The Jews of Ethiopia

With a special focus on Europe and the role of German, English and Italian Jewish communities in creating a new Jewish Ethiopian identity, this book investigates the formation of a new Ethiopian Jewish elite.

Autorentext

Tudor Parfitt is Reader in Modern Jewish Studies at the Department of the Languages and Culture of Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He has written on the history of the Jews in Africa and Asia.
Emanuela Trevisan Semi is Professor of Modern Jewish and Hebrew Studies at the university of Venice, Italy. She is the president of the Society for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry (SOSTEJE) and president of the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Mediterranean (MERIFOR).

Klappentext

This book offers the results of the most recent research carried out in European and Israeli universities on Ethiopian Jews. With a special focus on Europe and the role played by German, English and Italian Jewish communities in creating a new Jewish Ethiopian identity, it investigates such issues as the formation of a new Ethiopian Jewish elite and the transformation of the identity from Ethiopian Falashas to the Jews of Ethiopia during the twentieth century.

Inhalt

1. The Construction of Jewish Identities in Africa 2. Giovanni Ellero's Manuscript Notes on the Falasha of Walqayt 3. S. Schachnowitz's Novel Salomo Der Falascha (1923) 4. The Falashas in the German Jewish Press in Germany: During the First Half of the Twentieth Century 5. Ethiopian Jews in Europe: Taamrat Emmanuel in Italy and Makonnen Levi in England 6. Abraham Adgeh: The Perfect English Gentleman 7. Gete Yirmiahu and Beta Israel's Regeneration: A Difficult Path 8. The Ethiopian Jewish Exodus: A Myth in Creation 9. The Sacred and Secular: The Immigration of the Black Jews of Ethiopia to Israel 10. Birth and Death in an Absorption Centre: The Process of Change among Ethiopian Jews in Israel 11. The Function of Musical Instruments in the Liturgy of the Ethiopian Jews 12. About the Jewish Identity of the Beta Israel
   13. The Relationship between the Beta Israel Tradition and the Book of Jubilees