete Israel" (House of Israel) and the younger was called "Gebre Mesqel" (Servant of the Cross). The elder brother was the rightful inheriter of the throne, but Kaleb had him made viceroy in Yemen, while installing Gebre Mesqel as the ruler of Aksum. This led to a civil war which Gebre Meskel won and the followers of Bete Israel were banished to the remote Semien mountains. Of course Bete Israel stands for the Jews and Gebre Mesqel for the Christians.
The other interesting fact is that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church preserves many traditions, which can be seen as having Jewish roots (dietary laws, circumcision, keeping the Sabbath day holy, reverence to the Ark of the Covenant). Of course there is a debate on whether these traditions are of Jewish origin, local origin, or whether they were just inspired by the old testament).
It's because Christianity is a fake religion ,the man called Jesus was a jew who was rejected by his own people. Anybody who claimed to truly follow Jesus must surely observe the old testament to be qualified as a follower of Jesus if Jesus were to b3 alive.
Thank you for this!!!! I’ve always admired them so much and it’s so hard to find consistent and detailed info. I’m an adopted Jew. It was hard being the only black person in an ashkenazi community. I knew there were other black Jews and no one ever ever implied I wasn’t Jewish at all but when I got older I started to develop a sense of imposter syndrome about it all. I ended up back w my birth family eventually which isolated me from any other Jews as well which really didn’t help. Learning of beta Israel and the Igbo has helped rid me of that feeling a lot and it’s truly an inspiration to finally see someone put out a well thought out and organized video on the topic. You’re whole channel is a blessing to me
Similar story here, bro
What about the Igbo?
@@MK-we9sw there’s a minority group amongst the Kenyan Igbo tribe that practices mainstream Judaism and claims to be descended from one of the lost tribes. I think it’s still being debated as to whether or not there’s a scientific basis for the claim but it’s still interesting nonetheless
@@kingkhepri8988 i don't think Kenya has a group called Igbo.
@@kingkhepri8988 that's Nigeria bro
That’s why if you’re Ethiopian Amhara orthodox or Jew you love Israel 🇮🇱 it’s synonymous with who we’re. We love and worry about Israel. We’re happy when great things happen worry when we hear bad news. Israel is our love and pride!
May god protect and bless Israel 🇮🇱
I hope more Jews move to Amhara regions and reestablish relationships.
Amen’
Most amhara was jew before just converd to Christian
all Tewahdo Orthodox Christians support Israel ✝🤝✡
Amen
It is interesting to see how religions were practiced in different countries!
It blows my mind that there was a Jewish state in Africa during the Spanish Inquisition. The last one before the State of Israel was established
As a Kenyan, I’ve always been fascinated by Beta Jews in Ethiopia. This was a great documentary and it answered a lot of questions that I’ve always had.
Thanks.
In actual fact they are converted Agew tribesmen. DNA confirms this.
@@MeirHarZion34 All Africans are bible converts
@@MeirHarZion34 Doesn't matter if it's true or not. If it did, conversion to Judaism wouldn't be allowed.
@@MeirHarZion34 How can they have converted if they practiced Judaism for thousands of years? The first baptized Christian was an Ethiopian Eunich in Acts in the first century and he was already a jew. Ethiopians aren't gentiles their the real Israelites.
@@MeirHarZion34 Ethiopians were Christians long before Europeans had any idea about Jesus Christ or any form or religion
I recall when I was in college in the mid '80's there was an airlift of "Falashas" to Israel. I don't recall the details except that there was a lot of to-do about it in the press and my world history teacher who was Jewish hailing them as "direct descendants of the Queen of Sheba." Hard not to be impressed. I was therefore surprised to learn that there was yet another airlift in '91 and that the history of these people was nothing like what we'd been told. I think this video is your best yet.
I recently got some insight in the Beta Israel community here in Israel and they are amazing. I love our Ethiopian brothers and sisters and hope to get closer to this community
But they are discriminated against and made to live I. Ghettos
Could you please make a video with the Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews community in Israel? I would like to see how the young generation is integrated and their parents hopefully adjusting to the Holy land. Thank you.
