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Are Ethiopians Jews? All discoveries and evidence show that they are not Jews.. What do we do??

שו”תCategory: generalAre Ethiopians Jews? All discoveries and evidence show that they are not Jews.. What do we do??
asked 2 years ago

Hello Rabbi.
As is known, assimilation is mentioned in the Torah as a very serious thing.
Especially mass assimilation.

  1. About 50 years ago, a Sephardic rabbi, a halachic authority, determined that Ethiopians from the House of Israel are undoubtedly from the tribe of Dan, and he relied on the Radbaz in his words.

He wrote that there are no appeals against the Radbaz’s decision.
Despite this, that Sephardic rabbi did not accept the Radbaz’s decision that they were bastards and wrote that he should not be relied upon and that they should be allowed in the Jewish community.
And there is a big contradiction here!
The Radbaz wrote that there is a tribe there that is Karaite, while the Ethiopians, according to rabbinical examinations conducted there and researchers on behalf of the state, are not Karaite at all, because they did not have the same basic commandments as the Karaites.
This means that this is not the same tribe that the Radbaz spoke about 500 years ago.
They have several legends that contradict each other regarding their origins, such as the Queen of Sheba. But no legend speaks of the tribe of Dan!!
 

  1. The new and central evidence from the 2000s that the Ethiopian community is not from the tribe of Dan and the people of Israel.

Since the 2000s, several extensive genetic tests have been conducted on the Ethiopian community by research institutes at Tel Aviv University and around the world, and it has been unequivocally found that the Ethiopian community is not from the original people of Israel, but rather that their DNA is genetically identical to the DNA of the rest of the African Gentile population in Ethiopia!!
And this is conclusive scientific proof that they are not of the seed of Israel and not of the tribe of Dan, contrary to the ruling in 1973!!
And on the basis of the claim that they were from the tribe of Dan, they were allowed to immigrate to the land.
Genetic tests to prove Judaism are accepted by the Chief Rabbinate to determine whether a person is from the original Jewish people or the descendants of converts. It requires Russians who have doubts about their Jewishness to undergo a genetic test.
However , when it comes to Ethiopians, who have a huge amount of doubt behind them, they prefer to ignore the tests because it sharply contradicts their puzzling decision.
It is a fact that all the other ethnic groups in the Jewish people – genetic tests have shown that they have common Jewish genetics and are related to each other, except for the Ethiopian ethnic group.

  1. An absolute majority of Jewish rabbis and halachic jurists have unequivocally determined that Ethiopians are gentiles or quasi-gentiles and must convert to Judaism.

Rabbi Schach, Rabbi Elyashiv, and many other greats of Israel.
Rebbe Milovitch also unequivocally stated that they must undergo full conversion (meaning that halachically they are complete gentiles until they undergo true conversion).
And how can we ignore these rabbis and belittle their words? Especially since recent scientific discoveries prove 100 percent that Ethiopians are not from the original seed of Israel.
 

  1. Rabbi Herzog, the first Chief Rabbi, even determined that they were not Jews and he sent the judge Rabbi Shmuel Be’eri in 1953 who, after a 16-month investigation in Ethiopia, unequivocally determined that Ethiopians were not of the seed of Israel.. In Ethiopia, they had neither a Torah scroll, nor a tallit, nor tefillin, nor did they keep poultry and milk, may God have mercy on them.

And they didn’t even have the most basic commandments that the Karaites have.
Which proves that they are not of the seed of Israel. And this is about Beta Israel.
The Falashmura are certainly not Jews according to all the poskim, and they are considered to be 70 percent of the Ethiopian community in the country.
Today there are thousands of Ethiopians in Israel who are registered as Christians!!

  1. All researchers on the subject have examined and also unequivocally determined that Ethiopians are not from the original people of Israel.

Including Professor Stephen Kaplan, who is world-renowned for his expertise on Ethiopia.
Today, the Rabbinate has decided to secretly change the decision and remove from all Ethiopians the need to convert, which will lead to mass assimilation into the Jewish people and a serious sin against the Torah. thing Which is contrary to the original decision of the Rabbinate!!
From a survey I conducted at the Rabbinate, most Ethiopians are not willing to convert and only a minority have converted.
There is a serious violation here of the Torah and the foundation of Judaism, and in essence, a concession to mass assimilation. I would appreciate an answer.


