The History of Ethiopian Jewry

About the Project 

The Shifting Dynamics between the Betä Ǝsraʾel and Solomonic Authorities and Society from the Era of the Princes to the Twentieth Century

The project seeks to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics between the Betä Ǝsraʾel and Solomonic (Christian Ethiopian) authorities and society, from the political decentralization of the Solomonic Kingdom at the onset of the Zämänä Mäsafǝnt (1769–1855) to the twentieth century. Past studies addressing these dynamics have tended to focus on the Gondär area, which served as the seat of the Solomonic monarchy (seventeenth–nineteenth c.), due to its accessibility and the abundance of sources on this region. However, the Betä Ǝsraʾel inhabited an extensive area which was extremely diverse in terms of climate, population, economy, and religious and political dynamics, ranging from the frontier with Islamic Sudan, to the Solomonic heartlands, to the Səmen Mountains, where the Betä Ǝsraʾel were a substantial portion of the population and had maintained their sovereignty until the seventeenth century. Regional variations in Betä Ǝsraʾel life and dynamics with broader society were significant, and a comprehensive understanding of Betä Ǝsraʾel history in Solomonic Ethiopia must take these variations into account.

This project will focus on regions and contexts which have not yet been addressed in detail in scholarship. All available relevant written sources will be examined, including travel accounts and reports produced by Western travelers, missionaries, activists and scholars who interacted with the Betä Ǝsraʾel, as well as Solomonic chronicles and administrative documents. Interviews will be conducted both with members of the Betä Ǝsraʾel community originally from these different regions and with their former neighbors in Ethiopia. Based on the sources examined, a detailed analysis of the dynamics between the Betä Ǝsraʾel, Solomonic authorities and Solomonic society more broadly will be conducted, initially on a regional level. Then, a comparison will be conducted between different regions and times, and between the official policy of Solomonic monarchs and the situation de facto in different regions, enabling the identification both of common features and of characteristics unique to specific contexts.