essay

Ethiopian Jewry and new self-concepts

Life of JudaismBerkeleyPublished In 2001 • Pages: 226-240

By: Salamon, Hagar.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Although Jews in Israel and Jews in America often experience and shape Judaism in different ways, some issues arise that connect them. One such issue is the Jews of Ethiopia who became known to the European Jewish world in the middle of the nineteenth century. With the encouragement of American Jewish organizations, they reached Israel en masse in the 1980s and early 1990s. These Jews differed widely from other Jewish groups because their skin pigmentation is 'black,' making them different in appearance from the majority of contempoary Jews of European provenanace. Since they became known to the wider Jewish world, and particulary since their arrival in large numbers in Israel, the Jews of Ethiopia have stimulated many questions about Jewish identity, both with respect to them and to Jews all over the world. In the article that follows, Hagar Salamon probes these question, showing how they entail components of religion, race, and the relationship between Israeli and Diaspora Judaism (p. 227).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Identification
External migration
Cultural identity and pride
Ethnic stratification
Tribe and nation
Priesthood
Ethnosociology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Israelis
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2005
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle East
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Middle East
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 2004
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1858-1990s
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Beta Israel or Falasha (Ethiopian Jews), Israel
NotesAdditional notes
Hagar Salamon
Includes bibliographical references (p. 240)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
2001027669
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Israelis