ujm

Benignuman: If a heretofore unknown group living in a remote African jungle came out and related to us their oral tradition, which they say they’ve passed down generation by generation for the last 2000 years, that they’re Jews who moved to Africa at the time of the Churban, would you accept their word and accept them as Jews/safek Jews?

What evidence and documentation exists *after* the Radbaz and Eldad HaDani until 100 years ago that connects the current group calling itself Beta Israel to the people the Radbaz or Eldad HaDani speak of?

Benignuman: “although the Beta Israel believed themselves to be Jewish it is not clear whether (a) the founders of the community were actually Jews (according to one tradition they are descendants of a son of Shlomo HaMelech with the Queen of Sheba and Shlomo slaves) or (b) the conversions they conducted over the years were halachically valid.”

If it isn’t clear the founders of this community were Jewish, and we know they definitely didn’t conduct a proper halachic life, and they accepted “converts” into their community for marriage, which clearly wasn’t done halachicly, some kind of legend that they descend from the Queen of Sheba does not a Jew make.

AAQ, hopefully your life revolves around ruchniyus not gashmius. As such, you should be giving your wife and children direction on how to conduct their ruchniyus daily living.

Benignuman:

1. How do you explain the poskim that oppose accepting their claims to being Jewish?

2. How do you explain even those that are accepting, still demand they undergo a formal conversion?

3. How can you know that the contemporary group known as Beta Israel has any viable connection to any historical group of Jews that lived in Ethiopia many hundreds of years ago?

4. How can you ascertain the veracity of any historical writings of Ethiopian Jews that you reference?

P.S. Your EB quotation didn’t make it into your comment.

Benignuman: Where are you obtaining your information regarding how the other Ethiopian tribes treated the Beta Israel or that they “sacrificed for thousands of years”? Their history is hardly documented anywhere remotely close to that long. And from what little history is documented and known, there’s no documented time that they had the original Torah Shebksav or that they ever practiced authentic Judaism. I’m not sure where you found that they were killed in large numbers, but either way we know that Christians and other religions have had religious wars between themselves and/or otherwise willingly dying for their religion.

From what is known, they were treated the same bad ways all the many African/Ethiopian tribes treated other tribes during their never-ending wars and persecutions of each other, depending whenever whichever tribe has power on a local or regional level, in the areas.

Additionally, it should be noted, that European Jewry were persecuted for thousands of years far far more than any other (real or purported) Jewish group and heroically laid down their lives rather than surrender their Torah.

Please note that throughout history, from ancient times down to our own contemporary times (Hello Black Hebrews in Manhattan) there have been numerous gentile groups claiming to be Jewish and practicing some form of crypto-pseudo Jewishness.

Regarding your comment on the DNA analysis, you appear to be arguing that the at-large Ethiopian non-Jewish population is as much genetically Jewish as the Beta Israel, since the rest of the surrounding Ethiopian population of tens of millions also has (an equal) amount of Jewish heritage. That sounds quite fantastical.

What do you attribute their practicing a religion different than Torah Judaism, missing parts of the Torah, not knowing Hebrew and rather only using holy books in a foreign language, among other large variances greatly differentiating their practices from Judaism?

And their marriage regulations weren’t limited to only marrying each other — they married outsiders as well. They didn’t have any “halacha” counting only maternal descendants as part of their tribe.