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THE FALASHAS 
 
 DOCTOR JACQUES FAITLOVITCH 
 
 Privat-Docent at the University of 
 Geneva 
 
 [Reprint from the American Jewish Year Book 5681] 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
 
 
THE FALASHAS 
 
 BY DOCTOR JACQUES FAITLOVITCH 
 PBIVAT-DOCENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA 
 
 In Abyssinia, in the vast empire of the Negus, exist Jews 
 called " Falashas." Their skin of a light black color and the 
 regular and finely cut features which characterize them speak 
 of a non-African race. Their name " Falasha," a surname 
 given to them by the natives, and signifying exiled immi- 
 grants, proves that they are strangers who came from abroad 
 to establish themselves in Ethiopia. They call themselves 
 Beta Israel ("The House of Israel"), and with great pride 
 state that they are the offspring of the stock of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob. Certainly no historical documents exist 
 in writing, but their oral traditions, faithfully transmitted 
 from father to son, sustain their claim as Jews. They 
 maintain even to this day, as they have maintained throughout 
 the centuries in this remote corner of the Dark Conti- 
 nent, the assertion of descent from our ancestors, and this 
 sincere claim, next to their religious hope, is their most cher- 
 ished heirloom. When evils befall them, it constitutes their 
 strength and their consolation. They always show them- 
 selves worthy sons of our people, and in the past they have 
 many times demonstrated that they possess the characteristics 
 of our race, the vivifying force of the existence of Israel. ..Tliis- 
 quality distinguishes them from their compatriots,- all of 
 whom, Christians, Muslims3-afi4 pagans, bear witness io the 
 relationship of the Falashas^the Jewish race and religion. 
 
 1 
 
3 THE FALASHAS 
 
 The Falashas profess a Mosaism which their religious litera- 
 ture has slightly modified. It is this which, having raised 
 hedges and practical barriers between them and the natives, 
 has preserved them from assimilation and from the most 
 abominable degeneracy. It is thanks to this religion that they 
 have been conserved during thousands of years and, despite 
 the oppression of the surrounding population and notwith- 
 standing all disintegrating forces, they have remained morally 
 and intellectually superior to the other natives. All travellers 
 who have visited them have noticed their moral and intellec- 
 tual superiority, and they attribute it to their religion which 
 has saved them from the obsessing torpor of African barbar- 
 ism. If these Jews are distinguished from their neighbors 
 by the persistence of the character of their race, visible in the 
 refinement of their features and in the vivacity of their intel- 
 ligence, it is thanks to the traditional cult which has sur- 
 rounded them with insurmountable walls and covered them 
 with impenetrable armor. While preserving them in .the midst^ 
 of the most dangerous of sup'erstitious and backward popula- 
 tions, it has made them keep and practise good customs with in- 
 terest and sincerity. The salutary observances prescribed by 
 the Bible were their rampart, which preserved them from all 
 contagious diseases of their country, and warded off many evils 
 from their domestic circles. Isolated as they were during 
 thousands of years from their coreligionists in other parts of 
 the world, these Jews, living in the very heart of the popula- 
 tions of this gigantic country of Africa, were more resisting 
 and steadfast than a rock against the waves. 
 
 Their belief, strictly monotheistic, raised their intelligence 
 to a level which the aborigines, half fetichists, could never 
 attain. They adore a God of life, of righteousness, and of 
 
THE FALASHAS 3 
 
 justice. Always in their thoughts, He inspires them with 
 hope in a future of universal peace and harmony. They 
 abhor all idol worship, and in praying they raise their souls 
 toward the Infinite. B y fo rmulas inserted in their liturgy, 
 manifesting the unity of God, they reject and reprove the 
 Christian dogmas of the son of God and of the trinity, and 
 proclaim the immutability of the Torah. Like all Jews, they 
 do not admit that the revealed law is subject to abrogation or 
 to modifications. They pray to God to give them strength 
 to obey His will and to give them power to accomplish all 
 His precepts. Their prayers are touching; they utter them 
 with tne most profound piety, and it is for the future of Israel 
 that they address them to the " heaven of supreme felicity." 
 It is the subiniie vision of the prophets that they see; it 
 appears to them holy and glorious and charms them with its 
 magic sweetness. They ask God to make Zion resplendent and 
 to bring them back to Palestine, their cherished country. 
 Like many Jews, they await the Messiah who will re-estab- 
 lish the Jewish nation, and who, according to them, is to be 
 a prince or a prophet of the issue of the family of David. 
 The Jewish nation appears to them to be emerging from its 
 suffering after a severe expiation, and all humanity is to 
 become rejuvenated under the resplendent sun of universal 
 peace. 
 
