07 Mar 2007: ISS Today: Ethiopia: End of the Falasha Migration?

7 March 2007: Ethiopia: End of the Falasha Migration?

 

With the recent news about the imminent emigration to Israel of another batch of Ethiopian Jews, known as the Falashas, some people have begun to wonder if Ethiopia will have any Jews left at all.

 

It is believed that Jews have inhabited Ethiopia for more than 2000 years, most likely preceding Christians, the first of whom is known to have existed in the country in the 3rd Century AD. They have lived in outlying village community clusters in the northern highlands, most of them not far from one of Ethiopia`s old capitals, Gondar. The existence of a community of black African Jews has been intriguing to historians and ethnologists. Some people, who believe that Jews are `white` have been disturbed by the existence of the Falashas, and it was only in 1973 that the religious leadership in Israel accepted the Ethiopians as Jews.

 

This community, unique in sub Saharan Africa, refers to itself as `Bete Israel`, or `the House of Israel.` The name Falasha, derived from the Amharic word that means migration, is not appreciated by the group. As Ethiopia gradually began to enter the modern world, so news about the Bete Israelites started to reach outsiders. As members of the community learnt of the modern existence of Israel and the hope it held for them, they yearned increasingly to  `go home` although visibly they resembled their non-Jewish Ethiopian compatriots more than they did any other Jewish group.

 

Since the 1970s, Bete Israelites have been migrating to Israel, first in a trickle, and later on in 1985 and 1991 in two major human movements that took more than 60,000 people to the Holy Land. Since 1991, travelling to Israel assumed a more normal and paced character, highlighted only by the pressure from another category of Ethiopians, who claimed that they had been forced to change their religion. The `Feres Mora`, as they are known, have added their numbers to the Jews moving to Israel in the midst of controversy in that country regarding their bona fides.

 

It is believed that the numbers of both categories that have left Ethiopia has reached some 100,000 persons. This would indicate that the Bete Israelites currently in Ethiopia could not be more than a few thousand souls - some say that the figure could be in the hundreds.

 

What does this migration mean, and what are its implications?

 

Although the migration has not been a subject of public debate, many Ethiopians regret the transplanting of an Ethiopian community en masse to a foreign land, and feel a sense of cultural loss. While people recognise that the migration was a voluntary one, it is felt by non-Jewish Ethiopians that it was a quest for economic opportunity, rather than a spiritual calling, that attracted the community to Israel. After all, they lived a life of poverty in their communities in Ethiopia. The Bete Israelites strongly reject that view, and argue that, like other Jews from other parts of the world, Israel is their home, and it is their right to migrate there.

 

Whatever the case, what is very real is that Judaism has left more of a legacy than a living community in Ethiopia, while Israel has added one more ``feather to its (ethnic mosaic) hat``.

 

The implications for both Ethiopia and Israel of the presence of these black Jews in Israel remain to be fully examined. The community has yet to make a political impact in Israel. Although conditions are changing, the Ethiopian Jews remain at the bottom of the economic ladder in their new country, and have borne the brunt of racist attitudes and actions originating from certain sectors of Israeli society. Yet the younger ones are markedly visible, manning Israeli checkpoints and are obviously discharging their obligations to the State of their current allegiance.

 

Whether the Bete Israelites are to evolve into a powerful constituency for Ethiopia in Israel remains to be seen. Obviously it is the older generation, and the one least integrated in Israel, that has the strongest links with the old country. It appears that the youth, far from Ethiopia and culturally uncomfortable in Israel, are connecting more with the rap and reggae music culture of the African Diaspora. But the language and message of reggae evokes the images of imperial Ethiopia, ensuring that Ethiopian Jews (or black Israelis) do not stray far from their roots.

 

It will be interesting to follow developments in the evolution of this remarkable African community striving to make its mark in the bubbling political world of the Middle East, particularly what role it could play in the future that could be of benefit to Africa as a whole and Ethiopia in particular.

 

Hiruy Amanuel, ICPAT, Addis Ababa