Chabad School Refuses to Accept Ethiopian Students
“We don’t take in Ethiopian children. We don’t think you match our lifestyle and we’re not sure about your Jewishness either.” This is what five young girls of Ethiopian descent were told when they arrived with their parents at the “Or Chaya” school in Petah Tikva.
The girls were slated to begin the school year at the “Ner Etzion” school, which only had students of Ethiopian descent. The school was closed at the instruction of Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, following the parents’ protest, and the five students were directed by the municipality to the “Or Chaya” school, which belongs to the Chabad movement.
The girls arrived at the institution accompanied by their parents, and were met by a person at the gate who took them aside and informed them that the school was not interested in taking in Ethiopian students.
The girls were forced to return shamefacedly to the municipality. The Education Department staff called the school and was surprised to receive the same answer: “You’re welcome to lead us to the gallows. This has never happened and will never happen,” a school official said.
The Petah Tikva Municipality filed a complaint with the Education Ministry against the school, and Minister Sa’ar instructed the ministry’s director-general to summon the school principal, Nechama Dina Deitch for a hearing.
“We won’t tolerate these behavior toward children of Ethiopian descent,” Petah Tikva Municipality spokesman Hezy Hakak said Wednesday.
In the meantime, a week after the start of the school year, the five students are still sitting at home. “They looked at her as if she were a monkey,” said Molko Wanda, the father of a girl who was slated to begin the second grade at the “Or Chaya” school. “Do you know what it means telling a seven-year-old girl that she’s not wanted for being black?”
Moshe Ashgara, the father of another girl, feels helpless too. “My daughter is a diligent student. Why won’t they take her?”
Sixty-six of the “Ner Etzion” students have yet to be absorbed in an alternative educational institution. The municipality promised that a place would be found for all children within the next few days, and that a school refusing to take in students of Ethiopian descent would be punished.
The principal of “Or Chaya” school was unavailable for comment.
a chasidisha yid
I hope the city takes over or shuts down the school
talmid
If you’re Jewish you can be purple, green or checkerboard. If your not Jewish al pi Halacha, you can be white as snow but not acceoted in our schools.Color is a non issue here. Kol Hakovod to Ohr Chaya.
racism?
that is so wrong, sounds like a case of racism, but among jewish ppl?
Tongue in cheek
B”h
it has nothing to do with the question of Ethiopian-Jewishness,
but rather – look at the boys kipa in the picture, it’s a na-na-nachman kipa
Der! that’s why they don’t want them in the school!
Myriam Levitte
C’est pas une Qué Petah Tikva C’EST une petite fille GILO MA HNE bronzée …… et le Rav FABER N’en Veut Pas !! on IRA à Bagadtz …..!!! HANNA HNE Habad de Naissance! À Suivre!Ma fille est née 27 années du miracle de RABBI à New – YORK j’etais chez famille GOURARYE .././/….is not that in Petah Tikva my little girl is tanned Rav FABER Gilo n’enveut …….!!!! not we go to court! I am a mother and her miracle of the Rebbe! 1984 I was 27 years Empire has overthrown BLD Simha Torah Hanna five months pregnant in the Downstate Medical koma! …….!!!! we’ll go to court!
Myriam Levitte
MAMAD IR GANIM que des ETHOPIENS !!!! j’ai 2 petits enfants aussi !! je suis hassida de Rav Moulé AZIMOV paris !!
Chillul Lubavitch
unbelieveable………..
I wonder
The principal of “Or Chaya” school was unavailable for comment.
I wonder what those that struggled and fought so hard to save the Jewish Ethiopians have to say.
Could the proncipal be a relative of George Wallace?
even in Chabad?
I am so disappointed in Chabad. If the children were allowed to attend and then the school found out they weren’t halachically Jewish, maybe they could convince the parents to convert halachically.
Gayle
The case is not racial but a matter of a valid conversion or proof of the validity of being Jewish. I honestly think that many people in Israel, Russians and Ethiopians alike came to Israel because it is a better life then their countries. Not because that they are really Jewish. It is a big complicated problem. The principal should not be attacked verbally until all the facts are in.
yks london
its quite simpel the rebbe said to whome i dont know that to say they are not jewish …… but they should have (the men )milah and t`vilah (the women )t`vilah befor a bais din then tey can come to our schools and yeshivas this was said to me many years ago they never took on this idea in the main as the the goverment said they are jewish then and so to this day they belive they are ……. this what i heard when i was in yeshvah around 25 yrs ago aprox
SRG JEW LOVER
to Number 2
these kids are jewish!!!How do you know they are not? did you check their i d card?? SHAME SHAME ON CHABAD LUBVATICH!!
TO NUMBER 4
WHO SAY THE PICTURE HAS TO DO WITH THE ARTICALL. THEY ARE SHOWING YOU SOME KIDS WHO ARE BLACK. AND WHATS WORNG WITH A NANANACMAN KIPPA HE IS COVERING HIS HEAD. YOU ARE BOTH OF YOU NUMBER 2 AND 4 ARE RACISITS.
Whats our view?
