Haymanot

Regions with significant populations
Ethiopia
Israel
Scriptures
	Mäṣḥafä Kedus
Languages
	Geʽez, Amharic, Hebrew

Haymanot

Haymanot (Ge'ez: ሃይማኖት) is the branch of Judaism practiced by the Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews.

In Geʽez, Tigrinya and Amharic, Haymanot means 'religion' or 'faith'. Thus in modern Amharic and Tigrinya, it is common to speak of the Christian haymanot, the Jewish haymanot or the Muslim haymanot. In Israel, the term is only associated with Judaism.

Religious leaders

Nabi 'prophet', related to Hebrew naví
Haḫem: Hebrew Hakham. A wise man skilful in Torah study, and can be an intermediary in the community for religious disputes
Kahen or qes, the Geʿz equivalent of Hebrew Kohen 'priest'. The role of the qes in Haymanot Judaism is similar to that of a rabbi in Rabbinic Judaism.
Liqä kahənat, High Priest; translated into Hebrew as qes ha-qesim[1]
Abba, honorific title for ascetic renunciates
Debtera (Ge'ez: däbtära): "unconsecrated religious scholars, also renowned for their skill as healers and scribes"[1]
Šǝmagǝlle 'elder', plural šǝmagǝlločč[1]

Texts

Mäṣḥafä Qedus 'Holy Scriptures' is the name for religious literature. The language of the writings is Geʽez. The Beta Israel lack a firm distinction between "canonical" and "non-canonical" religious texts.[2] The religious texts of the Beta Israel include:

The Orit (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אורייה, romanized: orāytā, lit. 'Written Law, Torah'), which for the Beta Israel is the Octateuch, consisting of the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) plus the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.
The Five Books of Solomon: Mesályata Salomon (Proverbs 1–24), Tagsásá Salomon (Proverbs 25–31), Ecclesiastes, Book of Wisdom, and Song of Songs.
Other biblical and apocryphal books include: the Books of Samuel, the Books of Kings, The Minor Prophets, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah,[nb 1] Ezekiel, Daniel, Job, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Books of Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, the Books of Meqabyan, Jubilees, and Enoch.
Unique apocryphal writings include: The Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron,[nb 2] Nagara Muse (The Conversation of Moses), Təʾəzazä Sänbät (Commandments of the Sabbath), Arde'et (Disciples), Gorgoryos (Apocalypse of Gorgorios), Barok (Apocalypse of Baruch) Mäṣḥafä Sa'atat (Book of Hours), fālasfā (Philosophers), Abba Eliyas (Father Elijah), Mäṣḥafä Mäla'əkt (Book of the Angels), Dərsanä Abrəham Wäsara Bägabs (Homily on Abraham and Sarah in Egypt), Gadla Sosna (The Story of Susanna) and Baqadāmi Gabra Egzi'abḥēr (In the Beginning God Created).[2]

Ethiopian Jews did not have access to the Talmud or other post-biblical texts of Rabbinic Judaism, and traditionally practiced a purely Torah-based Judaism.[4][5]

Prayer house

The synagogue or prayer house is called a mäsgid, or ṣalot bet. It can also be called a mäqdäs 'temple'. In Ethiopia, a prayer house was either a simple structure with windows facing the cardinal directions or an elaborate structure with separate prayer areas for men, women, and debteras surrounding the priests and the holy books, much like a bima, referred to as the Holy of Holies. The exit was to the east and featured a sacrificial altar for animal sacrifices as in the Temple in Jerusalem. Neither the altar nor animal sacrifice are features of Haymanot Judaism today.[6]

Modern synagogue, Netivot, Southern District of Israel
A kahen reading from the Orit

Dietary laws

Kashrut for the Betä Israel is based mainly on Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Jubilees. Permitted and forbidden animals and their signs appear in Leviticus 11:3–11:8 and Deuteronomy 14:4–14:8.

Forbidden birds are listed at Leviticus 11:13–11:23 and Deuteronomy 14:12–14:20.
Definitions of permitted fish are in Leviticus 11:9–11:12 and Deuteronomy 14:9–14:10.
Insects and larvae are forbidden according to Leviticus 11:41–11:42; exceptions are locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers, as noted in Leviticus 11:22-3.
Birds of prey are forbidden according to Leviticus 11:13–11:19.
Gid hanasheh is forbidden in Genesis 32:33.
Mixtures of milk and meat are not prepared or eaten, but are not banned either: Haymanot interpreted the verses Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21 literally, as in Karaite Judaism. Currently, under Rabbinic authority, mixing dairy products with meat is prohibited.

Believers were forbidden to eat the food of non-Jews. A qes eats only meat he personally ritually slaughtered, which his hosts then prepare for him and themselves.

