Haymanot () is the branch of Judaism practiced by the Beta Israel, or Jews.
In Geʽez, Tigrinya and Amharic, Haymanot means 'religion' or 'faith'. Thus in modern Amharic and Tigrinya, it is common to speak of the Christianity haymanot, the Jewish haymanot or the Islam haymanot. In Israel, the term is only associated with Judaism.
Religious leaders
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Nabiyy "prophet", related to the Hebrew word , used in Jewish writings to refer to prophets.
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Hakhem - A wise man, who is skilful in Torah study , and can be an intermediary in the community for religious dispute, similar to a Hakham.
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Kahen or K es "priest", spiritual leader, similar to a Kohen and analogous to a rabbi
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Abba, honorific title, used to describe holy men who often stay in solitude.
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Liqa Kahnet, "High Priest", literal translation- at the top of the Kahen
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Debtera, itinerant holy man
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Shemagle, elder
Texts
Mäṣḥafä Kedus (Holy Scriptures) is the name for the 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:
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The Orit (from ), which consists of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) as well as the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth.
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The Five Books of Solomon: Mesályata Salomon (Proverbs 1–24), Tagsásá Salomon (Proverbs 25–31), Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, and Song of Songs.
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Other Biblical canon and apocryphal books include: the Books of Samuel, the Books of Kings, The Minor Prophets, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Job, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Books of Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, the Meqabyan, Jubilees, and Enoch.
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Unique apocryphal writings include: The Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron, Nagara Muse (The Conversation of Moses), Təʾəzazä Sänbät (Commandments of the Sabbath), Arde'et (Disciples), Gorgoryos (Apocalypse of Gorgorios), Barok (Apocalypse of Baruch) Mäṣḥafä Sa'atat (Book of Hours), fālasfā (Philosophers), Abba Eliyas (Father Elijah), Mäṣḥafä Mäla'əkt (Book of the Angels), Dərsanä Abrəham Wäsara Bägabs (Homily on Abraham and Sarah in Egypt), Gadla Sosna (The Story of Susanna) and Baqadāmi Gabra Egzi'abḥēr (In the Beginning God Created).
Ethiopian Jews did not have access to the Talmud or other post-biblical Jewish texts, and traditionally practiced a purely Torah-based Judaism.
Prayer house
The synagogue is called ,
masgid, or
ṣalot bet.
File:PikiWiki Israel 10703 Architecture of Israel.jpg|Modern Synagogue in the city of Netivot in Israel
File:The sigd holiday14-benny voodoo.jpg|Kahen reading from the Orit
Dietary laws
Dietary laws are based mainly on
Leviticus,
Deuteronomy and
Jubilees. Permitted and forbidden animals and their signs appear on and . Forbidden birds are listed on and . Signs of permitted fish are written on and . Insects and larvae are forbidden according to . Birds of prey are forbidden according to .
Gid hanasheh is forbidden per . Mixtures of milk and meat are not prepared or eaten but are not banned either: Haymanot interpreted the verses , and literally "shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk" (like the
Karaite Judaism). Nowadays, under
Rabbinic Judaism influence, mixing dairy products with meat is banned.
Ethiopian Jews were forbidden to eat the food of non-Jews. A Kes (priest) eats only meat he has slaughtered himself, which his hosts then prepare both for him and themselves. Beta Israel who broke these taboos were ostracized and had to undergo a purification process. Purification included fasting for one or more days, eating only uncooked chickpeas provided by the Kes, and ritual purification before entering the village. Unlike other Ethiopians, the Beta Israel do not eat raw meat dishes like kitfo or gored gored.[Shelemay, Music, page 42]
Calendar and holidays
The Beta Israel calendar is a
lunar calendar of 12 months, with each having 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 is a combination of the ancient calendars of Alexandrian Jewry, the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch, Abu Shaker, and the Geʽez calendar.
[Quirun, 1992, p. 71] The years are counted according to the
Counting of Kushta: "1571 to Jesus Christ, 7071 to the
Ancient Egypt and 6642 to the
Hebrews".
[Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 56]
in Haymanot,[Aešcoly, Book of the Falashas, p. 62-70 (Hebrew); Shelemay, Music, Ritual, and Falasha History, p. 44-57; Leslau, Falasha Anthology, p. xxviii–xxxvi; Quirun, The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews, p. 146-150] divided into months, are given below:
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Nisan: ba'āl lisan ('head of Nisan', or New Year) on 1, ṣomä fāsikā ('Passover fast') on 14, fāsikā (Passover) during 15–21, and gadfat ('grow fat') or buho ('fermented dough') on 22.
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Iyar: another fāsikā ('second Passover', or Pesach Sheni) during 15–21.
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Sivan: ṣomä mã'rar ('harvest fast') on 11 and mã'rar ('harvest', or Shavuot) on 12.
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Tammuz: ṣomä tomos ('Tammuz fast') during 1–10.
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Av: ṣomä ab ('Av fast') during 1–17.
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Seventh Sabbath: fixed as the fourth Shabbat of the fifth month.
[Devens, M. S. 'The Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath: A Betä Israel (Falasha) Text', p. xx/4.4 (Introduction), Wiesbaden, 1995.]
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Elul: awd amet ('year rotate') on 1, ṣomä lul ('Elul fast') during 1–9, anākel astar'i ('our atonement') on 10, and asartu wasamantu ('eighteenth') on 28.
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Tishrei: ba'āl Matqe ('blowing holiday', or Rosh Hashanah) on 1, astasreyo ('day of atonement', or Yom Kippur) on 10, and ba'āla maṣallat ('festival of booths', or Sukkot) during 15–21.
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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 měhlělla ('supplication', or Sigd) on 29.
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Kislev: another ṣomä mã'rar and mã'rar on 11 and 12, respectively.
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Tevet: ṣomä tibt ('Tevet fast') during 1–10.
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Shevat: wamashi brobu on 1.
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Adar: ṣomä astēr (Fast of Esther) during 11–13.
Monthly holidays are mainly memorial days to a given annual holiday:
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Yačaraqā ba'āl ('new moon festival') on the first day of every month
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Asärt ('ten') on the tenth day to commemorate Yom Kippur
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Asrã hulat ('twelve') on the twelfth day to commemorate Shavuot
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Asrã ammest ('fifteen') on the fifteenth day to commemorate Passover and Sukkot
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Somä mälěya: a fast on the last day of every month.
[see also Yom Kippur Katan]
Weekly holidays include the ṣomä säňňo (Monday fast), ṣomä amus (Thursday fast), ṣomä 'arb (Friday fast), and Sanbat (Shabbat).
Monasticism
The Beta Israel are the only extant Jewish group with a
Monasticism, albeit a historic one. The
, 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.
[ Semien Menata – Site of the Last Central Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastery][ Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Monastic Sites North of Lake Tana - Preliminary Results of an Exploratory Field Trip to Ethiopia in December 2015]
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:
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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
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Karaite Judaism, a denomination of Judaism that bears similarities to Haymanot
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Sadducees, Second Temple sect now extinct, also bears similarities to Haymanot
Notes