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago
I am not involved in the issue and cannot currently verify these claims.

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א replied 2 years ago

Since when does Halacha take into account research? According to genetic studies, it has been found that Yemenites are not Jews and even Moroccans from the Atlas Mountains. On the other hand, the Samaritans are completely Jewish, even though Halacha does not consider them Jews.
If we go by the research, a large part of the Halacha is invalid. Halacha has its own logic, as the rabbis have the power to change and establish rules according to the rules of Halacha.
And in general, the offenses that secular people commit every day are much more serious than mixed marriages.

nav0863 replied 2 years ago

That one was called Leah Bar Arimita - whose mother was not baptized for the sake of conversion - and Rav Asi said, "Who was not baptized for her conversion?! What are the reasons?

Peshita, that the historical question is not important, is a matter of the law of conversion."

דוד replied 2 years ago

What's the problem if the rabbi can clarify the issue for me..?
I took the trouble to write down a detailed question

And I also saw that the rabbi had already written about it in the past

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

I wrote that the problem is that I am not currently able to check the facts you mentioned. What these people thought does not add or subtract from my point of view. Observance of the commandments is also irrelevant. The only relevant data you brought is the genetic correlation, and this needs to be checked factually and halakhically. I have not written about this in the past, since as mentioned I am not knowledgeable about the subject.

דוד replied 2 years ago

In terms of genetic testing, this has been conducted several times on large groups of Ethiopians in Israel and it has been unequivocally found that they have no genetic connection to the Jewish people. Not even a single person.
Their genetics and DNA are completely identical to the gentiles in Africa.
Which unequivocally proves that they are not from the seed of Israel or the original tribe of Dan.
While all the other ethnic groups have Jewish genetics.

It is only important to note that they made aliyah to Israel based on the sole fact that a Sephardic rabbi ruled that they were from the tribe of Dan and did not need to convert. And today this turned out to be a big mistake.
In addition to Beta Israel, another 80,000 Falashmura came who are certainly complete gentiles by all accounts.

From a halachic perspective, I can send you documents in which the Chief Rabbinate has determined that when there is doubt about a person's Jewishness, they should be sent for genetic testing because they have high reliability.
Ethiopian immigration is highly questionable because, with the exception of a Sephardic halachic judge in the minority position, most rabbis have unequivocally stated that they are gentiles.

This is a matter of national disaster and a danger to the existence of the state, of assimilation.
Every few years, more Christians from there impersonate Jews. Even though in 2010 the rabbis signed that there are no more Falashmura left there.
If the rabbi wants to help Judaism, and not just a little. I would appreciate it if you could look into and check the things.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

This is a complete lie. There are genetic studies that show a deep connection between Ethiopian and Tigrayan Jews and the populations of the Levant and the rest of the world's Jews, mainly North Africans, Ashkenazim, and Sephardim.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

And you are not some studies of them
Haber, M. et al. “Afroasiatic-speaking populations from North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and West Asia are genetically connected.” Mol. Biol. Evol. 2018 35: 5-18.
Kornberg, A. et al. “Characterizing the genetic connection of Ethiopian Jews and evaluating genetic ancestry inference methods.” Scientific Reports 2020 10: 11592.
And there are many more genetic studies that prove the connections of Ethiopian Jews to the rest of world Jewry, and recently many newer genetic studies have been released on Ethiopian Jews, for example https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2023/02/24/the-sudan-connection-are-ethiopian-jews-descendants-of-the-ancient-israelites/
A study that came out just a few weeks ago in 2023 that studies the history of Ethiopian Jews and their genetics and possible sources for that community. So before you say that every source says that Ethiopian Jews are not Jews, it is better to do some research. Besides, Judaism is not determined by genetics. We are a Jewish nation. Even for Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Mizrahi, you will not always find clear Jewish genetics. There are many Ashkenazim who have done DNA tests and they are 100% European. There are also Russians in Israel who do not know. One thing about Judaism, they probably ate pork and drank wine and didn't keep a shack of impurity or communalism like Ethiopian Jews, and they were 100% gentiles, and there are many in Israel today, even near where I live, who are actually not Jews, and today half of the Mizrahi marry their daughters with the blue eyes and blonde hair.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