If im not mistaken when the question of allowing the ethiopions into E”Y the Rebbe said that since we do not for sure know that the ethiopions are Jewish, we should not allow them to come in, for why should we spend money on a safek?
Does anyone know for sure?
dina
Ethiopans do need to convert to be accepted as jews. It has nothing to do with color.
Reuven
Disgusting, shameful, embarrassing, insulting, disgraceful, hillul HaShem. The principal should be fired. The school should be taken over by another group, or closed.
There is absolutely no excuse for this, and it should not be tolerated in our community.
CHR
what is the status of children who need a conversation, do they attend a jewish school till their conversion.
does this ethiopian family need/want conversion?
questions ppl….dont assume.
sounds like there is a lot of grey here.
amazes me how everyone is so quick to condemn
Wanda Ring
Cousin I. Wonder:
No, George Wallace changed his position and and “loved those negeros” the last several years in government.
No One Special
The article presents a one-sided report of the event. The school is not stating any disagreement with the story, as reported. Report stands.
Is it a fact that the Israeli Rabbinate accepts Ethiopian “Jews” without conversion?
Shliach
As far as I know there is a horoa from the Rebbe not to take in Ethiopians for the reason that their staus as Yidden is unclear. They were not accepted as Yidden by mainstream Yiddishkeit. They have to undergo giur, and that it a whole parsha in itself. Even when certain families underwent giur kehalocho and were shomer Torah and mitzvos, they were not accepted at our schools because of this horoa. It wa sa horoa for all Ethipians without differntiation.
The principal of the (now closed) Chabad school in Kiryat Tivon didn’t accept Ethiopian children, he was faced with a jail sentence, but he didn’t buckle to the pressure. If any school takes them in today it is very very sad. In the past our schools and yeshivos were denied government funds for their refusal to take in these kids, and it was true mesirus nefesh, since the mosdos began to face financial crisis without these monies.
One smart non- Chabad Rabbi didn’t want to lose the funding, but wanted to be ok with halocho so he was megayer girls before they came to EY, in the immigration camps. He then took them in to his mosdos, got tons of funding, unlike Chabad,the girls continued their lives as before outside schools hours, and it was lchora a win -win situation.
As a Shliach we face daily challenges, are makpid to be friendly to them and help them in ant way possible, until the red line. They join parades, some come to shiurim and farbrengens and obviously aren’t turned away, etc. They write to the Rebbe for brochos (we sign the father and mother’s name) and generally we have a fine relationship. No charedi school in Eretz Yisroel accepts them. We are no different.
I just cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats very not nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nomadder how you look outside we are all the same inside!!!!!
rochester ny
@4 derrr thats just a random picture of Ethiopian children derrrrrrr
questions
Do Ethiopians accept the Oral Torah? Don’t some people say they may be descended from early Christians? Do they have proper marriage and gittin according to halacha?
Do any Chabad schools have Ethiopian students? Did the Rebbe speak about Ethiopians?
Happy Jew
Before you all get crazy here why don’t you all look in to what the Rebbe said about the Ethiopians.
This Ynet article is twisting the facts
What? Hello? Are we still Chabad? Do we still follow halacha? I’m surprised at the comments!
Chabad has nothing against Ethiopians as people, plain as simple. However, as all self-respecting Jewish schools know, if the school is for Jews it accepts and educates only Jews – regardless of race or color. Any Ethiopians who convert according to halacha would be accepted. But if they have not been properly authenticated as Jews according to halacha, they’re welcome to attend any of the many schools in the world that are meant for non-Jews.
It is only too bad that Chabad has not yet opened a school especially for non-Jews according to the Sheva Mitzvos, but alas, charity begins at home. Please don’t misconstrue this as racism!
the lubavitcher rebbes stance....
the lubavitcher rebbes stance on ethiopians was that they are not jewish and that they would need proper halachik conversion to take place! this is not anything new or crazy for many gedolim have said the same. you can argue from today till tomorrow on the issue of if they are jewish or not but no side has any concrete proof over the other. This school doesnt need to take in people that are not jewish in their estimation and thats exactly what they said
Ma Rabbi
Its not about race. Its about halacha. The greatest poskim have ruled that they need to convert. If they did not do so, how you you expect a Chabad school to accept them?
Said with Sarcasm
way to go Chabad…thats some real Ahavas Yisroel.
Happened in Crown Heights
I know a well known brown skinned Crown Heights family, the mother is a born Jew for a fact, a few years ago she took her son to Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street to visit and consider enrolling him. She related a horrible story of how the Principle actually laughed in her face with her son sitting beside her and said her son would be a distraction. So don’t tell me how this is not Chabad. I wonder how this man looks at him self in the mirror especially since this boy has grown into an amazing successful Chossid. I can not wait for the day this family decides to tell their story to the world. I bet it will be a good read!
Wondering
O.K. I am waiting for the facts. Is halacha the issue? Does anyone know of a black child who HAS gone to a yeshiva? What were the circumstances? If refused, what was the reason?
Lets not lose our heads
To #12: No offense intended, but it sounds like you are full of hate & you finally found an outlet. Just because the article said they were Jewish, it doesn’t make them Jewish. Don’t you know the #1 rule about journalism? Always take it with a grain of salt. (Or 2.)
