JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

problematic, economically, socially, and culturally, among all
immigrant groups.
[E. Trevisan Semi (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: W. Leslau (ed.), Beta Israel Anthology; Black
Jews of Ethiopia (1951), incl. bibl.; A.Z. Aescoly, Sefer ha-Falashim
(1943); idem, Recueil de Textes Falachas (1951); C. Conti Rossini, in:
Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 8 (1919–20), 563–610; idem, in: Rendiconti
della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 31 (1922), 221–40; J. Faïtlovitch,
Notes d’un Voyage chez les Falachas (1905); idem, Mota Musē
(Heb. and Fr., 1906); J. Halévy (ed.) Tē’ēzaza Sanbat (Fr. and Ethiopian,
1902); C. Rathjens, Die Juden in Abessinien (1921); L. Stein, Die
Juden in Abessinien (1851); H.A. Stern, Wanderings among the Falashas
in Abyssinia (1862, 19682); E. Ullendorff, The Ethiopians (1960); idem,
in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University
of London, 24 (1961), 419–43; M. Wurmbrand, ibid., 25 (1962), 431–7;
idem, in: JA, 242 (1954), 83–100; idem, in: L’Orient Syrien, 8 (1963),
343–94; C.A. Viterbo, in: Annuario di Studi Ebraici (1935–37), 113–23;
F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, Araber in der Alten Welt, 1 (1964), 127–30;
3 (1966), 18–21, 22; 5 pt. 1 (1968), 2, 133. Add. Bibliography: L.
Anteby-Yemini, Les Juifs éthiopiens en Israel: les paradoxes du paradis
(2004); E. Hertzog, Immigrants and Bureaucrats: Ethiopians in an
Israeli Absorption Center (1999); S. Kaplan, “Black and White, Blue
and White and Beyond the Pale: Ethiopian Jews and the Discourse of
Color in Israel,” in: Jewish Culture and History, 5, 1 (Summer 2002),
51–68; S. Kaplan and H. Salomon, “Ethiopian Jews in Israel: a Part
of the People or Apart from the People?” in: U. Rebhun and C. Waxman
(eds.), Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns
(2003), 118–48; T. Parfitt and E. Trevisan Semi (eds.) The Beta Israel in
Ethiopia and Israel: Studies on the Ethiopian Jews (1999); idem (eds.),
The Beta Israel: the Birth of an Elite among the Jews of Ethiopia (2005);
T. Shwartz, Ethiopian Jewish Immigrants: the Homeland Postponed
(2001); Sh. Swirski and B. Swirski, “Ethiopian Israelis: Housing, Employment,
Education,” in: The Israel Equality Monitor, 11 ( June 2002),
1–45: E. Trevisan Semi, “Hazkarah, a Symbolic Day for the Refoundation
of the Jewish Ethiopian-Community,” in: Jewish Political Science
Review, 17, 1–2 (Spring 2005); Sh. Weil, “Religion, Blood and the
Equality of Rights: the Case of Ethiopian Jews in Israel,” in: International
Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 4 (1997), 397–412.
BET ALFA (Heb. אָפְלַ א תי ּב), ֵ place in Israel in the eastern Jezreel
Valley at the foot of Mount Gilboa. The name is historical
and has been preserved in the Arab designation of the site,
Beit Ilfa, which may have some connection with the proper
name Ilfa or Hilfa which occurs in the Talmud (Ta’an. 21a). The
foundations of an ancient synagogue were discovered in 1929
near Bet Alfa by E.L. *Sukenik and N. *Avigad, who were conducting
excavations on behalf of the Hebrew University. The
synagogue covered an area of 46 × 92 ft. (14 × 28 m) and included
a courtyard, narthex, basilica-type hall with a nave and
two side aisles, and, apparently, a women’s gallery. The apse at
the end of the hall was oriented south toward Jerusalem, and
a small cavity in its floor probably served as a genizah; above
it once stood an ark for Scrolls of the Law. The entire floor of
the structure is paved with mosaics: the courtyard, narthex,
and aisles in simple geometric designs, while the floor of the
nave is decorated with mosaic panels surrounded by a broad
ornamental border. Two inscriptions were found at the en-
bet-anath
trance to the hall: one (in Aramaic) states that the mosaic
was made during the reign of Emperor Justin (undoubtedly
Justin I, 518–27); the other (in Greek) gives the names of the
mosaicists, *Marianos and his son Ḥanina. Symbolic animals
are depicted on either side of the inscriptions: a lion on the
right and a bull on the left. The three mosaic panels in the center
of the hall depict (from north to south): (1) The Offering of
Isaac, which shows Abraham pointing a drawn knife at Isaac
who is bound near an altar; behind Abraham a ram is tied to
a tree, and alongside it appears the inscription “And behold a
ram.” The hand of God is seen between the sun’s rays above;
Abraham’s two servants and donkey stand behind him; a band
of palm trees separate this scene from the next one. (2) The
Signs of the Zodiac, with the sun in the center in the form of a
youth riding a chariot drawn by four horses; each sign has its
Hebrew designation inscribed above it. In the corners appear
the four seasons of the year (Tishri, Tevet, Nisan, Tammuz),
each in the form of the bust of a winged woman adorned with
jewels. (3) The Ark of the Synagogue, in which the ark has a
gable roof with an “eternal light” suspended from its top and
two birds perched at its corners; on either side is a lion with
a seven-branched menorah (candelabrum) and above it and
between them are depicted lulavim (palm branches), etrogim
(citrons), a shofar, and censers. Curtains adorn the scene on
the left and right sides.
The simple but strong style of the mosaic pavement represents
a folk art that appears to have developed among the
Jewish villagers of Galilee. The figures are depicted frontally
and the artist took great pains to make each scene expressive.
The mosaics of Bet Alfa are striking in their coloring and stylization
and are among the finest examples of Jewish art in the
Byzantine period. In 1960 the synagogue structure was renovated
and the pavement repaired by the Israel Government.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
The kibbutz of Bet Alfa was founded in 1922 by pioneers
from Poland. It was the first settlement of the Kibbutz Arẓi
ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa’ir movement. For over 14 years it was the
easternmost village of the Jewish region in the central valleys
and was exposed to Arab attacks in the 1936–39 riots. In 1968
it numbered 670 inhabitants, in the mid 1990 its population
increased to 785 residents, and at the end of 2002 it was 589. Its
economy is based on intensive and diversified farming (field
crops, dairy cattle, and fishery) and industry (thermostats,
trailers, and a quarry).
[Efraim Orni]
Bibliography: E.L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha
(1932); N. Avigad, Bikat Beit She’an (1964), 63–70; E.R. Goodenough,
Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 1 (1953), 241–53;
Roth, Art, 209–13.
BET(H)-ANATH (Heb. תַנֲ ע תי ּב), ֵ Canaanite city named after
the goddess Anath. Beth-Anath may possibly be mentioned in
the list of cities conquered by Thutmosis III in c. 1469 B.C.E.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 509