As an Ethiopian Jew, this made me cry and feel happy and proud of my forefather. Thank you for remembering and telling our story, which is often forgotten or ignored by everyone as if we never existed. Thank you so much!
@@benanjerris6744 Ethiopia was never a unified centralized power as many think so until 13th century after which they started their campaign against the Kingdom of Simien(Ethiopian Jewish region and kingdom) and other neighboring groups for expansion. By 18th century they managed to subjugate us into their empire after much massacres. After that we were othered and seen as subhumans until leaving to Israel.
Many things are forgotten but not due to them being unimportant there's just so many stories so many things to know that inevitably things will be forgotten.
That’s why if you’re Ethiopian Amhara orthodox or Jew you love Israel 🇮🇱 it’s synonymous with who we’re. We love and worry about Israel. We’re happy when great things happen worry when we hear bad news. Israel is our love and pride! May god protect and bless Israel 🇮🇱 I hope more Jews move to Amhara regions and reestablish relationships. Amen’
I hate that I was never taught about the Beta Israel, considering I was in a Conservative Hebrew School until I was 11. I only learned of their existence in my teen years. Thank you for this much needed lesson Sam, from one West Coast Jew to another.
Lucky you I lived in Ireland born in 1948 Yes I heard about Jews a few lines only Chosen People and that was enough. Never was told about Islam, Arabs, Budhists, I started to learn when I moved to England. I hadn't heard of WW1 and WW11 and Communism until I landed in Australia.
@@janettedavis6627 Oh don't get me wrong, I know learning what I did growing up was fortunate. The internet alone was (and is) a blessing in that regard. But I'm always happy to learn more and I just wanted to express my gratitude to the video's creator.
Although I've been studying Africa for more than a decade, I still have a lot to learn. Thanks for teaching us about the Jewish people in Ethiopia. P.S. I thought I was going to make the longest video in the collab but you win this round my friend 😉
Learning about the Jews of Ethiopia was maybe the first time that political geography, and especially the stories of non-national ethnic groups (that is, ethnic groups without their own state) became so fascinating to me. We never hear of them, at least not in mainstream historical and political circles and so learning these stories, their histories, their geographies, became a constant draw for me.
You put a lot effort in your videos and I really appreciate that. I didn't know much about the Jewish history before I discovered your channel but boy, am I happy that I did.
I am a Ugandan, and I have always been fascinated with Ethiopian history. What I know is that in the 1980s, Ethiopian Jews as known as Falashas were airlifted to Israel due to a severe famine. I didn't know more Ethiopian Jews were again airlifted in 1991. Thank you for the great history.
highly courius to eventually see you cover North Africa especially with how you'll divide it if I had to guess Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
I've covered Egypt on multiple occasions! And spoiler alert: Algeria will become relevant soon. And I'm pretty certain where Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya will fit in.
Great video, definitely improved my understanding of the Beta Israel compared to the previous discussions I've heard about them. I'm glad you took part in this collab! On the subject of Jewish Africans, you might be interested to look into oft forgotten history of Jewish habitation in West Africa, which tends to be forgotten because of the combination of Africa being underdiscussed and no coherent descendant community comparable to Beta or Bene Israel existing from this part of the diaspora. There's a book on the subject by Peter Mark and Jose Da Silva Horta about the topic called "The Forgotten Diaspora: Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World " if you want to check it out.
Extremely interesting historical story. I'm very grateful to be able to listen and to understand the situation going on in Israel. Most people are totally ignoran I been one of them. I definitely watch this video again. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Baruch HaShem!!!
Will you be making a video on Jews in the Sahara and Sahel? Hunwick wrote a short study of the Jews of Tamantit and there are some references on Jews in Timbuktu and the Sahel.
I don't discuss my plans for future videos because (1) it would be impossible to cover everything that people ask about and (2) plans can change due to research, personal life, etc. About a year ago, I considered doing a whole trilogy on sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, West Africa, and South Africa), but after the experience of making the Silk Road Trilogy, I realized the workload for three consecutive specials was at best debilitating and at worst literally impossible. But West Africa is a topic I'd definitely like to come back to.
bruh, you dead ass have the TRAP-BATH split, and your THOUGHT vowel is so intense, including the CLOTH set but not the LOT set, which is to be expected on North America, but still.