 Their true religion, serene and beneficent, which inspires a 
 love for active life and which has warded off the prevailing 
 obscurantism of their country, could not prevent mysticism 
 from becoming mixed with their belief. Circumstances arose 
 which engendered it, and it served a very useful purpose for 
 some time. A period of disaster and suffering constrained 
 them to become attache_d to a number .pi mystical ^delusions, 
 
4 THE FALASHAS 
 
 and this mysticism, born of necessity, was a salutary factor 
 in their conservation. Because of it many among them for- 
 got all their sufferings; it came upon them like a celestial 
 light which consolidated them. Its founder, who lived at 
 the beginning of the fifteenth century, became famous, and 
 for a time the doctrine gained wide currency. Following a 
 lively propaganda, discipil^Jl^ckedJrqm all partsjbo this be- 
 lief, and even the son of a Christian king, who was a perse- 
 cutor of these Jews, became a believer in this doctrine. 
 According to legends, the conversion of the son of this king 
 warded off persecutions which his father was about to hurl 
 against the Falashas. The partisans of this doctrine of the 
 contemplative life organized into brotherhoods, retired into 
 the deserts and in these isolated places, they often passed 
 their entire lives without the least contact with the outside 
 world. To-day the members of this mystical order are 
 very few in the region where the Falashas openly profess the 
 ancestral religion, scarcely numbering fifty ; but they are more 
 numerous in the southern provinces where they live outwardly 
 as Christians and in lay orders. There they form isolated 
 villages where all live together and where everything belongs 
 to the confflnunity. 
 
 The,iifiu_se^ of the Falashas are always separated from those 
 of the Abyssinians. They live in separate quarters, and 
 wherever they are found in great numbers they establish them- 
 selves in a village quite at a distance from those of the other 
 inhabitants, and they surround themselves with a hedge which 
 serves them not only as an enclosure, but also as a defence 
 against the approach of persons not belonging to their cult. 
 Without consent, no strangers may enter within the limits of 
 their establishment; never do they permit non-Jews to enter 
 
THE FALASHAS 5 
 
 the_places reserved by them for a dwelling, and all their rela- 
 tions with the exterior world are carried on outside of the 
 precincts. They always take care to establish themselves 
 near a river or a running stream in order to be able to take 
 their ritual ablution. Their houses are constructed in the" 
 same manner as those of the other inhabitants. They are 
 shacks, huts, or cabins made of wood or of stone, cylindrical 
 in shape, plastered both inside and outside with mud or clay, 
 and the roof with a pointed top is covered with reed and straw. 
 The door serves as the only opening for the light to pene- 
 trate, although in the stone houses holes in the form of win- 
 dows are often to be found. The houses are witJiout_ chim- 
 neys, and only through the interstices in the thatch of the 
 roof can the smoke of their fire-places find a passage. All 
 their houses are built on the level with the ground, and rarely 
 are any to be found with upper stories. They are almost 
 always uniform, and each family, in accordance with its means, 
 has one, two, or three huts. 
 
 The furniture of these houses consists of very few objects. 
 There are chairs formed of frames with seats of strips of 
 leather interlaced, some tabourets or blocks of wood, and reed 
 baskets which serve at the same time as tables. The bed is 
 usually laid out in a corner of the house, raised a few inches 
 from the ground, and is furnished with several straw pillows. 
 Often there is found a species of beds in the form of a plat- 
 form, and the well-to-do people are provided with several of 
 these. Their bedding consists of several skins and some pieces 
 of stuff, and a block of wood serves as a pillow. Here and 
 there are piled pots, pans, spits, and each household pos- 
 sesses a mortar and one or two stones for grinding grain. In 
 each house there are jars and demi-johns for the conservation 
 
6 THE FALASHAS 
 
 of water and of fermented drinks, and there are also large 
 reservoirs, made of clay mixed with straw, for the keeping 
 of grain in the form of a mound. Baskets of various dimen- 
 sions are used to hold clothes, objects of value, and toilet 
 articles for women. The interior of the home may also be 
 decorated with fire-arms, swords, daggers, lances, and shields, 
 and among the educated classes parchment manuscripts are 
 hung on the walls. The fire-place is usually in the middle 
 of the house; the fire is kept up without interruption, and 
 serves them not only for the preparation of their meals, but 
 also for illumination during the night and for heating in the 
 cold regions of the high plateau. 
 
