Ethiopian Jewish ethnicity indicates genetic origins of Ethiopian Jews, also known as the Beta Israel community, are a distinct Jewish group originating in modern-day Ethiopia. The community traces its history back to the Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire, but in recent times has lived in the regions of Amhara and Tigray. Over the past several decades, the majority of Ethiopian Jews have emigrated to Israel. Traditional accounts of the community’s origins variously place them as descendants of the biblical Tribe of Dan, or the progeny of a union between King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba (believed in Jewish tradition to have been Ethiopian). The community has been practicing a unique form of Judaism for approximately two millennia, which includes adherence to strict dietary laws, a distinct priestly tradition, and veneration of scripture in the ancient Ge’ez language. In 1991, Operation Solomon evacuated 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, setting a world record for the greatest number of passengers ever carried by a single airplane (1,122).
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
Ethiopian Jewish history
Biblical sources indicate Jewish communities were already present in East Africa by the eighth century B.C.E. According to the Beta Israel tradition, an independent Kingdom of Beta Israel (or Kingdom of Semien) was established in the Semien Mountains in northwestern Ethiopia during the fourth century C.E. by Jewish Ethiopians fleeing the Emperor of Aksum, who had recently converted to Christianity. Tradition has it that the first king anointed was Phineas, a descendant of Zadok — the High Priest of the courts of Solomon and David. During the ninth century, following a renewed armed conflict between the Beta Israel and the Ethiopian Empire, the Jewish kingdom invaded, conquered, and destroyed the capital of Aksum under the leadership of Queen Judith, and imposed Jewish rule over the empire. The newly-crowned empress ruled for 40 years. The ninth to thirteenth centuries are considered to be the Golden Age of the Jewish kingdom, which is mentioned by several notable contemporary travelers and scholars, including Marco Polo and Benjamin of Tudela.
In 1270, a royal prince who managed to escape Queen Judith’s conquest of Aksum succeeded in restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power. Over the next several decades, the Ethiopian Empire conducted a series of armed conflicts with the Jewish kingdom. In the middle of the sixteenth century, following centuries of incessant fighting between the kingdom and the empire, the Muslim Adal Sultanate of Somalia invaded and fought the Ethiopian Empire. The Kingdom of Beta Israel allied with the empire at first, but later changed sides to support the marauding sultanate. After finally repelling the Muslim invaders, Emperor Gelawdewos invaded the Jewish kingdom and executed the Jewish King Joram in retribution, leaving the kingdom significantly weakened and reduced. The Jewish kingdom was hurt, but far from defeated: it would take another century until finally, in 1627, Emperor Susenyos conquered the Kingdom Beta Israel and annexed it to the empire.
Following the destruction of their kingdom, the Jewish community and its religious tradition came under attack by the Portuguese-influenced royal court, including the confiscation of lands and injunctions against the practice of Judaism. But the Portuguese were expelled from Ethiopia in 1633, leading to a period of flourishing for the Beta Israel who served as craftsmen, masons, smiths, and carpenters for the emperors in their royal capital at Gondar from the seventeenth century onwards. Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the emperor’s central authority gradually waned, and the country was effectively divided into several semi-autonomous regions. This period, known as Zemene Mesafint (“Era of Judges”), saw a significant regression in the legal and social status of Jews, leading the community to withdraw from Ethiopian society and to isolate within itself.
During the middle of the nineteenth century, British missionaries turned their attention to the Beta Israel community and successfully converted about 2,000 of its members — prompting European Jewry to take an active interest in the Beta Israel community. Subsequently, within a few decades, the chief rabbis of 45 countries made a joint statement and declared that Ethiopian Jews were indeed Jewish, putting to rest a centuries-long debate. During the late nineteenth century, a series of famines and outbreaks of diseases in East Africa decimated the community: an estimated half to two-thirds of the Beta Israel community died during that period.
In the middle of the twentieth century, a small group of Ethiopian Jews had come to Israel on a tourist visa and decided to remain in the country. Aided by several local organizations, these individuals managed to obtain Israeli citizenships, becoming the first wave of Ethiopians to become naturalized Israelis. As Ethiopia spiraled into civil war in the 1970s, the Israeli government decided to evacuate the Beta Israel community. Between 1977 and 1991, they implemented Operation Brothers, in which 16,000 Ethiopian Jews were transferred to Israel via Sudan. In 1991, increasingly worried about the fate of the Beta Israel community as the political and economic stability of Ethiopia further deteriorated, the Israeli government devised an audacious plan, named Operation Solomon, to covertly airlift the Beta Israel community out of the country. Over the course of 36 hours, a total of 34 passenger airplanes with their seats removed to maximize capacity evacuated 14,325 Beta Israel members from Ethiopia to Israel.
Ethiopian Jewish culture
Initially, members of the Beta Israel community who arrived in Israel found it difficult to assimilate to Israeli society — whether due to the language barrier, cultural differences between primarily-rural Ethiopia and primarily-urban Israel, prejudice and discrimination, or other reasons. However, a generation born in Israel, who speak Hebrew as a native language and were reared through its education system and socio-cultural institutions, has become increasingly assimilated. While constituting only 1% of the Israeli population, many Ethiopian-Israelis are high-profile and influential members of Israeli society, such as Members of Parliament Gadi Yevarkan (b. 1981) and Pnina Tamano-Shata (b. 1981), both of whom were born in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel at a young age, and Eli Dasa (b. 1992), an Israel-born championship-winning professional soccer player who plays for the Israeli national team. Recently, a new wave of young Ethiopian-Israeli musicians have gained the attention of audiences in Israel, including rapper Dor3, the group Cafe Shahor Hazak, and singer Eden Alene, who was selected to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020. An Ethiopian-Israeli model, Yityish “Titi” Aynaw, was crowned Miss Israel in 2013.
The Beta Israel community have retained much of the cultural and religious traditions of their native homeland. Like other Ethiopian communities, the staple of the Ethiopian-Israeli kitchen is injera – a sourdough-risen flatbread made out of teff flour with a slightly spongy texture, served with a variety of vegetable stews (wat) or sautéed meat (tibs). Most stews are hot and spicy, although milder varieties (alicha wat) are also served. In terms of religious practice, the Israeli Ministry of Religious Services employs 60 Kessim (priests) who conduct the community’s ceremonies. However, as they are not acknowledged as rabbis by the state, the priests do not have the authority to perform marriages. A new generation of Orthodox-trained rabbis has emerged from among the community, and is gradually replacing the old vanguard.
Ethiopian Jewish languages
Historically, the Beta Israel community spoke Kayla, a dialect of Qimant (an old and now highly endangered language spoken in northern Ethiopian). In recent centuries, however, the Beta Israel adopted Amharic and Tigrinya, the languages common to their home regions in northern Ethiopia. The main liturgical language of the Beta Israel is Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), an ancient relative of Tigrinya. For the most part, Ethiopian Jews born in Israel speak Hebrew as their native language (or at native level) while retaining the Amharic or Tigrinya spoken within their communities.
See also
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA at MyHeritage
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base