Wow they may overlook you guys, but you indeed are the apple of God's eye. Bless you and BLESS all of Israel. I pray for peace and prosperity for Jerusalem.
Thank you very much. I cannot wait until I hear more. I live in Canada now, but I remember my dad used to narrate many Jewish stories such as how his families used to be targets and be persecuted by other Ethiopians. As a result, they have to often move and hide their identities if they want to live in peace. Even though I am well educated and quite comfortably and successfully settled in Canada, my heart remains to make that Aliyah to mother Israel (God's land), the land that flows with milk and honey. I proposed to my wife, but she did not have the courage of restarting new life somewhere else. But, my heart and my mind is focused in that beautiful land. In fact, I have been learning Hebrew in my spare time. To reiterate, thank you for the short but detailed narration.
Love this as a child I learned of the African Jews but when ever you see jews mentioned on tv or any media they only speak of the white jews who came from Europe and never black jews. As if they dont exist. I studied as much as I could in College about EthiopianJews and even getting to meet one and talk deep about the religion was amazing
They are not the only Jewish community to lose literacy they are the only ones who maintain being Jews who did. The Chinese Jewish community in several other Jewish communities through Middle East North Africa did many later were assimilated within the last few hundred years
@@SamAronow the kes t knew how to read geaz .... There is no evidence that they completely stop knowing how to do so among their more learned. Both in beta is real oral traditions and anthropological records unless you have something I haven't seen ..... I have two good friends who are beta Israel and I spent a significant amount of time in Israel among the community talking and asking questions about the history it never once came up and I've never seen this claim in any source. There are literally terrorist scrolls written in gas that are around 800 or 900 years old
Exactly because the ethiopian christians are not as monsters as this stupid guy is Saying , the Jews lived from BC up untill the 19 century untill Israel took them ,
@@rediettadesse2828 even Ethiopian Christian sources confirm what they did to there Jews . Please take the time to read history of a subject before you're going to talk about it.
@Sam Arrow.I enjoy your content but would like to look deeper.Would it be possible to list the sources where you found your historical evidence. Thanks
I want to say I've enjoyed your channel and I've loved learning about the history of Jewish communities throughout the world. One critique I'd give so far is the treatment of Beta Israel in the state of Israel. It does not go far enough in recognizing the marginalization and humiliation many within Beta Israel suffer from. I did appreciate the aspects of Beta Israeli culture which have been embraced by the Israeli state as well as some of the political representation which they have been able to achieve, but to not cover this without contextualizing it within the very recent developments of racism and xenophobia, the bounty hunting, the conditions for asylum seekers, and more, it doesn't go far enough to embrace the full dignity and inclusion of this community. It reads to many marginalized communities as "The American Pagent" levels of revisionism: the equivalent of talking about MLK in US history and the civil rights while reducing all the systemic issues of racism they dealt with as "ignorance" and that we no longer deal with that anymore. I do also say this while I acknowledge how much you went into great detail discussing the many quotes on European historiography which attempted to deny Ethiopian Jewish communities their Jewishness. To not fully rectify this with the history of the scramble for Africa, where it was weaponized as one of many instances where African nations were denied the right to self determination; and that this mindset underpinning a similar alienation of Beta Israel in the state of Israel today, it doesn't go far enough to appreciate the deeper problems that they suffer living among fellow Jews. To reduce this entire issue down to ignorance is to erase and minimize the burden that has been put on Beta Israel, from the amount which they've had to conform to European and Sephardic/Ashkenazi notions of Jewishness, to policing and police brutality they suffer from. With all of this said, this has been my only critique of your channel so far. I fully appreciate the level of nuance you share when it concerns the Jewish diaspora and Jewish identity in much of your videos. I ask that you extend this same level of love, compassion, and humility to the diaspora communities which you may not have as much intimacy with. Im not here to diminish the amount of representation you have demonstrated, showing Jewish diaspora communities from around the world. What i will say is that i think as we see more and more of your videos, it has become more apparent that there have been limits to the breadth and depth to the history of lesser-known diasporic communities. I don't ask you to be the be the best at fully encompassing these histories as you couldn't since you're not a part of those communities. What i ask is that there is more cultural humility, more input from Jewish minorities from around the world to tell their stories, and for you to empower, cultivate, and mention them. While I'm sure you're already attempting to do this, i feel some aspects of this video and what I've pointed demonstrate some places you could improve on. I say this with as much love and appreciation for your channel, thank you.
