Despite prejudice and discrimination, the Beta israel persisted in their faith, a form of Judaism that until relatively recently was quite different from mainstream postbiblical jews practice. Their religion was based on the Bible and other sacred writings translated into Ge’ez. Their canon included the entire Old Testament, as well
as apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, including the books of Enoch and Jubilees. They were unaware of the Talmud, or rabbinic tradition, or even Hebrew. They did not know Hanukkah or the joyous celebration of Purim. They had no bar mitzvahs, kipot(skullcaps), or prayer shawls, and they did not light Sabbath candles. They had unique rites and customs of their own.”
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— Stephen Spector
“Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews”
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(Photo: When North meets South. A Beta-Israel boy’s bar mitzvah, a rite of passage once alien to the Ethiopian Jewish community)
Despite prejudice and discrimination,