Those who violated these taboos were ostracized and required purification. Purification included fasting for one or more days, eating only uncooked chickpeas provided by a qes, and ritual purification before entering the village. Unlike other Ethiopians, the Beta Israel do not eat raw meat dishes like kitfo or gored gored.[7]

Calendar and holidays

The calendar is a lunar calendar with 12 months, each containing 29 or 30 days. Every four years, there is a leap year, which adds a full month (30 days) to the Jewish year. The calendar combines the ancient calendars of Alexandrian Jewry, the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch, Abu Shaker's Chronology,[8] and the Geʽez calendar.[9] The years are counted according to the Counting of Kushta: "1571 to Jesus Christ, 7071 to the Gyptians and 6642 to the Hebrews".[10]

Jewish holidays by months:[11]

Nisan: baʿāl lisan ('head of Nisan', or New Year) on 1, ṣomä fāsikā ('Passover fast', the Fast of the Firstborn) on 14, fāsikā (Passover) 15–21, and gadfat ('grow fat') or buho ('fermented dough') on 22.
Iyar: another fāsikā (Pesach Sheni) during 15–21.
Sivan: ṣomä mäʾrar ('harvest fast') on 11 and mäʾrar ('harvest', or Shavuot) on 12.
Tammuz: ṣomä tomos ('Tammuz fast') during 1–10.
Av: ṣomä ab ('Av fast') during 1–17.
Shavuot: the fourth Shabbat of the fifth month.[12]
Elul: awd amet ('year rotate') on 1, ṣomä lul ('Elul fast') during 1–9, anākel astar'i ('our atonement') on 10, and asartu wasamantu ('eighteenth') on 28.
Tishrei: ba'āl Matqe ('blowing holiday', or Rosh Hashanah) on 1, astasreyo ('day of atonement', or Yom Kippur) on 10, and ba'āla maṣallat ('festival of booths', or Sukkot) during 15–21.
Cheshvan: a holiday for the day Moses saw the face of God on 1; a holiday for the reception of Moses by the Israelites on 10; a fast on 12; and mehlella ('supplication', or Sigd) on 29.
Kislev: another ṣomä mã'rar and mã'rar on 11 and 12, respectively.
Tevet: ṣomä tibt ('Tevet fast') during 1–10.
Shevat: wamashi brobu on 1.
Adar: ṣomä astēr (Fast of Esther) during 11–13.

Monthly holidays are mainly memorial days to a given annual holiday:

Yačaraqā ba'āl ('Rosh Chodesh'), on the first day of every month
Asärt ('ten') on the tenth day to commemorate Yom Kippur
Asrä hulat ('twelve') on the twelfth day to commemorate Shavuot
Asrä ammest ('fifteen') on the fifteenth day to commemorate Passover and Sukkot
Somä mälěya: a fast on the last day of every month.[13]

Weekly holidays include the ṣomä säňňo (Monday fast), ṣomä amus (Thursday fast), ṣomä ʿarb (Friday fast), and Sanbat (Shabbat).

Monasticism

The Beta Israel are the only extant Jewish group with a monastic tradition, albeit a historic one. The monks, bearing the title abba (አባ), lived separated from the Jewish villages to live in monasteries. However, only some Ethiopian Jews were monastics, and abba was also used to refer to community elders. The monastic tradition went extinct in the mid-20th century.[14][15][16]

Scholarly views

By 1994, modern scholars of Ethiopian history and Ethiopian Jews generally supported one of two conflicting hypotheses for the origin of the Beta Israel, as outlined by Kaplan:

An ancient Jewish origin, together with conservation of some ancient Jewish traditions. Kaplan identifies Simon D. Messing, David Shlush, Michael Corinaldi, Menachem Waldman, Menachem Elon and David Kessler as supporters of this hypothesis.

Some Ethiopian Jewish practices disagree with rabbinic practice but do match the practices of late Second Temple sects, suggesting that Ethiopian Jews may possess a tradition from ancient Jewish groups whose beliefs have become extinct elsewhere.[according to whom?]

Notes

^ The Ethiopian Book of Jeremiah, which is shared with the Beta Israel,[3] also includes the Book of Baruch and the Rest of the Words of Baruch (which itself contains the Book of Lamentations, the Letter of Jeremiah, and the Paralipomena of Baruch).
^ The "Testament of Moses" (Gadla Musé) and the "Testament of Aaron" (Gadla Aron) are also known as the "Death of Moses" (Motá Musé) and the "Death of Aaron" (Motá Aron).