To everybody else: I would like to quote a line from the article that everyone seemed to miss:”and we’re not sure about your Jewishness either.”…Please note. And lets also note that the article seems to be extremely one-sided. Just who wrote this, may I ask?
Safek Jews
According to R. Moshe Feinstein, z’tl, Ethiopian Jews are Safek Jews.
I HOPE U READ THIS
I think it’s just as disgusting as you think it is, but Crownheights.info really didn’t give us both sides of the story.
Hearing what the principal had to say might, not certainly, but might, change the picture a bit.
It was pretty irresponsible to publish this without talking to the principal…
Chicken
This has nothing to do with color. And everything with being Jewish halacikaly. The Rebbe said that Ethiopians need to convert to be considered Jewish. Why more questions?
Would you want your girls sitting next to probably non-Jewish girls, who will not dress tzniusdik, who will bring treif lunches to school and discuss TV shows. “Nachman” kipa means nothing.
I have been in Israel now for 6 months and have been dealing with this issue. Also with Ethiopians throwing rock at my kids because they are Chabad. And adults ignoring it. They, Ethiopians are very skillful at “riding” a system, I have seen a few times, than when told no they fall on the favorite argument – this is because we are black. Nonsense. So far the Israel is the least racist country I have been to.
$$$ talks
If they had money they will be very VERY welcome
Chabad
You people who quote the Rebbe how to exclude Ethiopians should check if you are really Jewish. And Crown Heights Jews also are also guilty of mistreating Jewish Blacks. Oh yeah, forget considering them for a shidduch. What pathetic chasidic losers. I’m embarissed to be Chabad.
just for your information
people before u get mad and say “shameful” “busha” etc obviously most of u dont know but when the first Ethiopian aliya happened, lubavitch schools in ey consulted with the rebbe. the rebbe made it clear that there is a big question about their yahadus and if they want to go to lubavitch scools, then they should undergo appropriate conversion. as a result lubavitch schools in israel lost many government grants! we dont compromosise on these things!!!
ce
if they are kosher jews, then why would they do that? I don’t understand what their problem was…..
can we hear more details on this?
look at halacha
according to halacha they need to properly reconvert becasue not all of them are jewish from there ancesters!
to anyone with racial issues its not about rascism at all its a major halachic issue.
to #33
You wrote:
Would you want your girls sitting next to probably non-Jewish girls, who will not dress tzniusdik, who will bring treif lunches to school and discuss TV shows.
AND I REPLY TO YOU THAT EXCEPT FOR THE ‘PROBABLY NON-JEWISH’ PART AND TREIF FODD, YOU ARE DESCRIBING THE CROWN HEIGHTS JEWISH SCENE
shlomo
so what? same iria dont care of thousands russian Jews, a dont against Ethiopian, but i completely not agry, that in israel want do from they first class Jew. in this moment sorry I’m first class Jew. you want be equal please.if not I’m first class Jew. not you.
p.s. same iria always fight with Russian school. even that it best school in town, and you people don’t want tell us this news. so I’m not interested in black rassizm too
Avraham Gilman
Harav Avigdor Miller writes in the book Thursday Nights with R.A.M that the Ethiopians are 100 percent non Jews. They are non Jews that adopted some Jewish Customs. The Jewish people are a white nation. This has nothing to do with racism anymore than why Cohanim are called to the Torah first. In today’s times this may not be politically correct however it is the truth
only Jews Allowed
already 22 years ago, when my son went to ULY for his honachas l’cheder there was a “black” jew in that class, right in the midle of all the other pre 1 boys.
2 of my very close personal friends have blond-haired children who married black Jews. One of them even taught in CH for years before he moved away. But these dark skinned Jews are known to be Jews – their mothers or maternal grandmothers etc were born Jewish. It wouldn’t have made a difference if they were halachic converts either.
Problem with the Etheopian Jews is that they adamantly refused to undergo conversion. That was their choice 20-30 years ago. Now they are screaming “racism”? And you are buying into it?
I’m not a racist. But I upport all efforts to keep our schools Halachicly Jewish
A Yid from Eretz HaKodesh
Unbelievable that a quote from the Rebbe is not the last word for us, and people can still argue racism etc. The Rebbe said that even if they convert we do not take them in, since it is difficult to differentiate between them. Sof Pasuk.
Our Chabad school system accepts any halachic Yidden, no matter how they dress after school hours, or what kind of a family they come from. That is why most Reshet schools are located in the worst neighborhoods. The rebbe wanted us to bring Yiddishkeit to those dark corners, and many fine Lubavitcher families have sprung from those Reshet students.
Ethiopians are a pure Halchic issue which the Rebbe decided for us, and although we never turn them away if they turn up for an event, and are treated as anyone else, they are not counted in a minyan (in the EY boondocks this could make for a sticky situation, and I speak from experience)and not accepted in our schools.
That’s it folks. All other discussions are off topic- there’s no racism, no anti nachman kipot (!!!), no waiting to hear the other side or anything else. We are Lubavitch, remember? And one person guides us. Ayn lonu ello divrei Ben Amram. Moshaich NOW, a gut yohr to all.
