Do you accept the "Black Hebrews" of Dimona as Jews? Just on their say so?! They claim that they are the real Jews, and Sefardim and Ashkenazim are the imposters!
The Falashas didn't just not have the Talmud.
They didn't know Hebrew or Aramic. They didn't even know of Tefillin.
Falashas
1) called their place of worship masgid - "mosque" in Arabic;
2) had no knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic, reciting all their prayers in Ge'ez;
3) used only the Ethiopic Bible, which includes Apocryphal books excluded from our Tenach, such as Tobit, Judith and the Wisdom of Ben Sirah; they did not possess the Sefer Torah in scroll form, but read from a book;
4) did not use Tallits, Tzitzis or Mezuzos;
5) observed the Sabbath without any light, fire or heated food, and kept the Festivals on different dates and in styles markedly different from our own;
6) performed animal sacrifices forbidden by the rabbis since the destruction of the Temple;
7) practised a crude form of Shechitah, not in accordance with the sophisticated and painless method laid down in the Codes;
8 ) made no ritual distinction between meat and milk;
9) circumcised boys, as do all Ethiopians, but omitting the vital splitting of the per'iah membrane, as mandated by the Din. They subjected girls to excision, a form of clitoridectomy that is repugnant to Judaism, but is common to most African tribes. Both the operations on boys and girls were performed by women;
10) practised monasticism, a movement totally alien to Judaism, as an important part of their theology which was a mixture of pagan, Judaic and Christian elements; they had no knowledge of the Oral Law or of Talmudic interpretation;
11) allowed the title and performance of Cohanic functions to persons of non-Aharonic descent;
12) Chalitzah was unknown to them; ironically, those who wish to recognise the Falashas as Jews would by definition be classing many of them as mamzerim, since the written Get was also unknown to them and matrimonial and genealogical records non-existent. It is impossible to find out which of them is a real Cohen or how many illicit marriages have been contracted among them.
All this caused their status, at best, to be that of sofek yehudim.
It has nothing to do with "racism".
Lets take this point by point:
Falashas
1) called their place of worship masgid - "mosque" in Arabic;
True, but in an isolated community, people pickup words from other languages and incorporate them into their own. Before the Temple was destroyed a majority of Jews spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew.2) had no knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic, reciting all their prayers in Ge'ez;
This is patently false. According to accounts by European visitors of the 17th century, Portuguese merchants and diplomats, French, British and other travellers, the Beta Israel numbered about one million persons. These accounts also testify that some knowledge of Hebrew remained even in the 17th century. For example, Manoel de Almeida, a Portuguese diplomat and traveller of the day, writes that:
"The Falashas or Jews are ... of [Arabic] race [and speak] Hebrew, though it is very corrupt. They have their Hebrew Bibles and sing the psalms in their synagogues."[8]
3) used only the Ethiopic Bible, which includes Apocryphal books excluded from our Tenach, such as Tobit, Judith and the Wisdom of Ben Sirah; they did not possess the Sefer Torah in scroll form, but read from a book;
This signifies nothing. If the stories are true that they are decended from the Tribe of Dan, then they went into Exile from the Northern Kingdom of Israel, before the Temple was destroyed, and before there was a "Biblical Canon."4) did not use Tallits, Tzitzis or Mezuzos;
Again, this signifies nothing, since it is conceivable that they lost particular traditions down through the centuries. Other Israeli tribes completely disapeared! It is possible that the tribe of Dan held on to some bits of their knowledge but forgot others.5) observed the Sabbath without any light, fire or heated food, and kept the Festivals on different dates and in styles markedly different from our own;
Wow...one more time. This does not mean anything. Jews of today observe the Sabbath differently from one another depending on the stream of Judaism you happen to belong to.6) performed animal sacrifices forbidden by the rabbis since the destruction of the Temple;
Well duh. They were exiled before the Temple was destroyed and therefore had no knowledge that rabbinical authorities in Babylon and in Israel prohibited animal sacrifices. They had no knowledge of the Temple's destruction.7) practised a crude form of Shechitah, not in accordance with the sophisticated and painless method laid down in the Codes;
One more time...they didn't know about these codes since they were exiled long before the codes were written.8 ) made no ritual distinction between meat and milk;
Again...these ritual distinctions were made by Rabbis...there is NO written biblical injuction against eating meat with dairy products. There is only a reference to not cooking the kid in its mothers milk. (Which is cruel and disgusting.) Nowhere does it say thou shalt not eat beef with cheese. The ritual distinctions made up by the rabbis occurred after the exile of the Northern Kingdom. The Ethiopian Jews would not have known about those distinctions.9) circumcised boys, as do all Ethiopians, but omitting the vital splitting of the per'iah membrane, as mandated by the Din. They subjected girls to excision, a form of clitoridectomy that is repugnant to Judaism, but is common to most African tribes. Both the operations on boys and girls were performed by women;
Even in ancient Israel, people had a hard time not copying the practices of the peoples around them. Many times they copied the ways of the canaanites. It is very possible that living in exile caused them to pick up practices and habits of the places that they fled to.10) practised monasticism, a movement totally alien to Judaism, as an important part of their theology which was a mixture of pagan, Judaic and Christian elements; they had no knowledge of the Oral Law or of Talmudic interpretation;
Wow...talk about beating a dead horse. These guys were exiled from the Northern Kingdom! They would not have any knowledge of the Talmud.11) allowed the title and performance of Cohanic functions to persons of non-Aharonic descent;
Duh. If they were all from the Tribe of Dan...and there were no members of the tribe of Levi...they still might want to be able to carry on traditions they were familiar with and remembered.As to their holy books being written in a language other than Hebrew...: following the conquest of the Kingdom of Gondar in the 17th century, all Jewish holy books were destroyed, and their study forbidden. If Hebrew writings were still extant, this is the time when they were definitively lost. However, the Jews persisted in reading what they could, including the "Tanach" of the Christian scriptures written in the Christian holy tongue Ge'ez. The Jewish monks, in any case, had retained knowledge of Ge'ez from their ancient Christian antecedents. Great care was taken by these monks and priests to eliminate specifically Christian texts, practices and ideas. Thus, ironically, the Christian religious literature was used selectively to provide the continuing foundation for study of the Jewish sources. This helps to account for some of the texts (and practices) used by the Beta Israel that are not found elsewhere amongst Jews.[/color]
And if you want to use the argument that even those in the Northern Kingdom would have "known about the Oral Law", one must remember that even during the time of the Temple in the Southern Kingdom of Judea there were Saducees who rejected the Oral Law. The Karaite Jews also reject the Oral Tradition on these grounds:
1. They question if the law as it is in the Mishnah, was intended to be oral, then how would it be permissible to be written?
2. The Mishnah quotes many different opinions that contradict one another.
3. The Mishnah doesn't go on to say in which opinion the truth lies. Rather the Mishnah sometimes says "Others say" agreeing with neither one nor the other, contradicting both.
4. They argue the truth of the oral law given to Moses could only be in one opinion, not many contradictory opinions.
5. They question why the Mishnah does not solely speak in the name of Moses.
Sounds kind of reasonable to me.
Topic: Ethiopian Jews are pro-Israel! (Read 6721 times)