Henrietta Szold
On Ethiopian Jewry
“Among all the fragments, the flotsam and jetsam
of Jewish history, none have had a more baffling fate than the Falashas of Abyssinia. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, their reputed ancestors,
shed the glamour of their romance upon them. All we know for certain
is that they have been carrying on a historic struggle for the preservation
of their Jewish selves for hundreds of years. In the course of the centuries
the teachings and principles that make them Jews became more and more
attenuated. It takes scholarship to discern that their simple practices
express a complete identification with the Jewish people. To the rest
of us the supreme vindication of the scholar's view lies in their invincible
allegiance to the Jewish heritage — a steadfastness that has been
matched only by that of their rescuers.”
Sources: Hadassah Newsletter, (May, 1924) |