...balanced and well informed...a striking piece of scholarship
aimed at demythologizing the origins of the Ethiopian
Falasha.
-Foreign Affairs
Kaplan's definitive treatment will be of interest to students
and scholars of Jewish history, African history, and comparative
religion, as well as anyone interested in Jewish affairs and the
modern Middle East.
The Midwest Book Review
Kaplan's conceptualizations are judicious and clearly
expressed...incisive and well documented... and provides essential
background for the process of assimilation now taking lace in
Israel.
-The International Journal of African Historical Studies
Kaplan's able interdisciplinary approach is of great value for
persons interested in religion, civilization, and process of
change.
-Religious Studies Review
Kaplan's well-written, lucid presentation make[s] this
important, competent contribution accessible to all levels of
readers. Highly recommended.
Choice
Insightful and thorough, a welcome contribution.Kay Kaufman
Shelemay, Professor of Music, Harvard University
Undoubtedly the most detailed, most scholarly, and most
dispassionate argument of Falasha history hitherto published.
[T]his work deserves ... the most careful study by all those (and
in particular in Israel) who have any practical or scholarly
connection with the Beta Israel.
-- Edward UllendorffEmeritus Professor of Ethiopian Studies,
University of LondonFellow of the British Academy
Given Kaplan's facility with both written and oral sources, he
is in a unique position to synthesize and reconcile the new
historical findings of ethnographers with the written sources and
differing conclusions of earlier historians andlinguists. His work
is insightful and thorough, a welcome contribution.
-- Kay Shelemay, Wesleyan University
The origin of the Black Jews of Ethiopia has long been a source
of fascination and controversy. Their condition and future
continues to generate debate. The culmination of almost a decade of
research, The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia marks the
publication of the first book-length scholarly study of the history
of this unique community.
In this volume, Steven Kaplan seeks to demythologize the history of
the Falasha and to consider them in the wider context of Ethiopian
history and culture. This marks a clear departure from previous
studies which have viewed them from the external perspective of
Jewish history. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including the
Beta Israel's own literature and oral traditions, Kaplan
demonstrates that they are not a lost Jewish tribe, but rather an
ethnic group which emerged in Ethiopia between the 14th and 16th
century. Indeed, the name, Falasha, their religious hierarchy,
sacred texts, and economic specialization can all be dated to this
period. Among the subjects the book addresses are their links with
Ethiopian Christianity, the medieval legends concerning their
existence, their wars with the Ethiopian emperors, their relegation
to the status of a despised semi-caste, their encounters with
European missionaries, and the impact of the Great Famine of
1888-1892.
Kaplan's definitive treatment will be of interest to students and
scholars of Jewish history, African history, and comparative
religion, as well as anyone interested in Jewish affairs and the
modern Middle East.
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