MY FAMILY
THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM
THE BETA ISRAEL AS A “LIVING REPOSITORY”
Teachers should then explain the following key concept, drawing on lessons from Unit 1 and 3:
As we learned in Unit 1, a small group of Jews descended to Ethiopia around 2,500 years ago and most remained there until the late twentieth century, when they immigrated to Israel. Although the Beta Israel community that grew in Ethiopia experienced some hardships and challenges, as we discussed in Unit 3: Hopes & Prayers, they were still able to focus on preserving their Jewish heritage closely to its original form.
The remainder of the Jewish people, in contrast, suffered exile after exile. Unlike Ethiopian Jews, most of Diaspora Jewry were forced to migrate often. due to persecution, and as such, adapt their traditions and customs to the various places and cultures in which they settled. Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom explains in his book, From Sinai to Ethiopia, that the Beta Israel thus became a “living repository” of pre-Talmudic biblical Judaism: “A genizah (repository for sacred texts) preserves everything exactly as it was placed inside” and “in a sense, we may call the Beta Israel community a living genizah.”45 So, if someone wishes to learn about Jewish philosophy, values, laws, and customs as received in its authentic form more than 2,500 years ago, the Beta Israel46 would be the right community to ask, as they preserved their heritage without adaptation.
Within this context, Unit 4 will explore the philosophy and values of the Beta Israel, and following that, Unit 5 will then delve into the laws and customs that the community observes.
45 Shalom, From Sinai to Ethiopia, 47.
46 Unfortunately, as we will see in Unit 9, many have argued against the authenticity of Ethiopian Jewish practice, asserting that the Beta Israel are primitive Jews who were impeded from grasping the full picture of Judaism due to their historic disconnect from global Jewry.