Milhouse
To all the commenters who are shouting and outraged, what are you doing on this site? This is a Lubavitcher site, for Lubavitcher chassidim, and here the Rebbe’s word is law. No government law, whether in Russia, America, or Israel, can override the Rebbe’s word, and Lubavitch has a long history of mesirus nefesh. If the NKVD could not scare us, do you really think the Israeli courts will?! If the Rebbe said not to accept these children, then that is the end of the matter. Ein lonu elo divrei Ben Amrom.
Milhouse
By the way, the whole idea that these Ethiopians are from Shevet Don, etc., is one big fantasy. There is no basis for it. The Radvaz just repeated what he heard, and did not investigate it himself. The truth is that they’re descended from Christians who decided about 700-800 years ago that the New Testament is not true, and they would only keep the “Old Testament”. They broke away from the Ethiopian Church and started calling themselves “Beta Israel”, but they are not and never were Jews.
mottel
Meanwhile lots of shluchim in the US have goyim in their schools b/c they don’t wnat to upset donors by telling them their conversion wasn’t valid etc.
Facts, please.
41 is correct.
DNA studies have proven there is NO relationship between these Ethiopians and real Jews. Indeed, they practice a strange faith that is mostly notzrus with some Jewish customs that they must have learned from passing spice traders or perhaps even from notzri missionaries who misinterpreted Torah thrown in.
Someone who is very famous for his dark glasses and for constantly having one or more members of his party in prison accepted them for political reasons. No one else did, but because the EY government foisted them upon EY with the help of do-gooders from the US, a giyur lechumra compromise was made.
This has nothing to do with the gerei tzedek in CH and if the stories above are true, someone’s head should roll.
On the other hand, any principal in a Chabad school in EY who accepts Ethiopians without at least giyur lechumra should also be dismissed.
democracy nut
15: “Disgusting, shameful, embarrassing, insulting, disgraceful, hillul HaShem. The principal should be fired. The school should be taken over by another group, or closed”
how bout the school be bulldosed, the teachers hanged, the kids slaughtered and books set on fire
Post Office
12: “these kids are jewish!!!How do you know they are not? did you check their ID card?”
No, I check their pants
Educated
Why don’t we all sit down and have a meeting and figure out how to accomidate these poeple into halacha or maybe we its time to update the shulchan aruch. You know, we could consult with experts from a veriaty of feilds, perhaps maybe we could allow the public to vote on the issue – i don’t see wha’t the problem is
jaco770
Most of the etiopans living in israel are jews and those
who were in safek were converted.
NOT AS THE MASS OF 80 PERCENT OF RUSSIANS WHO ARE NOT JEWS.
HABAD COULD YOU WAKE UP???
Dovid
Is everyone here aware Ethiopians did go through a conversion to make aliyah? The Ethiopian Yidden wanting to go to the Chabad school are keeping Torah and Mitzvos. The horia from the Rebbe you are speaking of has to do with mivtzoim. If someone does a conversion and does not have the intent to keep Torah and Mitzvos it is an invalid conversion. So that is the issue with Ethiopians and mivyzoim. But not when it is those Ethiopians who kept Torah and Mitzvos.
Rebbe-s Take
Shaalos and Teshuvas of J. David Bleich in Contemporary Halachic Issues discusses this case.
The Rebbe did NOT give chizuk to those desiring to help emigrate Ethiopians, seemingly calling into question their Jewish authenticity.
The Rebbe’s relative silence on this issue should suffice to say that we should be silent also.
We just don’t know if they are Jews.
Halachic Issue, NOT Race issue
I agree with “Rebbe’s Take”.
Also, it is NOT a skin color issue, it is a halachic issue.
To #47
“This has nothing to do with the gerei tzedek in CH and if the stories above are true.”
I did not say gerei tzedek in CH, I said BORN JEW with brown skin, a family of them …you do know there are some, right? Not everyone with brown skin converted. and I believe this family to be a more than credible source.
It is sick how quick CH is to refuse to admit the truth.
Rochel Miller
The issue here is whether the children are Jewish or not.
Facts, please
to 55:
Doesn’t matter – what I said about gerei tzedek pertains to born Jews as well. I did read what you wrote but I made a mistake when I was responding.
Anyone who discriminates against born Jews with provable lineage should not be running a Chabad moisad.
Anyone who gives in to the memsheles zadon in EY or to a donor and accepts non-Jews, Ethiopian or otherwise, in a Chabad moisad for Jews (does not include the drug rehab etc), should be dismissed as well. The Ethiopian airlift was a shanda that brought a new underclass to EY, which would have been sad but necessary had they been Jews. For what they did, they could just as soon have imported any random tribe from Africa or even South America that had contact with Jews or notzrim and added monotheistic beliefs to local paganism.
David
I see two issues here. One, why would an ostensibly Chabad site run a story dissing a Chabad school. The reporting seems to be one sided, as the schools representatives did not give their side of the story.
