Crypto-Jewish offshoot of the Beta Israel community
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Beta Abraham
Total population
150,000
Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia 150,000
Languages
Historical Jewish language Qimant (Kayla)
Liturgical language Ge'ez
Predominant spoken language Amharic
Religion
Crypto-Judaism Orthodox Christianity · Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Beta Israel · Falash Mura · Amhara · Qemant
Beta Abraham (Hebrew: בֵּיתֶא אַבְרָהָם, Ge'ez: Bēta Abreham, "House of Abraham")—other terms by which the community have been known include Tebiban ("possessor of secret knowledge"), Balla Ejj (Ge'ez: "Craftsmens"), Buda (Ge'ez: "evil eye") [1] and Kayla (the Agaw language spoken by them),[2]—is a community regarded by some as a crypto-Jewish offshoot of the Beta Israel community.[3] The size of the community is estimated to be somewhere upwards of 150,000 in number.[4]
This community is concentrated mainly in the Northern Shewa Zone in the Amhara Region in Ethiopia.
The earliest reference to the Jewish community in the historical region of Shewa comes from the 14th century missionary Zena Marqos.[5] More Jews arrived in the region of Shewa from the regions of Fogera and Dembiya during the rule of Negasi Krestos and as a result a first wave of Jewish immigration began in the years 1692-1702.
Negasi's grandson, the Meridazmach Abuye fought the forces of emperor Iyasu II, and later on held many of the emperor's soldiers in captivity. Eventually Abuye released some prisoners and appointed them to senior positions in the monarchy. Following this, a second Jewish migration wave began in 1730-1745, which was mainly prompted by the Jews' will to improve their living conditions.
There are quite a few surviving reports about the existence of a Jewish community in the Shewa region in the 19th century. In 1839 the European missionary Charles Isenberg toured Shewa's capital Ankober and reported that there were Jews around the capital of Shewa and that they were the descendants of those who emigrated from the Fogera region in the Begemder province to Shewa. Isenberg also mentioned that when he spoke with an Ethiopian missionary from the Ethiopian Church on 17 October 1839 he reported that several Jews integrated in the village and converted to Christianity.[6] This came after another by the British traveler Charles Johnson in 1842 that stated that the Jews' economic situation was better off than their Christian neighbors and that they were more skilled and described them as successful merchants. In 1908 Dr. Jacques Faitlovitch reported that there are Jews in Shewa who are referred to by the derogatory name Buda by their neighbors.
^Richard Pankhurst, "The Balla Ejj Community of Shawa", Between Africa and Zion - Proceedings of the First International Congress of the Society for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry, p. 132
^A. Z. Aešcoly, Sefer Ha-falalim, 1943, p.144 (Hebrew)
^jewishquarterly.org/article Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^"kulanu.org/ethiopia". Archived from the original on 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
^James Quirin, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews, p. 48
^H. Gundert, Biography of the Rev. Charles Isenberg, Missionary of the Church Missionary Society to Abyssinia and Western India from 1832 to 1864, part V
BetaAbraham (Hebrew: בֵּיתֶא אַבְרָהָם, Ge'ez: Bēta Abreham, "House of Abraham")—other terms by which the community have been known include Tebiban ("possessor...
Falash Mura. The larger BetaAbraham Christian community is also considered to have historical links to the Beta Israel. The Beta Israel made contact with...
Jewish group in Ethiopia is the Beta Israel, also known as Ethiopian Jews. Offshoots of the Beta Israel include the BetaAbraham and the Falash Mura, Ethiopian...
Yetzirah, "The Book of Formation", attributed to the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham. However, the names of the sefirot as given in later Kabbalah are not specified...
the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, many Spanish rabbis such as Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi believed that the year 1524 would be the beginning of...
(Adenite/Yemenite) Ambober Synagogue (Beta Israel) HaTikvah Synagogue (Beta Israel) Wolleka Synagogue (Beta Israel) BetaAbrahamBeta Israel History of the Jews...
the Hebrew Bible. The first use is in Genesis 26:5 where God says that Abraham has "obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments (מִצְוֹתַי mitzvotai)...
Teimanim from Yemen; various African Jews, including most numerously the Beta Israel of Ethiopia; and Chinese Jews, most notably the Kaifeng Jews, as well...
their original form, Yiddish. In addition, some prayers, such as "God of Abraham", were composed and are recited in Yiddish. There has been a resurgence...
people Argobba people Dahalik people Gurage people Harari people Beta Israel, BetaAbraham and Falash Muras. Jeberti people Silt'e people Tigrigna People...
Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but...
Ḳaraimtsa ṿe-Rustsa = Povi͡estvovanīe na Paskhu po-karaimski i po-russki, Abraham Firkowitsch, Vilʹna : Tip. I. T͡Sīonsona, 1907 Passover Haggadah according...
ETHIOPIA AND THE RED SEA (PDF). Hebrew University of Jerusalem. p. 9. Abraham, Kinfe (2004). Ethiopia and the Arab world. EIIPD Press. p. 53. ISBN 9782003120749...
Ethiopia, for a general overview of historical Judaism in the region. BetaAbraham, a similar group thought to predate the conversions of the Falash Mura...
creation of the world. According to rabbinic tradition, it was written by Abraham, while other sources from the same tradition attribute it to Akiva. Appearing...
M. Ginsburg, Abraham Menes, and Jacob Shatzky. Leibush Lehrer (1887–1964) headed a section including psychologists and educators Abraham Golomb, H. S...
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American...
period (1000 - 1550) The commentaries on the Torah, such as those by Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra and Nahmanides. Commentaries on the Talmud, principally by Rashi...
Global Information
Ethiopia 150,000