JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

eta israel
down in face of the danger of starvation. Beta Israel monks
seem to have been especially hard hit. Certainly, none of the
travelers who visited Ethiopia in the late 19th or early 20th century
viewed them any longer as the central pillars of Beta Israel
religiosity. Priests (qessotch) and elders had, by this time, become
the new communal leaders.
1904–1936: Faitlovitch and His Students
The arrival of Jacques *Faitlovitch in Ethiopia in 1904 marks
another turning point in the history of the Beta Israel. Although
Faitlovitch’s teacher, Joseph *Halévy, was the first
practicing European Jew to visit the Beta Israel, it was only
through the activities of Faitlovitch himself that they were
slowly introduced into the mainstream of world Jewish history.
He was moreover similarly instrumental in beginning the
gradual trend towards the “normalization” of their religious
belief and practice. Processes set in motion by Faitlovitch in
the early 1900s were to reach their culmination in the aliyah of
the majority of the Beta Israel in the decade of the 1980s.
Faitlovitch’s activities were central for an understanding
of the history of the Beta Israel in the 20th century even if his
immediate effect on the majority of the Beta Israel population
should not be overestimated. Either the symbolic impact of
Faitlovitch’s presence in the capital and his closeness to the
Negus or the circulation of his letters written in Amharic, kept
as precious relics by the families that possessed them, played
a role creating imaginary links with the Jewish world among
Beta Israel population living in the villages. The total number
of students who studied in Addis Abeba. Asmara and small
villages’ schools Faitlovitch founded was never very large but
information about new possibilities in education circulated
even among distant villages.
Twenty-five young Beta Israel were educated mostly in
Europe, ten in Palestine and 1 in Egypt. The boys were received
by local Jewish communities and individual rabbis in different
ways, sometimes strongly supported to adapt to the Western
world and other times abandoned due to a lack of money, interest
or commitment. Some of them contracted illnesses and
died such as Solomon Isaac, Yizkiahu Finkas, Abraham Baroch,
Abraham Meir. While, some students such as Ghetié Yirmiahu,
Taamrat Emmanuel, and later Bayyu (Reuben) Isayyas,
Menghestu Isaac, Taddesse Jacob and Yona Bogale used their
education on behalf of their people, many never returned to
the villages which they had left behind. Some of them took
advantage of the opportunities they were offered when Haile
Sellasse regained his power in 1941 and offered them to work
in different ministries in Ethiopia. The primary significance of
Faitlovitch’s efforts for the Beta Israel political structure may
well lie in his attempt to develop a new modernized elite. The
fact that Faitlovitch was very paternalistic and authoritarian
in his decisions regarding the fate of the young Beta Israel he
brought to Europe, imposing the adoption of new Western
Jewish codes and the abandon of the entire Beta Israel culture
for sure influenced the behavior of the future Beta Israel elite
that didn’t always act as expected by Faitlovitch. Certainly,
from Faitlovitch’s time onward an ever-increasing gap existed
between those perceived by outsiders as Ethiopian leaders and
the internal realities of Beta Israel society. In part at least this
gap reflects the differing rates of development between European
and Ethiopian Jewry. The increasingly modernized and
cosmopolitan world Jewish leadership sought their counterparts
in Ethiopia and found them among Faitlovitch’s students.
Thus, a tiny group of urbanized, educated Beta Israel came
to be seen as community representatives. At the same time
in rural Ethiopia the priests and elders continued to dominate
village life and a decentralized pattern of communal organization
persisted. (T. Parfitt, E. Trevisan Semi (eds.) The
Beta Israel in Ethiopia and Israel, Richmond (Surrey) 1999; T.
Parfitt, E. Trevisan Semi (eds.), The Beta Israel: the Birth of an
Elite among the Jews of Ethiopia, 2005)
[Steven Kaplan / Emanuela Trevisan Semi (2nd ed.)]
1935–1941: The Italian Conquest
The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935/36 put a dramatic end
to Faitlovitch’s educational efforts. As Mussolini’s troops approached
Addis Ababa in the spring of 1936, the pupils of the
Faitlovitch school took refuge in the French Legation. After
Taamrat Emmanuel in 1937 was forced to flee the country
Menghestu Isaac took his place as school’s director. The Addis
Ababa school continued to exist in bad conditions until
the end of the occupation maintained by pupils working in
the town. During the period of the Italian occupation a number
of Beta Israel (such as Taamrat Emmanuel and Taddesse
Jacob) distinguished themselves in the patriotic resistance.
Others collaborated with the Italian authorities.
Since Italian policy towards the Beta Israel varied during
the period of their occupation and was itself somewhat selfcontradictory,
its effects on community leadership and organization
were complex. Although the Italians initially considered
the possibility of pursuing a policy towards the Jews of Ethiopia
similar to that exercised in Libya, it soon became clear to
them that the absence of a formal community structure made
this impossible. In the end they were forced to conclude that
“if and when the Jews of Ethiopia will be organized in a community,
they will be required to join the Union of Italian Jewish
Communities.” After promulgating “racial laws” in 1938 in
Italy the Minister of Africa “no longer allowed the involvement
of foreign Jewish organizations in the affairs of the Falashas”
and there was no more an interest in that policy (D. Summerfield,
From Falashas to Ethiopian Jews: The External Influences
for Change c.1860–1960, London and New York, 2003, p.96). In
the meantime, the Beta Israel were considered an oppressed
tribal group “liberated” from the Christian Amhara. Bayyu
(Reuben) Issayas, a former student with administrative experience,
was appointed their chief and awarded the traditional
Ethiopian title of Gerazmach (Commander of the Left Flank).
The Italians appeared to have abolished the land restrictions
that denied the Beta Israel to own land and established an area
for Beta Israel to settle, near Gondar (Wuzeba and Ambober),
linked by the building of roads. During the massacre of 120
504 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3