To tell people who lived thousands upon thousands of years as Jews and fought for the very existence of Jews in Ethiopia that they are not Jews is shocking, it is not understood, especially in the facts that some were slaughtered, some fled, some were overthrown, some were lynched and cursed for being Israelis as foreign Falashas. Ethiopian Jews were also not very accepted in the economy. For example, my grandmother was not allowed to take land that no Jew could because it was not theirs, an Israeli invader, and that they come to Israel, they come to the Land of Israel, they come to Jerusalem, and you with your big noses come to say that this Judaism is not Jewish. This is of course ignoring in every respect, and it was not me who said this. This is also the world, this is also in Ethiopia, this is also in Israel, and the Ethiopian community suffers here and has suffered there, and there is no escape, and we are not accepted, and this is a very sad truth. Ethiopian Jewry is a Jewry with a very great history. Many people are not even interested in them, but when you become interested, you will understand that this is how your ancestors lived in the first house, and so are Ethiopian Jews. They are complete Jews, without a doubt. I am really fed up.

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

Elia,
The studies you referred to are excellent and important. But the claims of insult and disgust and the claims based on the suffering that Ethiopian Jews endured are not substantive claims. If the truth is that they are not Jews, then the suffering does not convert them. If they are Jews, then they are Jews even without the suffering. Every question should be discussed substantively. Just as I will not accept that a person who suffered in the Holocaust is Jewish because he suffered. If the truth is that he is not Jewish (for example, if only his father was Jewish). The suffering has its place, but a Jew is the son of a Jewish mother or who converted properly, and not someone who suffered for his Jewishness.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

Ethiopian Jewry is proof of the simplicity of preserving Jewish identity and even greater proof that First Temple Judaism was preserved. To abolish all Judaism in East Africa is not understood, not understood at all, and it is an illogical erasure of history. In short, in the end, only the truth prevails. And to say that Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews did not mix with local populations is a complete lie because there was, and this is proven, and there were places of a very large magnitude, and remember, the Nazis did not need DNA to know who was Jewish and who was not.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

And just for the record, from the point of view of DNA genetics, all humans originate in Africa, and so do you, a white Jew, you were created in Africa, and every Ashkenazi, and also Abraham our father, according to genetic studies from Africa, and every human being on earth, in short, so this is a pretty important detail for you to know.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

And it's also important to know that you're talking about ancient writings and tefillin and mezuzahs but you're not taking into account one fact: Ethiopian Jews were persecuted, some moved places, some were slaughtered, some were humiliated, and some were burned along with all their holy things. Ethiopian Jews weren't that rich. They were distant, outcasts. Most of them worked in blacksmithing. And what's more, it was considered shameful. So their economic situation didn't allow them to celebrate many holidays. And you're not living a good life. You're trying to find options or even get closer to the rich and learn. And that's mainly what caused many characteristics of Ethiopian Jews to be erased. And it also caused local cultures to be added to Ethiopian Jewish culture. So these are also details that people need to know and not say that they didn't have tefillin and other things like that without considering the place, geography, history, archaeology, and their culture.

Eliya replied 2 years ago

Today in Israel you have 1.2 million Russian “Jews” 72% of them are not Jews at all. And to remind you, there are 144,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel who have preserved their culture, preserved their ties to impurity, preserved their Torah, prayed, and so many other things that characterize the Ethiopian Jewish community as Jews. But these Russians who came are not Jews. They knew nothing about Judaism. I had a Russian child in class who ate pastrami and drank chocolate just so you could understand the situation. While I am Ethiopian, you say I am not Jewish. I have eaten kosher all my life. My mother and father said 6 hours between ingra and siga (meat) and eating cornflakes with milk. And of course I did not eat crab, nor did my parents, nor my entire family and generations, and we did not eat pork. But of course we blacks. This is the simple reason because blond whites with blue eyes who eat pork are more Jewish. And today half of Tel Aviv is atheistic. And they are the Jews who do not believe in religion, not in God, and do not believe in any religious trend one way or another. But of course they are beautiful whites. What does it matter? They show the Jews as the beautiful whites and the black Jews should be pushed to the back with doubts about their Jewishness. It is also important to note that after they immigrated to the land, Ethiopian Jews would not have become Christians if not one of them had become Christian. Conversely, there were those who became rabbis and kaysim, like my father, who lived a religious life in Ethiopia as well, but he became very strong in his faith. He goes to Torah studies and prays and sanctifies and simply everything, including everything. But of course, he is not the Jew here, but the white man who eats pork from the Soviet Union.