The other issue is that there IS a halachic issue with immigrants from Ethiopia. They may be fine people but if there is a question about their lineage, Rabbanim have ruled that they must undergo conversion to remove any doubt. If a person has honest commitment to Judaism, he will undergo this conversion gladly. Many Ethiopians do. But some refuse, and therein lies the problem. If they have not converted, then there is a doubt, and thus they cannot be considered Jewish.
Whoever wrote this story needs to go back and investigate. Are the quotes allegedly made by the principal accurate? Is there any hidden agenda in attacking this particular school? Are the children really Jewish or are they from the latter group mentioned above.
A little more sechel, a little less brogez.
David
kenneth c.
A 2010 study by Behar et al. on the Genome-wide structure of Jews observed that the Beta Israel had similar levels of the Middle Eastern genetic clusters as the Semitic-speaking Tigreans and Amharas. However, compared to the Cushitic-speaking Oromos, who are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, the Beta Israel had higher levels of Middle Eastern admixture.
In other studies where Ethiopian Jews exhibited markers that are characteristic of both East African and Middle Eastern populations, they had Y-chromosome haplotypes (e.g., haplotypes Med and YAP+4S) that were common in other Jewish populations.
KCBS
If you don’t know what the situation is, don’t talk.
You guys are looking at the obvious, given information and not for the deeper reasoning. None of this has anything to do with racism. The Ethiopion topic is not a simple one. What happened, happened. Let the people involved deal with it without interference from the unknowing public.
Facts, please.
Kenneth, this research is new and seems politically charged.
Every other study shows that there is clearly no correlation between Ethiopians in Eretz Yisroel and Jews. Yes, those tribes are Semitic – I’ve heard their language and with one ear closed I know where it comes from. But that does not make them Jewish. Semitic is primarily a linguistic term except when used with “anti-” as a prefix.
The last sentence is very unclear. It sounds like it refers to a very small group who could just as soon have that DNA from Arabs and not Jews as we have those markers in common with Arabs. We all know what Arabs did the moment they came into contact with any women, especially black women whom they often enslaved. In any case, we are not the only ones who have those markers even if Arabs have nothing to do with it.
Their religion has been studied by experts at the very secular Hebrew University and it was found not to have Jewish roots at all.
Bottom line: They are not Jewish. They practice a breakoff from notzrus and if anything, their Jewish claims are similar to those of the Black Hebrew cult. They have a huge incidence of domestic violence in Eretz Yisroel and Chabad schools have enough work on their hands taking care of real Jews from broken homes to need to take in non-Jews.
Ironically, the Zionists missed out on some tribes who do have Jewish roots further south in Africa, but they are too small for the UJA to raise funds for and they aren’t interested in getting welfare in Eretz Yisroel, so they’re staying put. (not the Jews in Uganda who know they stem from gerei tzedek and became isolated but the Lemba tribe).
kenneth c.
it’s not politically charged, because some of the ethiopianjews themsevles have complained that some of the new immigrants are not jews if you want proof that half of the ethiopian jewish population have jewish ancestry here it is : http://www.pnas.org/content…
look for the article in bold letters were it says “Evidence for Common Jewish Origins”.
annonamus
were all jewish and if u the person thats incharge of chabad ur on shlichus and when ur on shlichus its to help them or something else now it is ur mission to accept them because ur on shlichus and now thhey might be going to a public school so if i were u i would accpt those two children
annonamus
never mind what i wrote
kenneth c.
Facts please,
you said “They practice a breakoff from notzrus”. first off, that is a theory and hasn’t been taken seriously by major scholars and ethiopian historical records never mentions such a thing.
Bottom line, a little more than half of them have jewish ancestry and half of them come from mixed marriges and a proportion of them descend from converts. They’re jewish…period!
To Keneth
Very nice genetic findings but FYI we Jews go by Halacha to determine Jewish identity, not by Behar et al
the rebbe
i love when people bring the Rebbe as a back up without stating were they read this. i could do it too if you like. the rebbe said that “ ”. (fill in the blank)
to kenneth
Judaism dictates that a person’s Jewishness is determined by provable lineage. We don’t determine who’s Jewish in a lab.
kenneth c.
Don’t get me wrong,I believe that they had to go through a “in case of doubt conversion” but the rabbis that were doing the conversion knew that the beta israel were jews. It’s kinda like a karaite jew that wants to become orthodox and observe halacha.
aaron
“If you’re Jewish you can be purple, green or checkerboard.”
True, any color other than black will do.
Facts, please
Kenneth C:
Your information is off. Full stop.
I don’t have to go past the headline to know you did not read the study correctly.
“The only exception was the Ethiopian Jews, who were affiliated more closely with non-Jewish Ethiopians and other North Africans. Our results are consistent with other studies of Ethiopian Jews based on a variety of markers (16, 23, 46). However, as in other studies where Ethiopian Jews exhibited markers that are characteristic of both African and Middle Eastern populations, they had Y-chromosome haplotypes (e.g., haplotypes Med and YAP+4S) that were common in other Jewish populations. ”
Yes, they share the characteristics that we share with other non-Jews. Arabs traveled that area to trade spices, and in any case no one doubts that all Ethiopians are Semitic. Non-Jewish Ethiopians share those markers with us as well.
What’s more, there are many other studies that have different information that make it clear these are not Jews.