Please cover about them because what I saw previously is only negative things about their condition in Israel as if they didn’t belong to it and want to go back to Ethiopia. I really dislike learning toxic and pessimistic nature of presentation as first impression.
@@valencia81750 thats not true at all
@@yoav_-uj3qk do you live there?
I hate that I was never taught about the Beta Israel, considering I was in a Conservative Hebrew School until I was 11. I only learned of their existence in my teen years. Thank you for this much needed lesson Sam, from one West Coast Jew to another.
Lucky you I lived in Ireland born in 1948 Yes I heard about Jews a few lines only Chosen People and that was enough. Never was told about Islam, Arabs, Budhists, I started to learn when I moved to England. I hadn't heard of WW1 and WW11 and Communism until I landed in Australia.
@@janettedavis6627 Oh don't get me wrong, I know learning what I did growing up was fortunate. The internet alone was (and is) a blessing in that regard. But I'm always happy to learn more and I just wanted to express my gratitude to the video's creator.
This is a great level of detail. I'm particularly delighted that you addressed the common myths surrounding Beta Israel.
Love that you and UsefulCharts posted something about Africa/Ethiopia on the same day! Always a joy to catch up on your new videos 🥰
I celebrated Sigd last year! It was great, I'm glad it's becoming more widespread.
I have never seen such a detailed map of the horn of Africa
constantly blown away by the quality of your material. blown away.
It seems like everything went poorly for Ethiopia after Emeperor Hallie Saleise was assassinated.
Yeah. But a lot of things went poorly even during Haile Selassie era. Colonization attempt by Italy, a rebellion from the north, a famine in the Wollo and Tigre provinces. Lots of issues unfortunately :(
@@phoenix2.020 And now a damn civil war. Ugh.
@@GeneralLocooo yeah unfortunately. Hopefully it can end sooner rather than later. I'm sure things will be fine eventually.
He killed many jews he was the problem olso killed others tribs and was bad most ethiopian so if you not ethiopia you thought like that
Ethiopia always stood alone.
Wow Sam, amazing work and fantastic presentation all around. I’m blown away by the uniqueness and determined perseverance of Beta Israel against all odds, and I thoroughly loved learning about this fascinating part of the Jewish world. Easily one of your best videos yet!
fascinating stuff, and a super well made video as well. Looks like I've got a whole lot of videos to check out in your backlog!
I've really missed these kinds of videos, another wonderful edition!
This is the most informative and clear video about the Beta Israel that I've seen. Very good work!
I am an Israeli Ethiopian Jew
Your video is very interesting and cool
There were things in the video that I didn't know about my community haha.
חג שמח אחי
@@Vigoda.D חג שמח
Love from USA bro
@@EzraB123 thanks bro
How is the treatment of Ethiopians in Israel ?
Although I've been studying Africa for more than a decade, I still have a lot to learn. Thanks for teaching us about the Jewish people in Ethiopia.
P.S. I thought I was going to make the longest video in the collab but you win this round my friend 😉
Thanks! But the videos have been too long lately. Great for the viewers, terrible for my mental and physical health.
@@SamAronow Your health is more important than our enjoyment! You can always scale down video length and take breaks.
Learning about the Jews of Ethiopia was maybe the first time that political geography, and especially the stories of non-national ethnic groups (that is, ethnic groups without their own state) became so fascinating to me. We never hear of them, at least not in mainstream historical and political circles and so learning these stories, their histories, their geographies, became a constant draw for me.
This was super educational Sam. Thank you so much for sharing!!
You put a lot effort in your videos and I really appreciate that. I didn't know much about the Jewish history before I discovered your channel but boy, am I happy that I did.
This was very interesting! I sent this to my Israeli friend. Her father is quite the history buff, so I thought he might like it. Great job!
Another really really good one, very interesting and thanks a bunch sammy.
What an amazing and interesting video, thanks for covering this :) I have learnt plenty over the last 30 minutes
Amazing and great explanation. Never knew any of this
Thank you for yet another fascinating and educational video
Damn, released just as I was writing a virtual identical script on the Beta Israel. Guess I'll have to change some things up lol. In all seriousness, great video as always mate.
Are you gonna touch on the Lemba at any point?
A fantastic video. Love your channel’s content 👍
Praying for peace and blessings on you Ethiopia.