 In each locality there is a cabin consecrated for divine ser- 
 vice called If cs^it? ("the place of prayer"), or Beta-Egzia- 
 beher ("the house of God"). With the exception of being 
 a little larger and a little more elegant in construction, 
 it is generafly the same as the dwelling houses, except that 
 in the important religious centres the Falashas construct their 
 synagogue after the pattern of the ancient temple of Jeru- 
 salem. The Mesgid has a court-yard, and is surrounded by a 
 palisade of brush ; the enclosure often serves for public meet- 
 ings, and it is used by the Kalien (" priest ") and the Dahteras 
 ("the learned men ") as a school for the teaching of religion. 
 Admission to the syngagogue is forbidden to all strangers not 
 belonging to their religion and to those amongst them who 
 are Levitically unclean. The whole congregation assembles 
 for prayer in the interior of the Mesgid; the place of honor is 
 occupied by the Kahens and the Dahteras, about whom are 
 grouped the men, and, in a separate section with an entrance 
 of its own, the women also attend the services. All recite 
 and chant the prayers standing or seated on the ground ; some- 
 
THE FALASHAS 7 
 
 times they also execute religious dances, especially on the 
 Day of Atonement. In the larger communities an altar is 
 erected near the main entrance to the synagogue where occa- 
 sional sacrifices are offered. The approach to this place is\ 
 forbidden to women who are required to remain at a distance 
 if they desire to be present at the sacrificial ceremony. Dur- 
 ing the sacrificial service the priest and his assistant place 
 themselves in the middle with the offering; the faithful about 
 them chant special prayers and biblical verses relating to sacri- 
 fices. After the offering is made, all retire into the Mesgid, 
 where they pass the day in feasting. The interior of the 
 Mesgid is not decorated with any image, and the only object 
 of ornament consists of pieces of multi-colored material hang- 
 ing on the wall, mats upon the floor, the Pentateuch on parch- 
 ment spread out upon a pulpit, sacred ritual vessels, and 
 musical instruments. Except on the Sabbath and on the Day 
 of Atonement, the Falashas accompany their prayers and their 
 psalms with drums, bells, zithers, and other resonant instru- 
 ments. When these instruments are not used, they are placed 
 on one side, and during these days it is forbidden even to touch 
 them. 
 
 The biblical ritual observances are carried out accurately 
 by the Falashas. They all obey the revealed law. The Sab- 
 bath is to them truly a_day of sacrifices to the Lord, and they 
 observe it rigorously. This day, the great day, the symbol 
 of creation, of the manifestation of God, is held in great 
 veneration, and they have a special service for it. This civil- 
 izing and social custom is respected by young and old. Thanks 
 to this law, everybody participates in the day of rest — men, 
 women, children, servants, and beasts. Each individual has 
 thus a day on which to rest from his daily struggles and to 
 
8 THE FALASHAS 
 
 elevate his soul to the Infinite. The culijirfid- man and the 
 ignorant one devote themselves to pious practices. The food 
 for this day is prepared on the previous day, and from the 
 setting of the sun on Friday to the following evening, they 
 abstain from all work. After taking a ritual bath, they dress 
 themselves in festive attire, and assemble with their families 
 in the synagogue in order to celebrate the Sabbath, and they 
 remain there until Saturday evening. The Sabbatical repast 
 is eaten in common, this forming a part of the prescribed 
 service, and rich and poor participate in it. On this day 
 of rest and of prayer they feel themselves to be in a paradise 
 of purity and sanctity. They assemble, reflect, pray, chant, 
 and the day thus passes peaceably and sweetly. 
 
 The Sabbath meals are prepared with more care, and in 
 greater abundance, than ordinary meals. A special Sabbath 
 bread is prepared; the entire community contributes to its 
 preparation, and it is distributed by the priests to those present 
 at the synagogue during the intervals of the service. Persons 
 to wlibm admittance to the interior of the Mesgid is forbidden 
 may not take or touch this bread. It is considered as an 
 offering, and takes the place of the sacrifices prescribed in 
 the Bible for the Sabbath day. On this day, by reason of a 
 special rite, they consume more meat than they do in general, 
 and like all Jews they extract the blood from the meat and 
 never eat it raw. They do not know of the prohibition against 
 eating milk and meat together, and they feast sumptuously 
 on these articles of food, especially on Saturday. They eat 
 the meat cooked or roasted in melted butter with a highly 
 peppered sauce made of powdered beans and seasoned with 
 spices. During their meals they drink, especially on the Sab- 
 bath, fermented liquors such as mead and beer made of barley 
 
THE FALASHAS 9 
 
 or of oats. They never f ail^to wash__tiieir han(k _before and 
 after meal, nor do they forget to recite a benediction at the 
 commencement and at the conclusion of each repast. 
 
