v.a. - Ethiopia : Religious Music of the Falashas (Jews of Ethiopia) [FW04442,1951]

          This album features the religious music of Ethiopian Jews, known as Falashas. While most Falashas--and Ethiopians in general--speak Amharic, the tracks on this album are in Geez. 

         There is no evidence the Falashas have ever spoken Hebrew. Liner notes include photographs as well as a brief history and description of the Falasha culture.

   Falasha - Exile of the Black Jews Beta Israel   

Origins & History Of The Tribe of Falasha

Falashas, native Jewish sect of Ethiopia.The origin of the Falashas is unknown. One Falasha tradition claims to trace their ancestry to Menelik, son of King Solomon of Israel and the queen of Sheba. Some scholars place the date of their origin before the 2nd century BC, largely because the Falashas are unfamiliar with either the Babylonian or Palestinian Talmud. 

The Bible of the Falashas is written in an archaic Semitic dialect, known as Ge'ez, and the Hebrew Scriptures are unknown to them. The name Falasha is Amharic for "exiles" or "landless ones"; the Falashas themselves refer to their sect as Beta Esrael ("House of Israel"). 

The religion of the Falashas is a modified form of Mosaic Judaism unaffected generally by postbiblical developments.

The Falashas retain animal sacrifice. They celebrate scriptural and nonscriptural feast days, although the latter are not the same as those celebrated by other Jewish groups. 

One of the Falasha nonscriptural feast days, for example, is the Commemoration of Abraham. 

The Sabbath regulations of the Falashas are stringent.They observe biblical dietary laws, but not the postbiblical rabbinic regulations concerning distinctions between meat and dairy foods.

Marriage outside the religious community is forbidden.

Monogamy is practiced, marriage at a very early age is rare, and high moral standards are maintained. 

The center of Falasha religious life is the masjid, or synagogue. The chief functionary in each village is the high priest, who is assisted by lower priests. Falasha monks live alone or in monasteries, isolated from other Falashas. Rabbis do not exist among the Falashas.

The Falashas live either in separate villages or in separate quarters in Christian or Muslim towns, in the region north of Lake Tana. They are skilled in agriculture, masonry, pottery, ironworking, and weaving.

Under Haile Selassie I, a few Falashas rose to positions of prominence in education and government, but reports of persecution followed the emperor's ouster in 1974.

More than 12,000 Falashas were airlifted to Israel in late 1984 and early 1985, when the Ethiopian government halted the program.

The airlift resumed in 1989, and about 3500 Falashas emigrated to Israel in 1990. Nearly all of the more than 14,000 Falashas remaining in Ethiopia were evacuated by the Israeli government in May 1991.

The Falashas themselves say that they are direct descendants from the family of Abraham, the first Jew. Terah, Abraham's father,came from the land of Ur of the Chaldees which was located in the southern part of the Euphrates. 

The Chaldees were one of many Kushite tribes of the region and Kushite means Black according to the Bibical dictionary. The Kushites were descended from Kush a son of Ham.

Godfrey higgins,an English expert on antiquities stated in his book :

"The Chaldees were originally Negroes"

Falasha (or Beta Israel), a Jewish Hamitic people of Ethiopia who claim descent from Menelik I, the son of the queen of Sheba and King Solomon; have no knowledge of Talmud but use a Bible and a prayer book written in Ge'ez, the ancient Ethiopian language.

They follow Jewish traditions including circumcision, observing the Sabbath, attending synagogue, and following certain dietary and purity laws.

Recognized in 1975 by the Chief Rabbinate as Jews and allowed to settle in Israel.

In 1984-85 thousands of Falashas resettled to Israel from refugee camps in Sudan as part of the Israeli government's "Operation Moses" and the U.S. government's "Operation Sheba."

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   Falasha! The Saga of Ethiopian Jewry Part 1   

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

Alternative titles: Beta Israel; Felasha

Falasha, also spelled Felasha,  an Ethiopian of Jewish faith. The Falasha call themselves House of Israel (Beta Israel) and claim descent from Menilek I, traditionally the son of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda) and King Solomon. Their ancestors, however, were probably local Agau (Agaw, Agew) peoples in Ethiopia who were converted by Jews living in southern Arabia in the centuries before and after the start of the Christian Era. The Falasha remained faithful to Judaism after the conversion of the powerful Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum to Christianity in the 4th century ce, and thereafter the Falasha were persecuted and forced to retreat to the area around Lake Tana, in northern Ethiopia. Despite Ethiopian Christian attempts to exterminate them in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Falasha partly retained their independence until the 17th century, when the emperor Susenyos utterly crushed them and confiscated their lands. Their conditions improved in the late 19th and 20th centuries, at which time tens of thousands of Falasha lived in the region north of Lake Tana. Falasha men are traditionally ironsmiths, weavers, and farmers. Falasha women are known for their pottery.

The Falasha have a Bible and a prayer book written in Geʿez, an ancient Ethiopian language. They have no Talmudic laws, but their preservation of and adherence to Jewish traditions is undeniable. They observe the Sabbath, practice circumcision, have synagogue services led by priests (kohanim) of the village, follow certain dietary laws of Judaism, observe many laws of ritual uncleanness, offer sacrifices on Nisan 14 in the Jewish religious year, and observe some of the major Jewish festivals.

From 1980 to 1992 some 45,000 Falasha fled drought- and war-stricken Ethiopia and emigrated to Israel. The number of Falasha remaining in Ethiopia was uncertain, but estimates ranged to only a few thousand (see Researcher’s Note: Falasha migration to Israel, 1980–92). The ongoing absorption of the Falasha community into Israeli society was a source of controversy and ethnic tension in subsequent years.

   Falasha! The Saga of Ethiopian Jewry Part 2   

Unspecified - Prayer for Passover 01464A1    (1:36)

Unspecified - Prayer for New Year 0146A2    (1:20)

Unspecified - Prayer for Passover 01464B1    (1:46)

Unspecified - Prayer "Adonai" for Saturday 0146B2    (2:24)

Unspecified - Prayer of Absolution 01465A1    (3:03)

Unspecified - Prayer "Adonai" for Weekdays 01465A2    (2:25)

Unspecified - Responsive Reading 01465B    (2:26)