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Haymanot

Haymanot () 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

  • 'prophet', related to Hebrew
  • : Hebrew Hakham. A wise man skilful in Torah study, and can be an intermediary in the community for religious disputes
  • Kahen or , the GeÊ¿z equivalent of Hebrew Kohen 'priest'. The role of the in Haymanot Judaism is similar to that of a rabbi in Rabbinic Judaism.
  • , High Priest; translated into Hebrew as
  • Abba, honorific title for ascetic renunciates
  • Debtera (): "unconsecrated religious scholars, also renowned for their skill as healers and scribes"
  • 'elder', plural šǝmagǝlločč

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. The religious texts of the Beta Israel include:

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.

Prayer house

The synagogue or prayer house is called a , or . It can also be called a '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.

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.

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, and the Geʽez calendar. The years are counted according to the Counting of Kushta: "1571 to Jesus Christ, 7071 to the Gyptians and 6642 to the Hebrews".

Jewish holidays by months:

  • Nisan: baʿāl lisan ('head of Nisan', or New Year) on 1, á¹£omä 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: á¹£omä mäʾrar ('harvest fast') on 11 and mäʾrar ('harvest', or Shavuot) on 12.
  • Tammuz: á¹£omä tomos ('Tammuz fast') during 1–10.
  • Av: á¹£omä ab ('Av fast') during 1–17.
  • Shavuot: the fourth Shabbat of the fifth month.
  • Elul: awd amet ('year rotate') on 1, á¹£omä 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 maá¹£allat ('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 á¹£omä mã'rar and mã'rar on 11 and 12, respectively.
  • Tevet: á¹£omä tibt ('Tevet fast') during 1–10.
  • Shevat: wamashi brobu on 1.
  • Adar: á¹£omä 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.

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 (), lived separated from the Jewish villages to live in monasteries. However, only some Ethiopian Jews were monastics, and was also used to refer to community elders. The monastic tradition went extinct in the mid-20th century.

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.

See also

  • Karaite Judaism, a denomination of Judaism that bears similarities to Haymanot
  • Sadducees, Second Temple sect now extinct, also bears similarities to Haymanot

Notes

References