 Their annual festivals are the same as those observed by 
 other Jews, and are celebrated in the same manner as in our 
 communities, but their dates do not correspond entirely with 
 ours. There is a difference of one or two days, and this is due 
 to the fact that in their_religiaus , calendar the new moon is 
 considered as the first day of the month. Their religious year 
 commences with the month of Nisan, and with a few excep- 
 tions they also preserve the names of the Hebrew months as we 
 know them. Their year consists of twelve lunar months of 
 twenty-nine or of thirty days each, and every three or four years 
 they add a complementary month. ISTot grasping our cycli- 
 cal system, they frequently get confused in the fixing of their 
 feasts, and sometimes these are not celebrated on the same day 
 in the different localities of their dispersion. This happens 
 especially with regard to PaSsover in leap years; the lack 
 of a co-ordinated system causes different communities to dis- 
 agree often on the intercalation of the thirteenth month. It 
 has already happened that by a chronological error, a number 
 of Kahens and Dabteras wished to defer for six months the 
 celebration of Passover and to fix Njsan at the commencement 
 of our autumn, which, according to their views, corresponds 
 to the month of Abib of the Bible. Although their opinion 
 did not prevail, it has left traces in several communities where 
 some persons, fearing to transgress the biblical prescription, 
 abstain also during the feast of Tabernacles from eating 
 leavened bread, and do not partake of any but unfermented 
 food during these days. 
 
10 THE PALASHAS 
 
 The Palashas observe Passover for seven days, and dur- 
 ing this time they eat only imleavened bread and do not drink 
 any fermented drinks. Several days before the feast, the 
 houses are carefully cleaned, all articles of clothing are properly 
 washed, and all vessels and utensils thoroughly scoured and 
 cleaned like new. Three days before Passover, they stop eat- 
 ing leavened bread and take nothing but dried peas or beans, 
 and on the eve of Passover they abstain from all food until 
 after the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. On this day, a little 
 before the setting of the sun, all assemble in the court of the 
 synagogue, and in the name of the entire community, the sac- 
 rificer offers the paschal lamb upon the altar. The ceremony 
 is observed with great pomp; the ritual prescribed in the 
 Bible for this sacrifice is followed punctiliously, and after the 
 sacrifice is slaughtered and roasted the meat is eaten with 
 unleavened bread by the priestly assistants. It is in this 
 manner that the festival is inaugurated. On the following 
 days they assemble in the Mesgid at fixed hours, observing a 
 special ritual and reciting various prayers and biblical texts 
 having reference to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. 
 
 The other biblical festivals are also celebrated according to 
 prescribed regulations and ceremonies. The Day of Atone- 
 ment is solemn, and all observe it rigorously; women as well 
 as children from the age of eight years abstain from food 
 for twenty-four hours. They are, however, ignorant of our 
 national festivals such as Hanukkah and Purim. On the 
 other hand, they celebrate several half-holidays each month, 
 to remind them of the annual ones. Thus the tenth of each 
 month is regarded as a memorial of the Day of Atonement; 
 the twelfth as one for Pentecost, which they celebrate fifty 
 days after the last day of Passover, that is to say, on the 
 
THK FALASHAS H 
 
 twelfth day of Sivan ; and the fifteenth of each month is held 
 in honor of the feasts of Passover and of Tabernacles. Of 
 course, they celebrate also the day of the new moon, and this 
 they always observe for only one day. They have also another 
 semi-holiday called Arfa-Assert which they celebrate for thirty 
 days without regard to the lunar calendar. They also cele- 
 brate a second Pentecost fifty days after the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles; on this day they meet upon a hill in the open air, 
 where they hold divine services and take their meals together. 
 