דוד replied 2 years ago

**** Deleted due to inappropriate personal references. M"A *****

If you have arguments or facts, bring them and only them.

דוד שואל השאלה replied 2 years ago

I asked the question.
And I ask to delete it immediately. Also because I did not receive any response.

Please grant my request.
Thank you and have a good day

דוד שואל השאלה replied 2 years ago

I asked the question on the site!!
And I ask to delete it immediately. Also because I did not receive any response and I have another reason!!

Please grant my request.
Thank you and have a good day

שלמה replied 2 years ago

“The Messiah King… says to Israel: In this month you will be redeemed. They say to him: How will we be redeemed? Has not the Holy One, blessed be He, sworn that He will enslave us in seventy nations?… And he says to them: One of you is exiled to Barbary. And one of you is exiled to Samaria. It is like you were all exiled.” (Song of Songs Rava)
There is no doubting our Judaism, regarding the Falashmura I partially agree with you, but many of them are descendants of Jews or only their father is Jewish and their mothers converted, so that the great majority of them are Jews or converts.
Open your eyes and go visit the yeshivahs and the kollel and you will see the Baal Teshuvah who did not convert from the House of Israel and they are scholars of Torah and everyone admits that in the yeshivahs you did not know us. I am sure you have not spoken to a single Ethiopian in your life. If we were Gentiles, we would have no commandments at all, nor would we want to be part of you, and we even hate you like the other Gentiles. And from a genetic perspective, who cares? You have so much inaccuracy, especially in things like this. If you had studied a little about DNA, you would understand that it cannot be trusted, perhaps in cases of father and son, paternity testing, etc., because from a Jewish gene perspective, everything can change in 2500. Who said that at first we even had similar DNA? We are from other tribes, compared to which you were two tribes that were in common (Benjamin and Judah and a few Levites).
In the Great Midrash it is said:
Shushim Ben Dan was called Shoham and Shushim Why was he also called Shoham because he was black in body and heavy in ear.
Therefore, according to my explanation, this is why we are dark-skinned and we did not have the oral Torah and only the written Torah because it came through hearing and speaking and the senses, there was no such thing as "the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons" even though only three are called fathers (Barach 17:7) but you understood the message, and you did not even get into the words of the great generation, Maran Ovadia Yosef, zt'l, in the Y'bi'a saying, part 8; where it is ruled that we are Jews from the tribe of Dan, without a doubt, the tribe of David. Did the Radb'z see the great Midrash that came to the written Torah in Yemen around that time and say that because they are dark-skinned, then they are Jews, I don't think so. It makes sense that our last rabbis were many wise men of our generation and the Holy Spirit rested on them. They did not see the root of the soul. They certainly saw and ruled that we were from the tribe of Dan, not only that but they redeemed us, who were sold into slavery by the Christian Ethiopians who sold our share to the Egyptians. Rabbi Ovadia of Bartonra also testifies to this.
And there is much more testimony from the time of the last rabbis about us.
And I have heard many testimonies about all the children of a Gentile mother and a Jewish father who did not even undergo conversion and are raised as Jews in every sense. Many Russians and Ukrainians, even among the Jews there, I would not call them Jews. They eat meat and milk for me, and may God have mercy on them, even "others" Oh my goodness and they accept them as Jews look what happened in Europe they really invented a new religion the secularists who heard of people remaining Jews but not keeping the commandments something that white Jews invented and they influenced and corrupted both the Eastern Jews and us the younger generation of Ethiopians – the educated and enlightened European Jew had a very bad influence apparently this is what is called “Arab Rav” I'm not saying that everyone, but all the leftists who were once Zionists in the kibbutzim who cut off their own and Mizrahi's wigs and caused secularization and desecration of the people of Israel, something that has never been on such a scale in history. The camel doesn't look at its own hump. Let's say that with us, even the Christians in Ethiopia, who hated us in the end, but liked us because we came to their country, and therefore to this day they only eat pure animals (the influence we had there was strong). To the steppes of the seas, it was to our detriment. Christianity reached Ethiopia, and with it also the hatred of Jews, the gentiles there, who are mainly not black (some believe that the Amharic, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, are Semites, even though they are black, they came from Saba, who was a descendant of Shem from his father and Ham from his mother). In any case, this is the origin of the gentiles in Ethiopia. There are also other tribes like the Hagao, who are blacks for all intents and purposes, but the Amharic and the Tigrayans, I'm talking about the Christians, are from Ben Noah, so their language, Amharic and Tigrayan, are Semitic languages. That we adopted it because the Torah scrolls in Hebrew were taken and burned from us, and slowly Hebrew also disappeared, but we had the entire Bible in Ge'ez, an ancient language that is frighteningly similar to Aramaic. Maybe we didn't have the holidays from the rabbis, but for example, we had the Esther fast and the Tisha B'Av fast, things that were fixed after me. My ancestors did everything they could to stay attached to the Jewish people and tradition. I'm not talking to you about holidays from the Torah, which we observed perhaps not quite as precisely as your customs, like the Passover plate, for example. We were exiled in Beit Rishon and we were separated for thousands of years, but we tried as much as possible to survive in exile until redemption came and we returned to the land. We differed from them in everything. We even made a law that anyone who touches even the slightest touch of a Gentile must immerse. It reminds us of the ruling of the Sages on the decrees they made against Gentiles who were Zevbi. And thus you belittle our efforts, in my humble opinion, Rabbi Shach and Rabbi Elyashiv, how great scholars of Torah they are. And who knows, I learned from his Torah through my Rosh Yeshiva who was a student in Ponovich of Rabbi Schach and he would tell us many stories about him and his greatness, but in my humble opinion it is a mistake to rule like that. I always know that there will be questions and doubts. Of course it is no small matter, but in the end it was a big and bitter mistake, but I forgive them wholeheartedly, even though it is not my place to talk about the greats of a generation. And a lot of my Torah is from my Rosh Yeshiva and he learned from Rabbi Schach. It is great to see how G-d turns everything around in a perfect and beautiful way. In any case, for generations they killed and slaughtered us, these circumcised Amharic people, and you want to tell me that we are part of them. Don't make me laugh. We are Beta Israel and will always remain until the redemption!
Let's trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, and in our holy rabbis. It is not for nothing that we are here. The Messiah came from the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Dan like King David, may God bless him.

