Themes of Unity and Division in Beta Israel Identity Formation

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Themes of Unity and Division in Beta Israel Identity Formation byproduct of this process was a certain degree of identification with the Christians, exemplified nowhere more clearly than in Asher Naim’s anecdote of Beta Israel women who descended from an aircraft scheduled to depart for Israel and clung to a pair of Ethiopian women whom the Israeli government had determined ineligible to immigrate (in other words, non-Jewish women). 47 The Beta Israel cried that the women were part of their family and that they refused to depart without them. In the end, the women were allowed onboard the plane and into Israel. Underlying this anecdote, as well, is an implicit story regarding the meeting of Western Jews with the Beta Israel. Out of this interaction arose a great deal of discussion in the global Jewish community about what it means to be a Jew, and what precisely constitutes Judaism. A similar reaction occurred within Beta Israel society, as they struggled to situate themselves both within the larger Jewish discourse and outside of it. Unity with Western Judaism and Israel As the global Jewish community and the Beta Israel became increasingly aware of each other’s existence in the twentieth century, both sides attempted to define the Beta Israel within the wider Jewish world, and especially with respect to the nascent Jewish state of Israel. The official stance that Israel took on the origin of the Beta Israel, allowing them to become Israeli citizens under the Law of Return, was that they were ethnic Jews descended from ancient Israelites—specifically, the lost tribe of Dan. 48 This is also the story most modern-day Ethiopian Jews in Israel tell regarding their own origins, thereby validating their position as Israelis and rooting it in the ethos of ancient history. 49 The very name “Beta Israel” assets an Israeli identity This population of Jews has been called by many appellations throughout history, such as “Kayla” and “Falasha,” both of which are now considered derogatory and politically incorrect. 50 In fact, the term “Jew” is an insult in Ethiopia as well— yet the Beta Israel now accept “Ethiopian Jew” as an acceptable label, perhaps in an effort to associate themselves with the greater Jewish community. 51 The Beta Israel’s felt connection to Israel is much more far-reaching than solely choosing a moniker with “Israel” in the title. David Kessler goes so far as to contend that in all of world Jewry, “no section of the people has a stronger attachment to the Holy Land than the Jews of Ethiopia.” 52 13
14 The Monitor - Summer 2010 The Beta Israel’s interest in Jerusalem is evident from an extremely early time in their history. 53 The key events of the Kebra Negast—a unique Ethiopian document—take place in Jerusalem, and all the main characters, the founders of Judaism in Ethiopia, either journey to or reside in the Old City. 54 Later, the nineteenth century witnessed a millennial “back to Jerusalem” movement in Ethiopia, in which a group of Beta Israel attempted—unsuccessfully—to reach Jerusalem through Sudan. 55 The Beta Israel who tell this story today describe the venture as valiant and righteous, yet another example of the Beta Israel’s well-deserved place in Israeli society. In fact, despite the way that the Beta Israel’s exodus was framed as an escape from genocide and persecution, the Beta Israel now deny that an unhappy life in Ethiopia was the reason for the desire to leave. In fact, the Beta Israel and humanitarian groups emphasized famine, illness, war, and persecution by Christians while emergency evacuations were under way in the 1980’s and 1990’s. 56 Yet now the Beta Israel name one particular common reason why it was essential for them to exit Ethiopia: they all wanted to go to Zion. 57 As stated by Zimna Berhane, an Ethiopian-Israeli centrally implicated in the success of Operation Solomon, “[a]ll real Falashas want to go to Jerusalem.” 58 Spoken in this way, it would seem that the condition of being a Beta Israel necessarily involves a desire to make aliyah and to reconnect with this center of global Judaism. Lest it seem that Beta Israel were interested only in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or even in a direct transposing of their sect, unchanged, into an Israeli context, evidence suggests that this narrative is incorrect. By several accounts, the Beta Israel appear to desire assimilation into Israeli society and the global Jewish community. Zimna, in Asher Naim’s 2003 account of Operation Solomon’s coming to fruition, proudly narrates the moment when he began to “think like an Israeli” and when he “knew what it was like to be an Israeli;” he says that after his experience in Israel, he wanted to marry an Israeli girl, and to join the army would “make [him] a complete Israeli.” 59 Naim also describes the procedure practiced by the Beta Israel in Ethiopia, called a clitoridectomy—the surgical removal of the clitoris. He expressed his horror at the practice, along with his certainty that it would be entirely abandoned once the Beta Israel began their new life in Israel. 60 By 2005, his prediction seems to have come true. 61
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Themes of Unity and Division in Beta Israel Identity Formation

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