 The Falashas observe also the fasts to commemorate the 
 destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, although the dates do 
 not correspond with those of other Jews. By reason of a 
 chronological error, they fast on the ninth dav of Tammuz 
 and the seventeenth day of Ab, instead of the seventeenth day 
 of Tammuz and the ninth of Ab. The fasts are observed by 
 everyone, and during these days they abstain from all food 
 and drink from the rising to the setting of the sun. Many 
 of the more pious men also follow the practice of fasting on 
 Mondays and Thursdays of each week. ISTot celebrating Purim, 
 they do not, of course, celebrate the Past of Esther on the eve 
 of Purim. 
 
 Circumcision is the sign of union among them. This opera- 
 tion is performed on the eighth day after the birth of the 
 child; but it is never done on the Sabbath, for it is regarded 
 as work. They also redeem the first-born male child, and give 
 money to the priest or to the synagogue for it. Often they 
 devote the first-born male to the priesthood; when they grow 
 up, these boys are entrusted to the priests who educate, in- 
 struct, and ordain them. The Falasha priest conducts divine 
 services, and is the religious head of the community. It is 
 also he who offers the sacrifices prescribed in the Bible, which 
 
13 THE FALASHAS 
 
 are still observed to-day among the Falashas, such as the 
 paschal lamb and a few other occasional offerings These.^ 
 however, like the Dabteras, though superior to the rest of the 
 people in learning, do not in any regard constitute^ajprivileged 
 class and do not receive any compensation for theii services, 
 except in rare instances, gifts from the laity, in appreciation 
 of the instruction and the education which they give to the 
 young. 
 
 Among the Palashas there exist no differences of religion 
 nor any distinction of class. All profess the same faith, prac- 
 tise the" same customs, and live on a basis of equality. The 
 priests and the Datteras follow trades, and work like every- 
 body else to provide for their needs. Only in the matter of 
 headgear are they distinguished from the others; they wear 
 turbans of white cloth, while the other Falashas, like all 
 Abyssinians, go bare-headed by day and by night, indoors as 
 well as out of doors. 
 
 Like their countrymen, they wear a shirt with drawers and 
 bloomers; they walk bare-footed as well as bare-headed; but 
 more than the other Abyssinians, they take care of their cloth- 
 ing which iJaey try always to .keep clean. The laws of puri- 
 fication by baths and ablutions are scrupulously followed. 
 When they touch anyone not of their community or any non- 
 Jewish property, they isolate themselves until the evening, 
 and do not come into relations with their own people until 
 after having taken a ritual bath. This restriction, it should 
 be acknowledged, is much more salutary for them than may 
 appear at first sight. By reason of it, they remain immune 
 from diseases which rage among their neighbors and which 
 often cause terrible panics. This advantage is recognized 
 
THE FALASHAS 13 
 
 by their compatriots, and all travellers in Abyssinia have 
 observed this physical and moral superiority. 
 
 In general, the Falasha woman is superior to her Abyssinian 
 sister in hygiene, morals, welfare, and character. Her observ- 
 ance of the law of purification and of Niddah have kept her 
 clean, pure, and refined. She is free and emancipated with 
 an emancipation which is sensible and moderate ; she is neither 
 servile nor corrupt. She is not constrained to confine her- 
 self to the house like the Christian women of Abyssinia, nor 
 to go out veiled like the Muslim. She is also admitted to all 
 public meetings, and takes a lively interest in the affairs of 
 the community. She occupies herself mainly with her house- 
 hold duties, contributes much to the maintenance of her home 
 and her children, and, together with her husband, slje partakes 
 of joys and sorrows. Often she assists her husband in his 
 work, and one meets among the Falashas many women who 
 devote themselves to the making of pottery. 
 
 The family life of the Falashas is dignified, patriarchal, and 
 noble. The contrast which may be observed between their 
 private life and that of other Abyssinians is extremely strik- 
 ing, and one cannot but help glorifying the moral code which 
 has made them so refined. The husband, the wife, and the 
 children constitute a most respectable domestic circle. The 
 children have great respect fprjheir parents ; they live at their 
 side, and become their prop in old age. Earely does one see 
 children deserting their paternal homes in order to give them- 
 selves up to their own caprices. The young people marry at 
 the age of eighteen or twenty years, and in their community 
 there are no bachelors. jSTeither cpn£ubmage. nor polygamy, 
 which are common in Abyssinian society, is permitted among 
 them,, notwithstanding that the Bible does not forbid these 
 
14 THE PALASHAS 
 
 .practices. They admit divorce, and when a case presents 
 itself, it is tried before a judge, and the declaration is made 
 in public in the presence of the parents of the couple. 
 