עידן replied 2 years ago

All you wrote is nonsense. There is archaeological evidence in areas where Ethiopian Jews were present. And beyond that, what the hell is a DNA test that shows they are Israelites? How can you see religion in a DNA test?
If you are talking about seeing that their roots over the years are from Africa, then it makes a lot of sense. The destruction of the First Temple was thousands of years ago. So if Ethiopian Jews have been in Africa for thousands of years, then obviously in a DNA test you will see African characteristics. By the way, I want to return the question to you. 1500 years ago, a king in Europe (from the Czarist dynasty) decided that everyone under his command must behave like a Jew. Of course, they did not undergo a conversion or circumcision process. What prevents you from doubting their Judaism? What if they came from the successful continent, so there is no doubt about their Judaism? Were there DNA tests 1500 years ago? How much nonsense is written here! If researchers can doubt everyone's Jewishness, the proof of the Ethiopian people is the preservation of their tradition for thousands of years according to the Torah of God and not according to the additions that you have added over the years.

יהודי בדם replied 2 years ago

After this war, we can say that the Ethiopians are part of our brothers, they are blood of our blood, many of whom fell in defense of the homeland, and that is indisputable.

מאיר replied 2 years ago

The same thing again?
If Ethiopians are Jews – it has nothing to do with the war.
And if not, it has nothing to do with the war.
In your opinion, the Druze and some of the Bedouins are also undoubtedly of Jewish blood.

In the context of Russian gentiles who immigrated to Israel in droves, mentioned in the thread above – this is of course evidence to the contrary. After all, they are indeed not Jews, and many good people (especially the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was born in Ukraine) fought to prevent those gentiles from immigrating to Israel and from being registered as Jews.
It should be mentioned that the war over the law “Who is a Jew” arose decades before the immigration from Ethiopia and had nothing to do with them.

As Rabbi Michi wrote, the issue should be discussed on its merits only

מאיר replied 2 years ago

There were huge Jewish communities in Russia(!), and later in some there was great assimilation.
Masses of Jews did indeed make aliyah to the land, and to them were added masses of gentiles who took advantage of (intentional) loopholes in the law and also made aliyah to the land.
If you meet Russian Jews (even non-religious ones) up close, you will hear from many of them criticism of the massive aliyah of Russian gentiles

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