By Assta B. Gettu
The Ethiopian Jewish history is not a romantic history like the history of Romeo and Juliet; it is a religious history – a divine message, a revelation from the Almighty God, who purposely brought these children of God from his earthly city – Jerusalem – to Ethiopia almost thousands years ago.
The Ethiopian Jewish history is a well known fact that one does not have to dig deeper to find out the validity of this glorious Ethiopian Jewish history. The history of Ethiopia is the history of the Ethiopian Jewish people. If someone wants to know more about the reality of the Ethiopian Jewish history, one must read the Ethiopian prayer books among many others; one cannot read these prayer books without coming across, many times, these sweet words: “Amlake-Israel” (the God of Israel); also, one should read especially “saatat” the hourly or nightly prayer of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and one can see how many times “the God of Israel” has been mentioned there.
The writer of the article — Digging deeper in Ethiopia for the Jewish story — was dumbfounded when he descried among the “dirty and time-eaten prayer books” a collection of shehita whom he thought that someone had unknowingly “checked in the shehita book” and shipped it to Ethiopia. Could the same thing also be said about the Ark of the Covenant that when King Solomon ordered thousands of Jews to accompany his first Son, Menelik I, to Ethiopia, some of these Jews who were in a hurry because the King’s order was urgent, unknowingly chucked in the Ark of the Covenant and brought it with them to Ethiopia? It is possible it could have happened this way instead of saying that they had stolen the Ark.
I don’t think, according to Anshel Pefeffen, 24 hours is enough to understand and comprehend the over thousands years of Jewish history in Ethiopia; it may take, instead of 24 hours, 24 years to cover this religious message. Of course, it would take less than 24 hours if it were a romantic message, but it is a religious message that can be examined and written by religious people – God’s people only – people inspired by the spirit of God because they are writing about the history of the holy people of the Holy God – the Ethiopian Jews.
One does not need an evidence to connect the Ethiopian Jews to the scattered and cursed branches of the white people of the Israeli Jews; rather, the scattered white Israeli Jews must find evidence that connects them to the true Ethiopian Jews; these white Israeli Jews are the ones who have been contaminated with the gentile world, but the Ethiopian Jews have never been defiled; God has kept them holy, undefiled, and sacred for himself in Ethiopia, a religious country, thanks to the Ethiopian Jews.
The Ethiopian Jews have always been the Ethiopian Jews; they are not a sect, as the author of the article assumes they are; they did not come out of Christianity; in fact, Christianity came out of their religion – Judaism. They have been a big religious Jewish organization with their Ark of the Covenant, the Bible, the Sabbath, and with all the Jewish rituals for thousands of years, and God kept them that way for his own divine purpose.
The author of the article is wrong again when he believes that the Ethiopian Bible is the Kebre Negest; the Kebre Negest is not a holy book; it is a book about the achievements or successes of the Ethiopian kings, and it can be changed or amended whenever a new evidence pops up about a certain king; however, the Ethiopian holy Bible (81of them) cannot be changed; because it is a God-inspired book, written by Godly people and “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.”
As some people say, including the writer of the article, we cannot say for sure that the Ethiopian Jews as a lost tribe; they have never been lost; they have been living in Ethiopia for thousands of years: they were sent to Ethiopia by the Almighty God for a mission – to bring Judaism, belief in one God – to Ethiopia. While they are living in Ethiopia, they have never forgotten their origin – Jerusalem – and they have always been looking, instead of to Axum Zion, to Jerusalem, and, I hope, those Ethiopian Jews who are now in Jerusalem, are at present looking to the real Jerusalem where St. John in the book of the Revelation describes as the Holy city, the new Jerusalem (21:2). Such hope of the Ethiopian Jews has a religious appeal, not a romantic effect.