Thanks for sharing. This and many more need to be discussed.
Thank you for this episode. I am a Anglican Church Member but as my oldest son was doing research into our ancestry he found several things. First he found that our family (on both sides) had connection to the Spanish Conquesta of Mexico with my mother's side founding a section of what would become Moralia in Michucan. My father's family were also part of the founders of New Mexico. He found a censes document that showed our great great grand father was alive in the 1870 censes born in 1774, living as a citizen of three different countries without moving. We also have learned that the area he grow up in was where many converso had move to. We bare in our flesh the Abrahamic Covenant. Though not crypto Jews we very much support other aspects of Kosher foods as we favor avoiding pork, eating beef, lamb, not so much goat, chicken and Turkey, and fish. Before all this research we had thought our father's family was from northern Mexico proper. New Mexico had a similar status like Mexico to the Crown of Spain being a separate colony to Spain with a history of being set up twice by Converso.
17:55 This is obviously horrible but also hilarious in a way. "The Vampiric Werehyenas" would be a good name for a band or something.
Seriously though, I knew this video was going to be good, but it turned out even more awesome than I expected.
Fascinating display of fascinating history. Thanks for uploading!
Great presentation as always, would be really interested in know what's in the additional books @12:56
Truth and accuracy in telling history are so important. Continued excellent work in clarifying what is known..what is/was thought or understood, and even mis-understood. Even in the detail that more arrived in Israel from Ethiopia by foot than even in the airlifts. Didn't know that before. So thanks again and each time for your work on these.
This was outstanding! Learned a lot.
Thanks.
Fantastic opening. Dude, totally worked.
Great and very interesting video - although at the beginning I was distracted for a while by thinking: "... Is that music from Mass Effect...?"
Completely fascinating... Thank you! 🙏
Great Video! Thank You
It is always a highlight of my week when a new video is made by you!
Great video as usual.
The Jewish people are all over the world. I was fascinated that I an African American had Jewish ancestry . I was told she was a Russian Jew. I was surprised to find that I had ancestry in Levant. The mystery or rather curious to me is how did Bantu and Jewish culture interacted in the past
It is amazing Beta Israel even survived to the present after all the aggressive attempts to wiping them out, which all failed.
Such a fascinating history that too oftenly is either approached in a too slightly way if not almost omitted.
What is the song that starts at 22:55? Great video by the way, keep up the good work!
bro this is some serious quality work, kudos
Great video!
A great video. It made me late logging in for work.
Big Respekt From 🇪🇹!!! Keep it up!!! #AfricaUnite #OneLove
Well done. This story has been told with lots of variation. It seems you've done an objective study.
Thank you so much for this video!
highly courius to eventually see you cover North Africa
especially with how you'll divide it
if I had to guess
Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
I've covered Egypt on multiple occasions! And spoiler alert: Algeria will become relevant soon. And I'm pretty certain where Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya will fit in.
I have always wanted to learn about the beta isreal thank you for this well researched video
23:42
I've seen him on stage during the Sigd celebration in Karmiel few years ago!
כמה חיכיתי לזה!
ለእስራኤል ልጆች ለዘላለም ይኑሩ!
Very interesting video, thank you!
I once asked a 10-year old Eritrean Coptic boy to recite the prayer "the Sign of the Cross" in Ge'ez and I repeated it in Hebrew. Each recognized every word of the other's recital and one word was different: Spirit. In Ge'ez it is ?Aash, or עש, fire while in Hebrew it is Ruach, or רוח, Wind. This suggests the influence of the Greek schools of philosophy of the early Roman Empire who at the time were deciding if a soul existed and if so what was it?
בשם האב ובבן וברוח הכדוש
Fascinating. Shows how connected Ethiopia was to the Greek cultural and trading world. Remained that way until the rise of Islam/Ethiopian dark ages
What an excellent video! Cheers mate
i found out recently the black side of my family from jamacia has a decent percentage of ethiopian jew mixed with mandika people in them. so im on a journey to try to learn abit about that. ty for putting this together.
Very dramatic intro. Two thumbs up.
@Sam Arrow.I enjoy your content but would like to look deeper.Would it be possible to list the sources where you found your historical evidence. Thanks
Best Beta Israel explanation I came across!
