Ethiopian Pictures

These are pictures taken recently of the Beit Avraham community and synagogue in Addis Ababa. These people claim to be the equivalent of marranos but don't want make aliya until they are self supporting.

Comments

Proof they are definitely NOT Jewish: none of them is wearing a plain white shirt, black pants, and black jacket (as all REAL Torah Jews do). None of them have their tzitzit out either. And where are their Borsalinos? Those are all Jewish prerequisites!

(Seriously, though, thank you for posting the pictures of this community.)

[Yochanan]

Why are the ten commandments in Amharic? I'd understand an Amharic translation, but the freakin' Aron HaKodesh in Amharic?

[name withheld]

Regarding:
""""Why are the ten commandments in Amharic? I'd understand an Amharic translation, but the freakin' Aron HaKodesh in Amharic?""""
Because that is what they understand and their Torah is written in that script also BTW there is another script used in a different part of the country. I figure they got separated (first Temple period) from the main body of Judaism before the present script was used.
The original Jewish script looked like old Phoenecian.

[Dave]

If you look on any Samaritan Israelite website, you can see the original Jewish/ Israelite script. I understand that Rabbi Yakov Emden in the 19th century wrote about them, even before modern authors.

Big deal! The Luchos weren't written in Hebrew or Ksav Ashirus either.

[Yochanan]

Yeah, I understand that the original Hebrew script was different than we have today. That was thousands of years ago. I don't think an Aron HaKodesh or Sefer Torah should be written in Amharic, Yiddish, Russian, English, Japanese, whatever. Maybe when they were stuck in the Ethiopian equivalent of the shtetl, they were unaware that Amharic is not the correct language of the Tanach. However, now that they have contact with the rest of world Jewry*, they should update.

*By which I mean ALL world Jewry: Ashkenazim, Sefardim,Mizrachim, Teimanim, and so on.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Why are the ten commandments in Amharic? I'd understand an Amharic translation, but the freakin' Aron HaKodesh in Amharic?

Dear Namesake; I have seen luchot depicted in English, French, etc., or with just Roman numerals (!) to stand for the commandments. It's weird, but I think it's okay for chinuch purposes.

(BTW, Ethiopian Jews used to pray in Ge'ez, a dead language related to Amharic, but they have switched to Hebrew now that they can learn it).

"Dear Namesake; I have seen luchot depicted in English, French, etc., or with just Roman numerals (!) to stand for the commandments. It's weird, but I think it's okay for chinuch purposes."

Dear Fellow Yochanan: Good point. I didn't consider chinuch.

But don't they still use Ge'ez instead of Hebrew in some of their unique traditions like the Sigd festival?

Maybe it's not all bad. Perhaps Ge'ez can function as some sort of alternative Targum.

Which sidetracks me to another point. If it's important to study the Aramaic translation of a pasuk, why not in any other language? Is it because of the relatedness of them? In that case, we should also study Arabic, which is even closer to Hebrew. Maybe in a few hundred years, we'll be studying translations into Russian and English. Who knows.

[Yochanan]

That was me before.

Shmarya, I've noticed that you, like many other bloggers, have a comment verification thingamajig. This was the first time that it explained its purpose: To make sure I'm not some sort of robot.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Yochanan: In fact many early Hebrew poets and grammarians studied Arabic to better understand dikduk. Today, open-minded frum people (like the late Umberto Cassuto, I believe) study comparative Semitics to understand pshat better.

When it comes to tanach and secular literature, I like to look at several different translations. As you cogently point put, translation is a form of interpretation.

[Misnaged]

Look at their tzitziyot: they have the blue thread! This means their tzitzis are kosher while most of the Orthodox all-white are not. Period.

[pushkina]

The liturgical language of all Ethiopians is Ge'ez, an old form of Amharic.

The myth among Ethiopian Jews is this: they had a Torah scroll, written in the precursor language to Hebrew and Aramaic. During the last war of the Jewish kingdom, (imagine, a Jewish kingdom that lasted for over a 1000 years...and not a Herzl or modern zionist in sight...but I digress) fought against a Xtian and Muslim coalition, the last Jewish king, Gideon, ate the scroll, rather than it fall into gentile hands. Needless to say, he ate it and then died. That war and the defeat put an end to the Jewish kingdom and Jewish personal freedoms. Since then, there has been no Torah scroll in any other langauge aside from Ge'ez.

Please keep in kind that the mythic origins of the Ethiopian community (a community of artisans which returned to Cush with the Queen of Sheba) mean that the community is OLDER than even the Hebrew langauge as it is known today.

One of the lesser known things about this community is its extensive liturgical literature which differs greatly from that of normative Judaism. The priestly tradition survives, as well as a monastic, aesthetic tradition. The unmarried monks used to spend their time in contemplation, study and writing while the married priests continued the Sacrificial Cult.

Of course, now that they have gone to Israel (and America) and encountered normative Judaism, all those traditions (after being discounted and ridiculed) will die and disappear.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Pushkina writes:
Of course, now that they have gone to Israel (and America) and encountered normative Judaism, all those traditions (after being discounted and ridiculed) will die and disappear.

There was a time when I said that was a good thing. Now I think it's a tragic loss for Judaism. On a similar note, a friend of mine is Spanish-Portugese. He is doing his best to preserve his traditions, but he says that he is of a dying breed. In "Kaaterskill Falls," by Allegra Goodman (novel), the older, erudite, German born "Yekkes" (who are proud of their knowledge of secular subjects as theya re of their Orthodoxy) are replaced by American born Chareidi-thinking Yekkes. Judaism is becoming homgenized into three flavors of kool aid: Chabad, chareidi, and Reform. None of them taste good to me.

[Melody]

First off! to the european jews who are CERTAINLY NOT! the choosen tribe of dan, abraham,david,moses,issac and for the lord sake, the messiah. In historical fact black jews and people have always loved the messiah,unlike the european jews then and now. Europoean jews are destructive, liars,and frauds! they have stolen every bit of truth from my people,the original hebrews /"Canaanites".I know for a fact that judaism is man made by white jews as well as the talmud. My people are the children of israel throughout the torah/ bible pre-scripted by Yah(god).Not only have the evil deceitful white jews/ palestinea jews jealously raped kemetic- canaan Israel"and claimed it as their resting place for european jews,discluding their forefathers the black jews.European christianity-jewish teaching have stole our rightful place of our idenity,and the world proclaims these false teachings to be taught for hundreds of thousands of years distroying more lost black people around the world.One thing is for sure God loved his choosen children out of ethiopia.
Through our disobedience to him, he cursed the black generation and put thiefs,liars, and evil children to dominate over us for a time. When he comes back to claim his beloved israel that is OURS! all the lies of the star of david,the talmud,the severe oppoppression,the hatered and jealousy of black jews will be no more! and the truth will be revealed and ethiopia whom the lord so loved will strecth out her hand to God and he will respond to his children. And European-white jews will finally have to tell God and their children and their children's children that the moses,david,
abraham,jacob,issac and yahshua(jesus), were and will always be that same blackman you pass on the street with hatered and unforgiveness for,is the same blackman who is the REAL 12TH TRIBE OF DAN!
ETHIOPIA-YAHSRAEL THE TRUTH FOREVER!

[no name]

a really correct and a very good answear!
thanks for the truth.