To some of us who do not know much about the history of the Ethiopian Jews, the Bete Israel or Ambober in Gondar may seem a very small place, almost insignificant, but we must remember that it is not the smallness of a place that matters but the history of that small place that matters the most. For example, for us Christians, what happened 2,000 years ago in a small place, less significant than any other places in Judea, called Bethlehem is more important than what happened in Germany in World War II. It was for such a small place that the Jewish Prophet Micah prophesied: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (5:2). So, Ambober or Bete Israel is very significant in the history of the Ethiopian Jews, even though what we find today at Ambober, a Jewish village, is only tuckul and old buildings, but one day, I will predict, this abandoned Ethiopian Jewish village will be a Mecca of the Ethiopian Jews.
Eldad Hadani or Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has nothing to do with the Ethiopian Jews whom the Almighty God brought them to Ethiopia from Jerusalem for his won purpose, and no one cares whether these Ethiopian Jews belong to Dan or to Joseph or to Ephraim tribe. We know they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and more than that they are the chosen children of God, and that is what it matters. Let the white Israeli Jews find their Dans, Benjimines, Josephs, Calebs, etc. The Ethiopian Jews belong to God only, not to any tribe or sect. Right now, if the white Israeli Jews say to God: “Dear God, we are the only true Jews left on this earth,” and God would tell them: “You are wrong; I have thousands of Jews who have never bowed down to Baal, and these Jews are the Ethiopian Jews.”
I agree with Rabbi Shlomo Amar that many Jews might have been converted to Christianity, and these present Ethiopian Christians may be the descendants of the ancient Jews, and that is why God brought the original Jews from Jerusalem for his divine purpose – Christianity -, and left the other Jews for his other divine purpose to go to Jerusalem and reclaim it as their own old city.
I hope with so many ups and downs, the Operation Moses will continue its religious, not its romantic, duties until all Ethiopian Jews left Ethiopia for Jerusalem, and this divine operation should not be hindered by man-made politics in Israel. It had a good beginning, and I hope it will have a positive ending – all the Ethiopian Jews should be there in Jerusalem, and perhaps after many years may come back to their motherland – Ethiopia – and build a second Jerusalem at Ambober, Gondar.
The Ethiopian Jewish history is not a romantic history like the history of Romeo and Juliet; it is a religious history – a divine message, a revelation from the Almighty God, who purposely brought these children of God from his earthly city – Jerusalem – to Ethiopia almost thousands years ago.
The Ethiopian Jewish history is a well known fact that one does not have to dig deeper to find out the validity of this glorious Ethiopian Jewish history. The history of Ethiopia is the history of the Ethiopian Jewish people. If someone wants to know more about the reality of the Ethiopian Jewish history, one must read the Ethiopian prayer books among many others; one cannot read these prayer books without coming across, many times, these sweet words: “Amlake-Israel” (the God of Israel); also, one should read especially “saatat” the hourly or nightly prayer of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and one can see how many times “the God of Israel” has been mentioned there.
The writer of the article was dumbfounded when he descried among the “dirty and time-eaten prayer books” a collection of shehita whom he thought that someone had unknowingly “checked in the shehita book” and shipped it to Ethiopia. Could the same thing also be said about the Ark of the Covenant that when King Solomon ordered thousands of Jews to accompany his first Son, Menelik I, to Ethiopia, some of these Jews who were in a hurry because the King’s order was urgent, unknowingly chucked in the Ark of the Covenant and brought it with them to Ethiopia? It is possible it could have happened this way instead of saying that they had stolen the Ark.
I don’t think, according to Anshel Pefeffen, 24 hours is enough to understand and comprehend the over thousands years of Jewish history in Ethiopia; it may take, instead of 24 hours, 24 years to cover this religious message. Of course, it would take less than 24 hours if it were a romantic message, but it is a religious message that can be examined and written by religious people – God’s people only – people inspired by the spirit of God because they are writing about the history of the holy people of the Holy God – the Ethiopian Jews.
