mis@spuxll.UUCP (Meyer Steinberg) (02/11/85)
In response to my original posting about the possible backrounds of
Ethiopian Jews, Meg Mcroberts gave the following possibility also.
Thanx Meg!
From uucp Tue Feb 5 18:33 EST 1985
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Date: 5 Feb 85 17:33:39 CST (Tue)
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Meyer,
i read your list of possible backgrounds for the Ethiopian Jews.
i'm curious why you think they necessarily have to go back to
pre-Talmudic times. Rabbinic Judaism didn't really "win" the
battle of being the only REAL judaism until several centuries
after the Talmuds were completed. the major anti-rabbinic group
was the Karaites, who were still pretty strong in the XVIII century,
although by then were clearly heterodox. (remember Voltaire thought
they were the only jews who were "all right". . .) Saadiah Gaon
(late X century c.e.) fought the Karaites pretty successfully,
and probably from that point on we have to call non-rabbinic jews
heterodox, but when he was battling, it was a battle of equals,
more or less. Judah Ha-Levi in XII century Spain also argued
against the Karaites -- they were rapidly sinking out of the main
stream, but still a force with which to be reckoned.
i'm not saying that the Ethiopians are Karaite-descendants,
merely that Rabbinic Judaism was only one form of judaism until
less than a millenia ago. in fact, the Chazars converted to
judaism more than a century before they brought in Rabbinic
scholars to teach them that tradition.
i do wonder if the Falashas aren't descendants of some Karaite
group, though. i'm pretty ignorant here, but i know, for instance,
that the Karaites extinguished all flames before the beginning
of Shabbat or Yom Tov, which is similar to the Ethiopian tradition,
i believe. Do you know if the Ethiopians consider chicken to be
a forbidden animal? I know the Karaites forbade all fowl, since
specific fowl are prohibitted by name in Tanach, and they weren't
sure of the translation over the years. (a mind-boggling thought,
jews without chicken soup. . .)
of course, it seems there were lots of "judaizing" cults around
at the time Islam arose, and that continued for several more
centuries. in a way, i think Islam might have helped consolodate
the judaizing groups into either jewish or not-jewish, because
of the separate legal systems for "people of the book" versus
other non-muslims. but that's another question.
i'm interested in your reply to all this.
meg mcroberts
ihuxi!megann