 The nuptial ceremony is celebrated by a special rite; they 
 do not know of the Eetubah in use among other Jews; all 
 that they require is witnesses in order to legitimize the union 
 of the couple. The Falashas are not familiar with the rabbini- 
 cal laws of matrimony, and their traditions relating to it do 
 not correspond to ours. Of course, they marry only in their 
 own race; mixed marriages do not undermine their commu- 
 nity, and in the choice of alliances they seek honorable and 
 well-reputed families. By pure, ennobling alliances, as they 
 say, they are sure to be able to count upon the perpetuity of 
 their race and their traditions. This they regard as their 
 greatest duty, and as their past attests, they bend all their 
 efforts towards this end. Like other Jews, they take great 
 care to inculcate in succeeding generations veneration for the 
 religion of their ancestors, and they draw their strength from 
 the same source, from the Bible and traditions. 
 
 The Falashas know all the biblical books as well as the 
 Apocrypha. — those originating before as well as those coming 
 after the time of the first exile. The order of the books of 
 the Bible among them differs from that among us, nor do 
 they assign the same canonical value to all the books. The 
 Five Books of Moses are the pivot, the kernel, the others are 
 considered only as the explanation, the commentary. The 
 Pentateuch has with them the same sanctity as among all 
 Jews; they have the same reverence for it, and they look 
 upon it as their highest authority. This book forms the basis 
 of their religion, and their whole life is regulated by its pre- 
 cepts. They know nothing of the Talmud, but many of their 
 
THE FALASHAS 15 
 
 traditions harmonize with ours and correspond to our oral 
 laws. On the other hand, they possess a large number of 
 other holy writings relating to Jewish history and religion. 
 Some of these are held in great veneration by them. They 
 study them with much devotion, and recite them in the syna- 
 gogues during divine services. 
 
 All the books of the Falashas are written in Gheez, the clas- 
 sical and literary language of Abyssinia. They do not know 
 the Hebrew language, and they are not aware that it still 
 exists in modern times. They claim that formerly they pos- 
 sessed books in another language and in a different script and 
 that these were burnt when their synagogues were destroyed 
 during their frequent wars with the Abyssinians, and that 
 some old men during the middle of the past century still 
 knew how to read and understood the contents of these hooks. 
 There is not, however, the slightest historical trace to prove 
 this assertion, and it appears that the Falashas forgot the 
 Hebrew language at a very early period, and that their ances- 
 tors had already, either in Egypt or in Soudan, before their 
 entrance into Abyssinia, lost all knowledge of it. Except for 
 a few biblical names, nothing of the Hebrew language has 
 been preserved among them; even their prayers are recited in 
 Gheez. The latter language is little cultivated at this time; 
 8Jid even the priests and the Dabteras scarcely know it. For- 
 merly there were schools in each Falasha locality where the 
 youth studied the Bible and the other religious books which 
 were translated for them into the local dialect, but the recent 
 revolutions in the country, the famine, the dispersion, and 
 especially the invasion in 1888, of Abyssinia by the Dervishes 
 of the Soudan, devastated all these educational establishments, 
 and the misery prevailing among the Falashas did not permit 
 
16 THE FALASHAS 
 
 them to establish new institutions since that time. Because 
 of the continual disturbances the majority of the new genera- 
 tion is reared without any instruction at all, not even the most 
 elementary, and they can scarcely understand the prayers 
 which they recite. 
 
 The Falashas speak the languages of the region in which 
 they dwell, and contrary to the assertion of several travellers, 
 they have no dialect of their own. Those who live in the 
 central and southern provinces speak Amharic, and those of 
 the north employ Tigrigna, two sister languages which are 
 spoken in Abyssinia, The Quarigna language, believed by 
 several explorers to be the national dialects of the Falashas — 
 an opinion which is now rejected — is spoken only in a few 
 districts by old people originating from the province of Quara, 
 situated on the confines of the Anglo-Egyptian Soudan. The 
 Language of Quara has been spoken by the natives of this 
 region, and it is from them that the Falashas have taken it. 
 It is probable that the first Jewish immigrants came from 
 the Soudan and established themselves in this region and that 
 it was for centuries their religious and intellectual centre. 
 Their expaasion into the interior of Abyssinia took place only 
 a long time afterwards, on different occasions following expul- 
 sions and deportations suffered during the expeditions of the 
 Abyssinians against them. They used the Quarigna language 
 a long time among themselves also in their new homes, but 
 little by little it became extinct, and they have only preserved a 
 few words and expressions which they employ, without under- 
 standing them, in their prayers. Outside of the province of 
 Quara, the Falashas are completely ignorant of this language, 
 speaking only the tongues spoken by the surrounding popula- 
 