One does not need an evidence to connect the Ethiopian Jews to the scattered and cursed branches of the white people of the Israeli Jews; rather, the scattered white Israeli Jews must find evidence that connects them to the true Ethiopian Jews; these white Israeli Jews are the ones who have been contaminated with the gentile world, but the Ethiopian Jews have never been defiled; God has kept them holy, undefiled, and sacred for himself in Ethiopia, a religious country, thanks to the Ethiopian Jews.
The Ethiopian Jews have always been the Ethiopian Jews; they are not a sect, as the author of the article assumes they are; they did not come out of Christianity; in fact, Christianity came out of their religion – Judaism. They have been a big religious Jewish organization with their Ark of the Covenant, the Bible, the Sabbath, and with all the Jewish rituals for thousands of years, and God kept them that way for his own divine purpose.
The author of the article is wrong again when he believes that the Ethiopian Bible is the Kebre Negest; the Kebre Negest is not a holy book; it is a book about the achievements or successes of the Ethiopian kings, and it can be changed or amended whenever a new evidence pops up about a certain king; however, the Ethiopian holy Bible (81of them) cannot be changed; because it is a God-inspired book, written by Godly people and “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.”
As some people say, including the writer of the article, we cannot say for sure that the Ethiopian Jews as a lost tribe; they have never been lost; they have been living in Ethiopia for thousands of years: they were sent to Ethiopia by the Almighty God for a mission – to bring Judaism, belief in one God – to Ethiopia. While they are living in Ethiopia, they have never forgotten their origin – Jerusalem – and they have always been looking, instead of to Axum Zion, to Jerusalem, and, I hope, those Ethiopian Jews who are now in Jerusalem, are at present looking to the real Jerusalem where St. John in the book of the Revelation describes as the Holy city, the new Jerusalem (21:2). Such hope of the Ethiopian Jews has a religious appeal, not a romantic effect.
To some of us who do not know much about the history of the Ethiopian Jews, the Bete Israel or Ambober in Gondar may seem a very small place, almost insignificant, but we must remember that it is not the smallness of a place that matters but the history of that small place that matters the most. For example, for us Christians, what happened 2,000 years ago in a small place, less significant than any other places in Judea, called Bethlehem is more important than what happened in Germany in World War II. It was for such a small place that the Jewish Prophet Micah prophesied: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (5:2). So, Ambober or Bete Israel is very significant in the history of the Ethiopian Jews, even though what we find today at Ambober, a Jewish village, is only tuckul and old buildings, but one day, I will predict, this abandoned Ethiopian Jewish village will be a Mecca of the Ethiopian Jews.
Eldad Hadani or Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has nothing to do with the Ethiopian Jews whom the Almighty God brought them to Ethiopia from Jerusalem for his won purpose, and no one cares whether these Ethiopian Jews belong to Dan or to Joseph or to Ephraim tribe. We know they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and more than that they are the chosen children of God, and that is what it matters. Let the white Israeli Jews find their Dans, Benjimines, Josephs, Calebs, etc. The Ethiopian Jews belong to God only, not to any tribe or sect. Right now, if the white Israeli Jews say to God: “Dear God, we are the only true Jews left on this earth,” and God would tell them: “You are wrong; I have thousands of Jews who have never bowed down to Baal, and these Jews are the Ethiopian Jews.”
I agree with Rabbi Shlomo Amar that many Jews might have been converted to Christianity, and these present Ethiopian Christians may be the descendants of the ancient Jews, and that is why God brought the original Jews from Jerusalem for his divine purpose – Christianity -, and left the other Jews for his other divine purpose to go to Jerusalem and reclaim it as their own old city.
I hope with so many ups and downs, the Operation Moses will continue its religious, not its romantic, duties until all Ethiopian Jews left Ethiopia for Jerusalem, and this divine operation should not be hindered by man-made politics in Israel. It had a good beginning, and I hope it will have a positive ending – all the Ethiopian Jews should be there in Jerusalem, and perhaps after many years may come back to their motherland – Ethiopia – and build a second Jerusalem at Ambober, Gondar.