12.14.09
Beta Israel: Ethiopian Jewry, Diaspora and Homeland (2008)
This is an essay I prepared for a history class in 2008 that was in the Jewish Studies program. The class discussed Diaspora and Homeland. My research paper focused on Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jewry.
Beta Israel: Ethiopian Jewry, Diaspora and Homeland – by Robert Goodis (2008)
The research discusses various accounts of history and possible explanations for the community of Jewish Ethiopians, who are a community possessing a non-Hebrew Torah and certain Jewish traditions predating the dedication of the Second Temple in Biblical times. While the Beta Israel community maintained its Jewish faith and has faced persecution in Ethiopia, groups in the global Jewish community have questioned the true Jewishness of the Beta Israel group. Without Ethiopia and without Israel, do the Beta Israel have a homeland? Are they in Diaspora? Have they always been in Diaspora?