THE FALASHAS 17 
 
 tion. These they regard as their mother-tongues, and in their 
 spe ech t hey^arejiot distinguished. in any. way from their com- 
 pairiot_s^ They ..express themselves elegantly and felicitously, 
 and they are also very skilled 'in the art of oratory for which 
 the Abyssinians are noted. An outsider will at first have great 
 difficulty to distinguish them from the other natives; it is 
 only in their private and religious life that they difEer from 
 the others and only by observing these at close range can one 
 discern the characteristic traits of their race. Their neigh- 
 bors are never confused about this ; they know well how to dis- 
 tinguish the Falashas, whom they consider as immigrants, 
 as Jews come from other climes to establish themselves in 
 their country. 
 
 The history of this Jewish tribe in Abyssinia is still veiled 
 in obscurity, and any attempt to investigate their origin en- 
 counters many obstacles. The opinion of the Abyssinians, 
 which is partly shared also by the Falashas, is that these Jews 
 came from Palestine to Ethiopia in the time of King Solomon 
 and his alleged son Menilek I. The Ethiopian chronicle 
 relates that the queen of Sheba, during her visit to him at 
 Jerusalem, conceived a son whose father was Solomon ; that the 
 son'was'named Menilek or Ibn al-Hakim, that is to say, the 
 son of the sage, and that he became the founder of the royal 
 dynasty of Abyssinia. The Abyssinians have appropriated 
 this legend, which draws its origin from the biblical passages 
 of chapter 10 of the First Book of Kings and from chapter 9 
 of the Second Book of Chronicles, mentioned also in our 
 midrashic literature, where reference is made to a queen of 
 the South, whom the Arabs claim as their own. By this epi- 
 sode the Abyssinians establish the origin of the Falashas in 
 their country. According to them the queen of Sheba, on her 
 
18 THE FALASHAS 
 
 return to her kingdom, brought along with her a large number 
 of Hebrews, such as scholars and artisans, and upon the birth 
 of her son this immigration was considerably augmented. The 
 exodus of these Jews from Palestine is explained in very amus- 
 ing anecdotes. Menilek I was raised and educated at the court 
 of Solomon at Jerusalem, and he was his father's favorite. 
 Because he was loved by his following, on account of his 
 being handsome and intelligent, the Israelites, fearing that 
 he would seize the throne after the death of Solomon, insisted 
 that he be sent to rejoin his mother. Solomon reluctantly 
 consented to their demand, but on condition that each family 
 be required to send its first-born son to accompany Menilek 
 into his country and to remain there with him. He had him 
 crowned as king of Ethiopia, and sent him home with a large 
 following of thousands of Jews. Solomon had also prepared 
 for him a copy of the Tables of the Law, which the priests, 
 who formed part of his escort, were to take with them. But 
 these deceived the wise king, carried away the original from 
 the temple, and put the copy in its place. The Tables of the 
 Law of Moses, thus stolen from Jerusalem, may be found to 
 this very day, the Abyssinians assure us, in the Church of Zion 
 at Axum, the ancient capital of Ethiopia and the residence 
 of Menilek I. 
 
 An opinion which appears to be more historical is that the 
 Falashas are the descendants of those Jews who settled in 
 Egypt after the first exile, and who, upon the fall of the 
 Persian domination on the borders of the Nile, penetrated 
 into the Soudan, whence they went into the western parts 
 of the present country of Abyssinia. Then they directed their 
 steps towards the interior, and, in time, after the destruction 
 of the second temple, their number was 'augmented by fugj- 
 
THE FALASHAS '""'■■. 19 
 
 tives Avho came to join them; for, upon the shores of the Ked 
 Sea and in the whole of Egypt, the Jews, whose land had 
 been destroyed by the Romans, continued to suffer from per- 
 secution. Then, towards the end of the fifth century of the 
 common era, the .ca^xtive Jews led away from southern Arabia, 
 followmg the wars of the Abyssinians against the Himyarites, 
 augmentecTlh'e number of these Jews who already resided in 
 Ethiopia. There they formed themselves into groups, then 
 gathered in the same provinces, almost in the same centers, 
 and became fused into a single and indissoluble community. 
 Protected by the mountains and supported by natives con- 
 verted to Judaism, they finally became grouped into a small 
 independent state, and this independence they maintained in 
 several parts of the empire for hundreds of years. It is 
 approximately only since the past two centuries that the 
 Falashas have become scattered throughout the entire 
 extent of Abyssinia in little groups and families, and to-day 
 they are also met with in the most southern provinces of the 
 empire, in Choa, in the country of the Gallas, and even in the 
 equatorial regions which have but recently come under the 
 suzerainty of the Negus, where they live outwardly as Chris- 
 tians, as did the Marranos in Spain. 
 