I also know full well what the origin of their practices are. They are a branch of notzrus that are similar to the Unitarians but with a different cultural twist. They decided to reject the notzri testament and claimed they were the original Jews at some point. I put their claims in the same category as those of the Black Hebrews. So do the scientists whose information I base this on.
As for their own claims against some of their own – these are tribal people who live by fighting other tribes. It’s like members of the Crips opening a kosher restaurant and then members of the Bloods attacking people on their way to the restaurant and putting up a sign that it isn’t kosher – when we all know the Crips and Bloods are both not kosher! It’s like Rwanda – the two fighting tribes are also genetically the same and no one knows who is who.
A conman or two from Ethiopia learned Western ways and how to manipulate secular Jewish do-gooders. At the time, EY was desperate for people and needed menial labor as the old generation of Sefardim pulled themselves way up (Jewish genes, you know) and they did not want Arab workers. Instead, they got a small perennial underclass that knows how to squawk and protest when the left uses them against Yiddishkeit. The do-gooders should have moved them to the US and Europe.
Bottom line: They are not Jewish. Rav Moshe Feinstein is not our rov; he was the baseline posek of his dor but there is much we do not accept of his psak (for instance, cholov Yisroel). He paskened for the masses, not for specific communities.
We, on the other hand, have standards that we don’t break. So did Rav Avigdor Miller ZYA, who was never afraid to speak the truth (and he was very much a supporter of the Rebbe.)
Facts, please
In fact, I grew up in the movement that rhymes with preservative and was in that movement’s schools right at the time of the beginning of the airlift. I remember one of my teachers, a farbrente member of that movement and a real leftist who would vote for Obama in a flash if she were alive today, saying she would NEVER let her children marry Ethiopians. I was a bit surprised, but now I see why.
Why? She was a very scholarly woman who was writing a PhD thesis in Jewish History in her spare time. She had access to any Jewish related material she wanted, and since she was not teaching or studying for the sake of income, she hardly cared when she finished her doctorate. So, she read a lot of material about other topics, including the Ethiopian matter. What’s more, her husband is a physician who understands genetics quite well.
These people understood who the Ethiopians were – and they’d accept Reform converts too for all they care about Yiddishkeit and halacha.
Now if this lady knew that at the time, can you imagine what the Rebbe knew?
kenneth c.
Facts please…
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has ruled that descendants of Ethiopian Jews who were “forced” to convert to Christianity
are “unquestionably Jews in every respect”.[41] With the consent of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Amar ruled that it is forbidden to question the Jewishness of this community, pejoratively called Falashmura.
In 1908, the chief rabbis of 45 countries made a joint statement officially declaring that Ethiopian Jews were indeed Jewish.
The Jewishness of the Beta Israel community became openly supported amongst the majority of the European Jewish communities during the early 20th century.
In 1921 Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, recognized the Beta Israel community as Jews.
kenneth c.
Facts please.
how do you explain this verse from the bible:
Isaiah 11:11-
“In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people–those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands”.
like I said, your presentation is a theory and it is not recorded in history!!
kenneth c.
facts please,
All ethiopians are not semites. The amharas,the tigreans,and a little more than half of those ethiopian jews are semitic. however some of the non-semitic ethiopians such as the majority of the cushitic oromos speak a semitic language.
kenneth c.
Facts please, if I may repeat from post 65,
A little more than half of them have jewish ancestry and half of them come from mixed marriges and a proportion of them descend from converts.
Even if they had to go through a Giyur le’chumra( in case of doubt)to prove to people who share your opinion that They’re jewish…period!!!
the Radbaz (Rabbi David ben Zimra, 1479–1573). Radbaz explains in a responsum concerning the status of the Beta Israel:
But those Jews who come from the land of Cush are without doubt from the tribe of Dan, and since they did not have in their midst sages who were masters of the tradition, they clung to the simple meaning of the Scriptures. If they had been taught, however, they would not be irreverent towards the words of our sages, so their status is comparable to a Jewish infant taken captive by non-Jews … And even if you say that the matter is in doubt, it is a commandment to redeem them.
kenneth c.
also,above in this article post #52, Dovid posted:
“Is everyone here aware Ethiopians did go through a conversion to make aliyah? The Ethiopian Yidden wanting to go to the Chabad school are keeping Torah and Mitzvos. The horia from the Rebbe you are speaking of has to do with mivtzoim. If someone does a conversion and does not have the intent to keep Torah and Mitzvos it is an invalid conversion. So that is the issue with Ethiopians and mivyzoim. But not when it is those Ethiopians who kept Torah and Mitzvos”.
Is that clear enough for you?
kenneth c.
Rabbi Ovadiah Yare of Bertinoro wrote in letter from Jerusalem in 1488:
I myself saw two of them in Egypt. They are dark-skinned… and one could not tell whether they keep the teaching of the Karaites, or of the Rabbis, for some of their practices resemble the Karaite teaching… but in other things they appear to follow the instruction of the Rabbis; and they say they are related to the tribe of Dan.
Facts, please.
Please check regarding the Ridbaz/Bartenura and how no one accepts their error except Rav Ovadia Yosef who did so for political reasons.