Yes, this is something I didn't feel was appropriate for _this_ video, but something I'd like to _come back to_ in videos specifically about Operation Solomon and its aftermath. Since this is part of a collaboration emphasizing pre-20th century sub-saharan Africa, I was very conscious of having to limit the 20th century discussion to no more than a third of the finished video.
The DNA data (from Agranat-Tamir et al) was misinterpreted. In the paper from which the data shown was taken, they make no claims regarding the Israelite origin of the Beta Israel. Those papers that have studied it show that the Beta Israel are genetically similar to other groups Ethiopia. I don’t think an Israelite origin is ruled out, but it is not supported by the DNA evidence. And it’s quite the opposite of the claim you made that the doubts of Israelite origin of the Beta Israel have been “put to rest.” (Just to clarify I do not think that has any implication on the Jewish status of the Beta Israel community at all).
The comment about Ethiopian Jews not knowing the holocaust is honestly kinda gross... most of my pre existing knowledge of the beta Israel is from their experiences of the holocaust
This video didn't cover that Solomon married the Queen of Sheba (around 1000 BC), and that ever since there were trading posts along the shores, and that military units were sent regularly from Judea to secure the area (as mentuind in the Bible, each for a 4 year military service). You can only imagine the amount of children they produced in the area. In addition the mass migration of the Egyptian Jewish community in Roman times....
03:53 Sam the green marker says Somali what does that mean? I know people from East Africa have a very diverse DNA . I was expecting to be Ethiopian instead of Somali, is there is a a scientific reason for this? I'm originally from Somalia grew up both in the Middle East and the US. I'm very curious about this chart. Personally I'm more interested in human culture, language then I'm interested about DNA but it will be hilarious to tell some of my religious relatives that they are Jews lol
Ethiopian and somalis are cushtics. Africa has 3 majority races, Arabs in north, cushtics in east and Bantuu in the rest. Ethiopians and somalis are basically the same people with different in religion
I feel like these ethno-cultural realm is somehow likely to be cast out from serious studies and I will never understand why. It's fascinating. From Israel to Ethiopia to the Rastafaris, these are all related cultures!
I just ate at a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant in Louisville last week. The owner is a Jewish Ethiopian from Gonder. Fascinating and kind fellow. His daughter lives in Israel. Some of the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever had.
As an Ethiopian Jew who was born in Ethiopia and now lives in Israel, I thank you for telling the story of my people. Here in Israel they don't talk about the history of the Ethiopian Jews. I heard stories from my family about how they tried to make them convert to Christianity and I heard about some of the terms like falasha. but I never knew how deep our history is. thank you for taking the time and investing in this, it was very interesting and intriguing to hear. I really appreciate it.
They don't talk about Ethiopian Judaism history because their trying to conceal the truth from everyone. Ethiopians Jews are the real Hebrews. They are mentioned in the Torah, but the other Jewish communities like the Sephardics, Ashkenazi's even Mizrai aren't mentioned except for Egypt. The Torah mentions only 3 kingdoms and the locals in these kingdoms are the real Hebrews that are directly descended from Abraham, Moses and Solomom. The Nubian Kushites, the Ethiopian Cushites and the Egyptian Cushites. These were the people at Mt. Sinai when lead by Moses. And Moses, Abraham, Solomon, David, Jacob, Isaac, Zephania, even some of Jesus disciples were all of Ethiopian descent. Don't forget prophet Enoch. This clearly identifies the Ethiopians as the Israelites.