Great video. You filled a lot of historical gaps that I had. I just wish that you would have touched a little bit on the Ark!
Excellent Teaching of History: Explains a lot about previous events that lead to the present time. We often forget that the study of Changing times took place in gradual steps, ours is to mind the present so that we cannot turn the clocks or deter progress. As one teacher (Dr Maya Angelou) once said, " he who doesn't learn from History is bound to repeat it ". We study the Times in order to preserve coming generations.
So good! Thanks Sam!
5:09 been so long since I heard that bell
Ron Ben Yishai makes a particularly interesting claim in one of his books about the immigration of Jews in the 1990's and the weapon transfers, at the time he was in Ethiopia covering the war for the news and apparently played an unofficial role in the diplomacy between the 2 states.
He says that the decision to launch a covert IDF mass transfer operation was primarily because of the dictators request from Israel to transfer them chemical weapons, which Israel did not have and was not willing to give them regardless.
Happy to see this video, especially after RfB's mischaracterization of Ethiopian Judaism in his recent video
who is Rfb?
@@footballfan5462 Religion for Breakfast
@@raguelelnaqum Rfb is usually extremely careful to do proper research and present it respectfully. Can you tell me which video you take issue with and why?
@@joelabraham9456 I understand your misdoubt, but I'm not talking out of my ass. The video in question is below
th-cam.com/video/Ui9hAYGi4k8/w-d-xo.html
In this video he characterizes Ethiopian Judaism as being based in Solomonic Replacement Theology akin to the Mormon's own replacement theology. As the video by Sam explains, and several other videos, articles & media long before RfB made his video, Ethiopian Judaism existed long before the Solomonic dynasty took power.
I like RfB too, but he does sometimes make mistakes like this. There's been genetic & archeological evidence that refuted his assertion for decades.
wonderful video
Liked and Subscribed
I have a question, where did you get the DNA graph from? And I’m not aware is that modern Jewish population in comparison to ancient samples?
And I'd like to know what the acronyms that the gene is named after mean. Europe LBNA; Megiddo MLBA!?
it's comparing jews to ancient levantine samples and ethiopian jews are 20 percent levant.
Will you be making a video on Jews in the Sahara and Sahel? Hunwick wrote a short study of the Jews of Tamantit and there are some references on Jews in Timbuktu and the Sahel.
I don't discuss my plans for future videos because (1) it would be impossible to cover everything that people ask about and (2) plans can change due to research, personal life, etc.
About a year ago, I considered doing a whole trilogy on sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, West Africa, and South Africa), but after the experience of making the Silk Road Trilogy, I realized the workload for three consecutive specials was at best debilitating and at worst literally impossible. But West Africa is a topic I'd definitely like to come back to.
The bouncy little background music for the Ehtopian Dark Age is a poor choice, as it is heavily used by Extra Credits, including their history videos.
Being an African American Jew is hard but watching this made me a proud Jew shalom.
It's Yes-haq (or really Yeś-ḥaq) not Yesh-aq. It's the Geez version of יצחק.
Thanks for taking the time to research the very complex history of the Ethiopian Jewish people.
It is an informative video and I like it very much.
But please correct the family tree diagram of "Dawit vs Seblewengel". A father become a son.
I enjoyed that. Todah raba / Diolch yn fawr.
Very informative.
Im ashkenazi and im fascinated with the story of the ethiopian jews and im proud they are my brothers and sisters!
Is there any book or video with individual Ethiopian Jews' stories gathered together?
What sources did you use for the history? Wikipedia calls the Kingdom of Simien "probably legendary".
The medieval kingdom, yes, I would agree that it's probably legendary, which is why I didn't actually include it. However, the early modern de facto polity of Semien was very much real, and the Gedawons probably promoted the idea of a medieval kingdom to boost their prestige and legitimacy; as Jews they weren't considered a formal component of the Ethiopian aristocracy.
@@SamAronow not only Simien but even Shire was Jewish Kingdom that spanned to Lake Tana
bruh, you dead ass have the TRAP-BATH split, and your THOUGHT vowel is so intense, including the CLOTH set but not the LOT set, which is to be expected on North America, but still.