Beta Israel

Rare card · No. 32838

The Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, are a Jewish group originating in the Amhara and Tigray regions of northern Ethiopia, where they historically inhabited more than 500 small villages. The majority are concentrated in what is today North Gondar Zone, Shire Inda Selassie, Welkait, Tselemti, Dembia, Segelt, Qwara Province, and Belesa. Since their official recognition as Jewish under Israel's Law of Return, most of the Beta Israel have made aliyah from Ethiopia to Israel through several Israeli government initiatives starting in 1979. The history behind the ethnogenesis of the Beta Israel is a matter of dispute. They appear to have been lastingly isolated from broader Jewish communities, having historically practiced a divergent, non-Talmudic form of Judaism, known as Haymanot, that is similar in some respects to Karaite Judaism. Genetic studies show them to cluster closely with non-Jewish Amharas and Tigrayans, with no indications of maternal gene flow with Yemenite Jews in spite of their...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Dunn, Samuel, -1794, Public domain