 Their occupation, originally that of military mercenary 
 service under the different sovereigns, and later trade on the 
 banks of the Nile and on the littoral of the Red Sea, is mainly 
 agriculture and manual labor. They are in their country 
 almosi: the only people who are able to follow, with any skill, 
 the trades which are practised in Abyssinia, and thanks to 
 their skill they are on good terms with their non-Jewish com- 
 patriots". Abyssinia needs the_ Falashas who furnish the arti- 
 cles indispensable for the maintenance of the country. In 
 
20 THE FALASHAS 
 
 Abyssinia, as in many other places, the masses of the people 
 are in perfect harmony with the Jews whom they hold in 
 esteem because of their open spirit and their industry. It is 
 only the priests who, from time to time, hurl execrations 
 against the descendants of the " Deicides " of their Savior, and 
 the Falashas have often experienced the consequences of the 
 venomous sermons of these apostles of the religion of love. 
 The curse of the Church against the Jews had its echo also in 
 this part of Africa, and from the time of the introduction of 
 Christianity into Abyssinia the history of this country has 
 been stained with Jewish blood. On different occasions cru- 
 sades were organized against the Falashas, and in each expe- 
 dition' inany thousands of them perished. Their ejxistence was 
 rendered precarious, they were dislodged and exiled from one 
 region to another, and for several hundreds of years they were 
 given no respite to enable them to catch their breath and to 
 recover from their calamities. Their precarious situation was 
 often aggravated by the vexations of temporal authorities who, 
 aided by the clergy, always found some pretext for attacking 
 the Falashas. The fanatics hurled the anathemas, and the 
 savage chief put them into execution. For several centuries 
 the Falashas were made to suffer from bloody combats against 
 these combined forces, and were subjected to atrocious cruel- 
 ties. Even the Abyssinian chronicles written by these cham- 
 pions of the Church relate that in these battles several districts 
 populated by Falashas were completely devastated, and that 
 the inhabitants gained their salvation by the sword in the 
 shadow of the " cross of redemption." Numerous Jewish 
 communities were literally exterminated and others were de- 
 ported into strange provinces where they were compelled to 
 do forced labor or to become slaves. Those who escaped from 
 
THE PALASHAS 31 
 
 these massacres wandered into the deserts to wait for better 
 days in order to be able to go back to their homes, or emi- 
 grated into various countries, leaving no trace of their where- 
 abouts. 
 
 This terrible situation became still more aggravated during 
 the last decades of the past century, and at one time it appeared 
 that the Jewish tribe was at last at bay and that soon it would 
 be a prey to the forces which destroy Israel. Towards the 
 middle of the nineteenth century missionaries gathered from 
 all parts, and, profiting by the agonized state of our unfor- 
 tunate coreligionists whose souls were harassed by so many 
 calamities, they succeeded in attaching to themselves thou- 
 sands and thousands of these unhappy Jews of Abyssinia. 
 Forgotten as they were for hundreds of years bj the entire 
 Jewish wofrd~and not being aware of the. existence of their - 
 brethren, it was impossible for them, in their simplicity and Ol' 
 ignorance of Jewish histor}', to combat this new adversary •; . •' 
 who came from outside armed with new weapons. BjijLsince ;- 
 
 they^haie-leained that they are not alone in the world, that 
 they are not the last remnant of Israel as they had be- „." 
 lieved, and that there still are millions of Jews in the ' 
 world, theconversionist movement has come to an end and a 
 new ray of hope has illumined all the communities of the 
 Falashas. They expect fraternal help from us. They ask',, 
 us to help them to establish schools and to secure books for I 
 them from which their children may get instruction and the ; 
 knowledge of Judaism. They have an ardent desire for 
 knowledge, are disposed towards progress, and strive to attain 
 perfection. To preserve them from destruction and from 
 assimilation is a duty incumbent upon all Jews. 
 
 ^ 
 
9D 
 
 18^ 
 
iGUSTINE 
 
 ^^ono/l 
 
 
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