I knew that there were Jews in Ethiopia but to see this level of detail and explanation of the entire situation from the past and present is pretty amazing. It's interesting to see how they were able to retain their Jewish identity after being illiterate for so long as well. Thank you for being a part of this collaboration!
good evening from Israel I have been following your amazing channel for quite some time and I am happy to see you here as well I would appreciate it if you could make a video about Ethiopian Jews or North African Jews Ah And I heard that there is in America An extreme cult called "Black Hebrew Israelites" and that they are trying to appropriate the identity of the Jewish people for themselves I would be very happy if you could make a video of them In any case Shabbat Shalom (=
@@israeliteforpeace7246 isn’t this because of the Rasta traditions/religious customs that view Halie Salassie as a Devine figure/messianic figure? I know in Rasta they use a slightly different version of the Lion of Judah and Star of David but they see themselves as Israelites
One of the most unique weddings I've been to, was of a couple of friends, one of Ethiopian and the other of Russian origins. An Ashkenazi Rabbi and a Beta Israel Kes both took turns saying the blessings in Hebrew and Ge'ez. It was absolutely amazing.
You do know Hebrew originated from Geez as well as Arabic. Geez is a semite language and the first one the Bible mentions. The adamites possibly might have been speaking this dialect.
@@EladLerner Old Hebrew is believed by scholars to be the one written on the book of Enoch. Geez is the old Hebrew language. Its the oldest language and humanities language before the Babel tower was built.
@@johnstephanos1128 Lol what? Most actual researchers of the Semitic languages say that the original Semitic "split" happend in Northern Syria/Iraq/Southern Turkey(East Semitic family splitting off),the Semitic languages of Africa came MUCH later and from South Arabia which themselves diverged far of from the West Semitic(Arabic/Aramaic/Caanenite/Hebrew),not of your claims make sense.
@@yakov95000 OK, research on Geez. This is an ancient Ethiopian language used over 5000 years ago. It is older than any semite language. Geez is the first Semitic language and the first language of man kind. Its humanities first language. This should make alot more sense.
My dad grew up in Albany. Outside one of chabad shuls was huge sign which said: "SAVE THE JEWS OF ETHIOPIA AND THE SOVIET UNION!" My dad never thought he'd see the day where the signs were taken down.
As an Ethiopian that loves Ethiopian history this might be the best video I’ve ever seen on Beta Israel. I read a really good book on them and it touched on a lot of these topics. My favorite thing about this is that it speaks on the high points of Ethiopian Jews. Oftentimes they are presented as a perpetually hopeless group when they had agency and were extremely vital contributors to Ethiopian society. What’s really sad to me is that the Derg sold them for weapons in a losing war. I really wish Ethiopia could play host to a successful and vibrant Beta Israel community again. To me, they’ll always have a home in Ethiopia. And Ethiopians today would be well served to embrace what little of the community is left as brothers and sisters.
Love when African history gets this much detail and deep discussion. Definitely something we don't see enough of, especially in more public facing media. Good vid.
@Big Niggs the point of the comment is that the entire continent is not discussed enough in detail. You're the only one "bantu washing" by equivocating the term "African" with Bantus. Bugger off.
As an Ethiopian Jew who were born in Israel, I want to thank you for covering this topic. Great video, very detailed and enriching. People don’t understand how much Beta Israel sacrificed to fulfill the dream of returning to Israel, just this part of history needs a video of it’s own.
Very interesting and informative video. Thank you. In Ethiopian Historiography it wasn't Emperor Kaleb that turned against the Jews in Aksum after his victory against Dhu-Nuwas (Finhas/Pinchas). It is written that Emperor Kaleb had two sons. The Elder was called "Bete Israel" (House of Israel) and the younger was called "Gebre Mesqel" (Servant of the Cross). The elder brother was the rightful inheriter of the throne, but Kaleb had him made viceroy in Yemen, while installing Gebre Mesqel as the ruler of Aksum. This led to a civil war which Gebre Meskel won and the followers of Bete Israel were banished to the remote Semien mountains. Of course Bete Israel stands for the Jews and Gebre Mesqel for the Christians. The other interesting fact is that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church preserves many traditions, which can be seen as having Jewish roots (dietary laws, circumcision, keeping the Sabbath day holy, reverence to the Ark of the Covenant). Of course there is a debate on whether these traditions are of Jewish origin, local origin, or whether they were just inspired by the old testament).