Rav Kook was a starry-eyed and very misguided one-issue idealist who was so bent on trying to metaher the sheretz that the chalutzim brought to Eretz Yisroel that he would have recognized anyone as Jewish who had a yearning for EY, including the Black Hebrews and many a j4j style wannabe Marrano in South America of the sort that litter my Facebook profile yeder montag un donnershtik. He was not the posek for anyone of any standards in his time although he was respected for his learning – he was a rav mi-taam paid by the British Mandate.
I have no more time to waste on this subject, as I have the facts and you do not. The Falashas and Falash Mura are the same – followers of two different breakaway notzri sects, one of which does still accept yoshke and the other one of which practices a Black Hebrew-style hodgepodge. Like anyone who disagrees anywhere, but especially in Africa and the Middle East, they stop at nothing to discredit each other. This one is treyf, and that one is not kosher.
Chabad does not need to concern itself with a non-Jewish underclass that was foisted on our Eretz haKodesh by a strange cabal of bedfellows who were in it out of reasons ranging from a misinformed desire to do good to political gain. Chabad has enough work on its hands helping Jews whose ancestors were the victims of misguided policies earlier on.
The Rebbe did NOT want Ethiopians in our schools. They are not welcome in the Reshet or Beit Chana schools in Kiryat Malachi where they are a huge part of the population, and Chabad suffered quite a bit at the hands of Moshe Katzav’s brother for standing strong when he was mayor.
We have our standards. Shas will most definitely welcome those “poor victims of discrimination” to their El HaMaayan or Margalit Em beYisrael or whatever it is called framework and I wish them luck. Their schools do a good job and the girls will be happy there. Shas takes responsibility for the Ethiopians and even has an Ethiopian MK. So be it – we stay above the fray and have no MK’s so that we can do what the Rebbe wanted.
Milhouse
Kenneth C, who the @#%^ cares what Shlomo Amar paskens? Who is he to pasken dinim for us? Who were these “45 chief rabbis”, and what information did they have?
As for this business about them being from Shevet Dan, THEY DO NOT CLAIM THIS. If the Bartinura thought they said this, then he heard wrong. These GOYIM’s story is that they’re descended from a son Shlomo Hamelech supposedly had with the Queen of Shvo (as if such a relationship had ever happened). This is of course exactly the same origin story that the Ethiopian Xians have, and of course it is nonsense. So if they don’t have a tradition of being from Shevet Don how could we (or the Radbaz, or the Bartinura) possibly know this? Ruach hakodesh?!
My guess is that the Radbaz and the Bartinura were repeating something they heard, that originated from the fairy tales of Eldod Hadoni. A lot of people were taken in by that hoax.
Milhouse
The bottom line is EIN LONU ELO DIVREI BEN AMROM. The Rebbe explicitly instructed Chabad schools not to accept these people, and that should be the end of the story. Nobody who calls himself a Lubavitcher chossid has the right to question the Rebbe’s word.
kenneth c.
Facts please AND milhouse,
I’m starting to think that you guys are racist. Show me where the rebbe said “Don’t help or accept the ethiopian jews”.
facts please you said “as I have the facts and you do not” LOL!
I GAVE YOU HISTORICAL and logical BACKUP and yet you still say and keep repeating “The Falashas and Falash Mura are breakaway notzri sects”.you are not giving me logical historical proof.(because it does not EXIST) you are giving me a weak theory.
First off, the “falashas” are jews who “never” accepted xtianity.
Secondly the “falash mura” are similar to the marranos,in that they were forced or pretended to convert to xtianity.
by the way, the retarded “black hebrew israelites” have nothing at all to do with the ethiopian jews!.your use of that analogy is stupid in 10 different categories.
Finally, milhouse you ignorantly said “These GOYIM’s story is that they’re descended from a son Shlomo Hamelech supposedly had with the Queen of Shvo (as if such a relationship had ever happened). This is of course exactly the same origin story that the Ethiopian Xians have, and of course it is nonsense”
it would be important for you to know that many ethiopian jews themselves don’t believe that. here’s proof: “Most of the Beta Israel consider the Kebra Negast legend to be a fabrication. As even its name proclaims, ”Glory of Kings“ (meaning the Christian Aksumite kings), it was originally written in the 14th century in large part to delegitimize the Zagwe dynasty, to promote instead a rival ”Solomonic“ claim to authentic Jewish Ethiopian antecedents, and to justify the Christian overthrow of the Zagwe by the ”Solomonic“ Aksumite dynasty, whose rulers are glorified. Quite evidently, as the writing of this polemic shows, criticisms of the Aksumite claims of authenticity were still current even in the 14th century, two centuries after they came to power. Instead, many Beta Israel believe that they are descended from the tribe of Dan, and most of them reject the ”Solomonic“ and ”Queen of Sheba“ legends of the Aksumites”.
YOU GUYS NEED TO BE A LITTLE MORE OPEN MINDED AND STOP LETTING “YOUR” OPINIONS RULE YOUR FREEDOM TO THINK RATIONALLY AND LOGICALLY…….MOST OF THEM ARE JEWISH!……. GET OVER IT!