References

^ a b c Kribus, Bar (2022). "4: Leadership roles of the monks". Ethiopian Jewish Ascetic Religious Communities: Built Environment and Way of Life of the Betä Ǝsra'el. Amsterdam University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-80270-006-0.
^ a b Kaplan, Steven (1999). "The Literature of the Beta Israel (Falasha): A Survey of a Biblical-Hebraic Tradition". Xristianskij Vostok. 1 (7): 99–123.
^ Leslau, Wolf (1951). Falasha Anthology. Yale Judaica Series. Vol. 6. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. xxviii. ISBN 0-300-03927-1. The Torah (orit) is written in Geez... The name applies not only to the Pentateuch but to the entire Old Testament, and the text is identical with that of the Christian Ethiopians. [V]arious apocrypha and pseudepigrapha such as... the Paralipomena of Baruch... are included. }: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Ehrlich, Mark Avrum (2009). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 473. Traditionally, the Beta Israel were monotheistic and practiced a Torah-based Judaism, without observing Oral Law, or knowing the Talmud, known to other communities of Jews.
^ Appiah, Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 565. In terms of their religious beliefs, the Beta Israel have always identified themselves as exiles from the land of Israel and believers of the faith of Moses. For almost 2,000 years, however, they were completely isolated from the rest of the Jewish world. They never learned of the Talmud, the codification of Jewish oral law, or any of the traditions that arose after biblical times, such as the holiday of Hanukkah.
^ Kribus, Bar (2022). "III/12 Monastic Prayer Houses". Ethiopian Jewish Ascetic Religious Communities: Built Environment and Way of Life of the Betä ?sra'el. Arc Humanities Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-1-64189-433-3.
^ Shelemay, Music, page 42
^ Neugebauer, Otto; Shaker, Abu (1988). Abu Shaker's "Chronography": A Treatise of the 13th Century on Chronological, Calendrical, and Astronomical Matters, Written by a Christian Arab, Preserved in Ethiopic : a Summary. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-1470-3.
^ Quirun, 1992, p. 71
^ Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 56
^ Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 62-70 (Hebrew); Shelemay, Music, Ritual, and Falasha History, p. 44-57; Leslau, Falasha Anthology, p. xxviii–xxxvi; Quirun, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews, p. 146-150
^ Devens, M. S. 'The Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath: A Betä Israel (Falasha) Text', p. xx/4.4 (Introduction), Wiesbaden, 1995.
^ see also Yom Kippur Katan
^ Semien Menata – Site of the Last Central Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastery
^ "The Monasteries of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews)". Archived from the original on 2019-12-27. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
^ Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastic Sites North of Lake Tana - Preliminary Results of an Exploratory Field Trip to Ethiopia in December 2015

[4] The Ethiopian Book of Jeremiah, which is shared with the Beta Israel,[3] also includes the Book of Baruch and the Rest of the Words of Baruch (which itself contains the Book of Lamentations, the Letter of Jeremiah, and the Paralipomena of Baruch).

[5] The "Testament of Moses" (Gadla Musé) and the "Testament of Aaron" (Gadla Aron) are also known as the "Death of Moses" (Motá Musé) and the "Death of Aaron" (Motá Aron).

[page40-1] Kribus, Bar (2022). "4: Leadership roles of the monks". Ethiopian Jewish Ascetic Religious Communities: Built Environment and Way of Life of the Betä Ǝsra'el. Amsterdam University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-80270-006-0.

[Kaplan-2] Kaplan, Steven (1999). "The Literature of the Beta Israel (Falasha): A Survey of a Biblical-Hebraic Tradition". Xristianskij Vostok. 1 (7): 99–123.

[3] Leslau, Wolf (1951). Falasha Anthology. Yale Judaica Series. Vol. 6. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. xxviii. ISBN 0-300-03927-1. The Torah (orit) is written in Geez... The name applies not only to the Pentateuch but to the entire Old Testament, and the text is identical with that of the Christian Ethiopians. [V]arious apocrypha and pseudepigrapha such as... the Paralipomena of Baruch... are included. }: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[6] Ehrlich, Mark Avrum (2009). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 473. Traditionally, the Beta Israel were monotheistic and practiced a Torah-based Judaism, without observing Oral Law, or knowing the Talmud, known to other communities of Jews.

[7] Appiah, Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 565. In terms of their religious beliefs, the Beta Israel have always identified themselves as exiles from the land of Israel and believers of the faith of Moses. For almost 2,000 years, however, they were completely isolated from the rest of the Jewish world. They never learned of the Talmud, the codification of Jewish oral law, or any of the traditions that arose after biblical times, such as the holiday of Hanukkah.

[8] Kribus, Bar (2022). "III/12 Monastic Prayer Houses". Ethiopian Jewish Ascetic Religious Communities: Built Environment and Way of Life of the Betä ?sra'el. Arc Humanities Press. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-1-64189-433-3.

[9] Shelemay, Music, page 42

[10] Neugebauer, Otto; Shaker, Abu (1988). Abu Shaker's "Chronography": A Treatise of the 13th Century on Chronological, Calendrical, and Astronomical Matters, Written by a Christian Arab, Preserved in Ethiopic : a Summary. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-1470-3.

[11] Quirun, 1992, p. 71

[12] Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 56

[13] Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 62-70 (Hebrew); Shelemay, Music, Ritual, and Falasha History, p. 44-57; Leslau, Falasha Anthology, p. xxviii–xxxvi; Quirun, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews, p. 146-150

[14] Devens, M. S. 'The Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath: A Betä Israel (Falasha) Text', p. xx/4.4 (Introduction), Wiesbaden, 1995.

[15] see also Yom Kippur Katan

[16] Semien Menata – Site of the Last Central Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastery

[17] "The Monasteries of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews)". Archived from the original on 2019-12-27. Retrieved 2019-07-23.

[18] Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastic Sites North of Lake Tana - Preliminary Results of an Exploratory Field Trip to Ethiopia in December 2015