It's because Christianity is a fake religion ,the man called Jesus was a jew who was rejected by his own people. Anybody who claimed to truly follow Jesus must surely observe the old testament to be qualified as a follower of Jesus if Jesus were to b3 alive.
Thank you for this!!!! I’ve always admired them so much and it’s so hard to find consistent and detailed info. I’m an adopted Jew. It was hard being the only black person in an ashkenazi community. I knew there were other black Jews and no one ever ever implied I wasn’t Jewish at all but when I got older I started to develop a sense of imposter syndrome about it all. I ended up back w my birth family eventually which isolated me from any other Jews as well which really didn’t help. Learning of beta Israel and the Igbo has helped rid me of that feeling a lot and it’s truly an inspiration to finally see someone put out a well thought out and organized video on the topic. You’re whole channel is a blessing to me
@@MK-we9sw there’s a minority group amongst the Kenyan Igbo tribe that practices mainstream Judaism and claims to be descended from one of the lost tribes. I think it’s still being debated as to whether or not there’s a scientific basis for the claim but it’s still interesting nonetheless
Wow Sam, amazing work and fantastic presentation all around. I’m blown away by the uniqueness and determined perseverance of Beta Israel against all odds, and I thoroughly loved learning about this fascinating part of the Jewish world. Easily one of your best videos yet!
As a Kenyan, I’ve always been fascinated by Beta Jews in Ethiopia. This was a great documentary and it answered a lot of questions that I’ve always had. Thanks.
@@MeirHarZion34 How can they have converted if they practiced Judaism for thousands of years? The first baptized Christian was an Ethiopian Eunich in Acts in the first century and he was already a jew. Ethiopians aren't gentiles their the real Israelites.
I recall when I was in college in the mid '80's there was an airlift of "Falashas" to Israel. I don't recall the details except that there was a lot of to-do about it in the press and my world history teacher who was Jewish hailing them as "direct descendants of the Queen of Sheba." Hard not to be impressed. I was therefore surprised to learn that there was yet another airlift in '91 and that the history of these people was nothing like what we'd been told. I think this video is your best yet.
Yeah. But a lot of things went poorly even during Haile Selassie era. Colonization attempt by Italy, a rebellion from the north, a famine in the Wollo and Tigre provinces. Lots of issues unfortunately :(
I recently got some insight in the Beta Israel community here in Israel and they are amazing. I love our Ethiopian brothers and sisters and hope to get closer to this community
Could you please make a video with the Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews community in Israel? I would like to see how the young generation is integrated and their parents hopefully adjusting to the Holy land. Thank you.
Please cover about them because what I saw previously is only negative things about their condition in Israel as if they didn’t belong to it and want to go back to Ethiopia. I really dislike learning toxic and pessimistic nature of presentation as first impression.
The Jewish people are all over the world. I was fascinated that I an African American had Jewish ancestry . I was told she was a Russian Jew. I was surprised to find that I had ancestry in Levant. The mystery or rather curious to me is how did Bantu and Jewish culture interacted in the past
Thank you for this episode. I am a Anglican Church Member but as my oldest son was doing research into our ancestry he found several things. First he found that our family (on both sides) had connection to the Spanish Conquesta of Mexico with my mother's side founding a section of what would become Moralia in Michucan. My father's family were also part of the founders of New Mexico. He found a censes document that showed our great great grand father was alive in the 1870 censes born in 1774, living as a citizen of three different countries without moving. We also have learned that the area he grow up in was where many converso had move to. We bare in our flesh the Abrahamic Covenant. Though not crypto Jews we very much support other aspects of Kosher foods as we favor avoiding pork, eating beef, lamb, not so much goat, chicken and Turkey, and fish. Before all this research we had thought our father's family was from northern Mexico proper. New Mexico had a similar status like Mexico to the Crown of Spain being a separate colony to Spain with a history of being set up twice by Converso.
Ron Ben Yishai makes a particularly interesting claim in one of his books about the immigration of Jews in the 1990's and the weapon transfers, at the time he was in Ethiopia covering the war for the news and apparently played an unofficial role in the diplomacy between the 2 states. He says that the decision to launch a covert IDF mass transfer operation was primarily because of the dictators request from Israel to transfer them chemical weapons, which Israel did not have and was not willing to give them regardless.
