[net.religion.jewish] History of the Falashas

megann@ihuxi.UUCP (Meg McRoberts) (03/07/85)

I did some reading on the Falashas in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
After recounting the Queen of Sheba story, they say the following:

"Joseph Halevy, who visited [the Falashas] in 1868, thinks that the
Jewish element of the Falashas procedes especially from the Himyarites
captured in Ethiopia by the king Kaleb, conqueror of Dhu-Nuwas.
Taking refusge in the mountains beyond the Takazze, they converted
a part of the Agars, and through intermixture with them produced the
Falasha type.  This opinion appears to be the more probable."

Does anyone know what time period this refers to, or if this is
the prevailing opinion today?

Another interesting part of the subject concerns one Eldad ben Mahli
ha-Dani, who visited Babylonia, Kairwan, and Spain in the IX century C.E.
He said he was a citizen of an independent Jewish state in Eastern Africa,
inhabited by the tribes of Dan, Asher, Gad, and Naphtali.  
He carried with him a Hebrew manuscript of the Halakhot of his 
native land.  This had many significant variations from the Rabbinic halakhot,
but Gaon Zemah ben Hayyim of Sura investigated the matter, and ruled that
this was still a legitimate branch of Judaism.  The guy was definitely
a cause celebre in his day -- apparently he got quite chummy with
Isaac ben Mar and R. Simhah.  Rashi, Abraham ben David (Rabad),
and Abraham ben Maimon quote him as an "unquestionable authority."

Unfortuneately, it seems the historians are split as to what to make
of Eldad the Danite.  Some (including Gratz) think he was a Karaite
missionary, but in some matters, especially the matter of ritual
slaughter, the halakha he describes is quite different from the
Karaite practice.  Some think he was just a very successful charletan.
Others think he was a Falasha, and his halakhot represent the Falasha
traditions of his day.  The major argument against him being Falashic
is that the halakhah is in Hebrew, whereas by the XIX century, the
Falashas spoke only Geez and seem to have no knowledge of Hebrew.  It
seems possible to me that in 1000 years, they could have lost their
knowledge of Hebrew -- the terms they use for groups sure look
"Hebrew-ish to me -- nezirim, kohanim. . .-- so maybe this is a group
that once knew Hebrew and lost it over the years.

IF we decide that Eldad the Danite represented the Falasha tradition,
we have some significant (Rabbinic) Jewish authorities of that period
and the next few centuries who felt this was a legitimate tradition.
Does anyone know what the prevailing contemporary opinion is of Eldad?
Has anyone seen an English translation of his book?  (Sorry, my Hebrew
isn't good enough to read something of that magnitude in the original).

meg mcroberts
!ihuxi!megann
(312)979-5004

**this is a reposting, since the original posting doesn't seem to have
gotten out of Illinois.  for those seeing it a second time, my apologies.