The rebbe’s stance was a halachic one NOT that he would have said “The Falashas are breakaway notzri sect so I don’t accept them as jews”.
kenneth c.
However, I’m not saying that the ethiopian jews as a whole are descendants of the biblical israelites,a proportion of them are the result of mixed marriges and conversion.
awacs
“The Rebbe explicitly instructed Chabad schools not to accept these people, and that should be the end of the story.”
I keep seeing statements to that effect. I *don’t* see any sources. Can you provide some, Milhouse?
Rifka Leah
As a non Chabadnic Jew who has to many Chabadnics as friends and who adopted an Ethiopian ( who probably isn’t jewish) I have to state my piece. All you racists who say Ethiopians are not Jewish, read your African history, 90% of Ethiopians WERE and I push the WERE, Jewish until the X-tians and Islam came to Africa. They practice what they know to be the Judism that they remember due to oral and written history from when it was original practiced in Ethiopia. They are Jewish.. more then these Russians who left the religion during the Russian Revolution and now see Israel as an escape from what Russia has become. And if they are using th “system” then look within, who is calling the kettle black? We all know the web pages tha tell how to beat the system in NY… how to get food stamps, how to get rent control.. how to get welfare… why don’t you lazy Yeshiva bochers get off your fat tuchas and get a job to support your 15 fat kids. Or stop having so many.. you talk about this and that, your Tanya and Mishna. WORK FOR A LIVING.. Tanya doesn’t pay very well… Jews have no color… I’m not white.. I’m pink.. my son Aiden is a beautiful cocoa…I can trace my family as Jews back more then 400 yrs,does that make me anymore Jewish then these Ethiopiansthat orally can trace it back 1000? Doubtful… Get off your high horses and accept these people…and a little reading outside of the Yeshiva might be mind opening… might learn something in the process also….Shalom
Rifka Leah
Falasha (Ethiopic for “stranger”) is the term by which the Jews of Ethiopia are commonly known: they refer to themselves as Beta Isra’el “House of Israel”, never as aihud “Jews”. Most have now left Ethiopia and live in Israel. Their religious beliefs and practices are in many respects so different from orthodoxy that their Jewishness was often questioned. They were entirely ignorant of the Mishnah and Talmud tradition (see above). They had no knowledge of Hebrew: prayers and readings from scripture were in Ge’ez, which is also the sacred language of Ethiopian Christians, nor did they observe rabbinic customs concerning the mezuzah and phylacteries. They did observe ritual and dietary laws with great zeal, although these did not include the rabbinic prohibition of eating meat and milk at the same meal. They also kept the sabbath very strictly. Like the Samaritans, they celebrated the Passover by sacrificing a lamb on the 14th Nisan. They did not celebrate Purim, however, or (like the Karaites) the popular festival of Hanukkah.
In common with other religious groups, including Christians, they practised male and female circumcision on the eighth day after birth: the operation was performed by a woman. The Falasha synagogue, known as a masjid (“mosque”), had an altar outside the east door, and a woman’s court to the south. Male priests known as kohanim officiated in worship, accompanied by the rattling of sistra and the burning of incense. The study of the Bible, especially the Psalms, was led by debteras “scribes”. Among original Falasha works, written in Ge’ez and of unknown date and authorship, are the Commandments of the Sabbath, the Book of Abba Elijah, the Apocalypse of Gorgorios, the Apocalypse of Ezra and the Death of Moses.
The origin of the Falashas is unknown. According to their own tradition they are descended from followers of Menelek, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who brought the “ark of the covenant” from Jerusalem to Ethiopia in the tenth century BCE. Others claim they go back to the Assyrian destruction of Samaria and Judah in the eighth century BCE and the subsequent emigration. More likely they are the result of the gradual infiltration of Jewish and Christian elements into South Arabia and East Africa during the first Christian centuries. Only one thing is certain: they broke away from mainstream Judaism before the Mishnah was completed c 200 CE, and it may be significant that they commemorate with a fast the destruction of the First Temple, that is in 586BCE, but not the Second in 70 CE.
The subsequent history of the Falasha communities in Ethiopia is punctuated by periods of oppression by the Christian authorities, occasional rebellion, and, in one or two cases, conversion to Christianity. They retained their distinctive identity, however, down to the present century. In the 1970s they attracted support from American Jews and, with Israeli military assistance, were gradually rescued from Ethiopia, a country devastated by famine and civil war. More than 8000 reached Israel covertly in 1984, 14,000 in a spectacular 24-hour operation in May 1991 known as “Operation Solomon”, and the last 4000 in 1992. They were recognized as Jews first by the Sephardi Chief Rabbi in 1973, and then by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in 1975. There continue to be difficulties in relation to marriage and legitimacy, however, and occasional suspicions of racist attitudes towards this most recent group of new immigrants to Israel.
modern orthodox jew
On Ethiopians, Rav Moshe would later specify a giur l’humra, a form of pro forma conversion that allows conversion without first pushing away the potential converts and without first teaching them Jewish law. He would also later note that the Israeli Chief Rabbis’ decision on these matters should be respected