Do the Falasha (Ethiopian) Jews identify with the Mizrahi or the Sephardi?

The word “Falasha” is considered a derogatory term.

Some Jewish jellies can correct me here, but as far as I know Sephardic has kind of adopted any Jews that aren’t Ashkenazi.

The Mizrahi Jews are often put under the umbrella of the Sephardim, and so I would say Ethiopian Jews would be too.

My husband’s family are Mizrahi Jews, and identify as Sephardic Jews. They don’t speak Ladino, they speak Hebrew and Arabic in his grandparents’ generation. His grandparents left Israel and settled in Mexico. His grandparents never learned to speak Spanish well even though they migrated to Mexico as young adults. My FIL’s first language is Hebrew. His most spoken language is Spanish because he was born and raised in Mexico.

Before Israel they think the family was in Lebanon or Syria, not sure. The question is, were they on the Iberian peninsula before the Middle East? I don’t know. They don’t know. If so, then technically they really are Sephardic and Mizrahis.

I went a little off topic there, but since you seem to have some interest I rambled a little.

We need zen for this Q. Maybe we can get him to show up.

I’m not quite sure what you mean when you ask which are the closest to the “Biblical Israel” since, historically they were continually driven out and scattered for centuries due to the prejudice against them.

So, perhaps those who returned in response to the call to rebuild the Jewish homeland and to fight for it following WW 2 are the closest to the Biblical Israel (whatever that really means anyhow.) ...just my meager 2 cents worth.

Interesting. I didn’t catch the part about being closest to biblical Israel. This idea would never occur to me. The Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews for that matter, are basically after the Jews left Israel historically. We dispersed. Each group had some intermarrying. In fact, supposedly the Jews who went to China, intermarried and look Asian, or many dropped the faith over generations.

As you know Spain at one point either forced Jews to convert or leave. So, we lost a lot of our numbers there, and intermarried, and stopped practicing Judaism.

The Ashkenazi Jews are one of the “purest” religious groups. Not pure that we trace back to Israel genetically 5,000 years ago and match DNA sequences going on Israeli anthropological studies, but in that as a group we are genetically similar like the Icelandic people.

This is why Ashkenazi Jews are chosen for genetic studies, and I’ve heard discussion that it is why we have several genetic problems and recessive traits pop up. The best known problem is Tay Sachs in the Ashkenazi Jews. We also have a lot of red hair in that group. I think there is a lot of blue eyes and color blindness too. I don’t know all of the statistics. The color blindness might be just what I think in my head, because I know so many Jews who are colorblind, but I know nonJews who are also.

The Sephardic are more genetically diverse. Now, in America, where almost half the Jewish population in the world lives, we intermarry more and more outside of the religion and within the Jewish groups. So, this is all changing. In Israel I don’t know how they look at the Sephardic marrying the Ashkenazi, etc. in America it might be “noted.” Like, it’s noted, or noticed, that I’m Ashkenazi and my husband is Sephardic/Mizrahi. I’ve always thought the mix was good. Hopefully, healthier babies if we had had children.

Since we do not solicit people into Judaism, we don’t have a lot of converts. Since we mostly for thousands of years didn’t intermarry, we are a tight knit group.

I’m all over the place with this. My point is, in my mind, I don’t think of one Jewish person as more Jewish than another, or closer to the original “biblical Israel.” What I think is all the haters don’t care. My parents are Jewish, so I’m Jewish. If a person converted to Judaism and identifies as Jewish, and lives as a Jew, they are Jewish.

@Buttonstc I’m sure a lot of people who helped build Israel after the war were Zionist, but I would also guess a lot just wanted to get out of Dodge where they had been hated and their families murdered in their own country. I’m American, and I have lived my life in relative safety and freedom regarding my religion, but part of my desire for an Israel, is that as a Jewish person I always have a place I can go when I know the world has so much antisemitism.

@JLeslie

That was more or less my point about “closer to Biblical Israel”.

What does that even mean anyhow? Since Biblical Israel was thousands of years ago, how can any one (or any one group of Jewish people”) be any closer to Biblical Israel since they existed in a specific time period, historically speaking.

I was hoping the OP would define exactly what he means by that descriptor of Biblical Israel. Aren’t the twelve tribes still the twelve tribes regardless of where it is that they’ve been scatterred (and really not through their own choosing for that matter)?

No matter how much any one person or nation state has tried to eradicate them from the face of the earth, they have been unsuccessful and the unique Jewish identity has persevered and triumphed regardless the adversity or attempts to eliminate.

That was one of the chief points of British historian Simon Schama’s impressive two part book series “The History of the Jews”

It was subsequently also made into a PBS special and it’s quite a fascinating work. Has anyone else seen it or read the books?Highly recommended !

@Yellow Dog

If you have an interest in Judaism, that would be an excellent and very thorough resource for you, either the books or PBS series.

http://www.pbs.org/show/story-jews-program/episodes/
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CORRECTION EDIT:

The correct title is “The Story of the Jews” and the link above is to watch the five part Emmy winning PBS series.

My motive (as the original poster) is that Israel has the right to the land given to them by God. But an argument has been made that none of the Jews today are the same as the Jews of the Biblical covenant. I am seeking support for my position that Israel belongs to the Jews.

The PCUSA and United Methodists are siding with “Palestinian” Muslims over rights to Israel—one argument being that European Jews are not the Biblical Jews but descendants of Kazarian converts.

To avoid flame wars, I try to get information by discussing the various factions rather than asking directly.

It is ironic to me that conservative Christian groups stand with Israel (perhaps for the wrong reasons! But some because they are democratic and our allies), and Liberal Christians with “Palestine (i.e. Muslims and some Christian factions),” considering that Jews have done so much for Civil Rights, arts and culture, and traditionally ‘liberal’ causes.

It was spawned at me that the Ethiopian Jews were the oldest and purest faction, remaining unchanged since the days of Solomon, but I had my doubts. I am for Israel because it is the Jewish homeland and a place all Jews should identify with, even though there are many factions. As a Christian, I identify with Israel and Judaism somewhat, but I am not Jewish.

Israel has right to the territory by UN Mandate and by military conquest. No other reason.

I agree with @Rarebear.

All Jewish people are originally from where Israel is today, and the surrounding area. By the 1st century, when the Jewish people were forced to leave Roman Palestine, there were also Jewish communities as far away as modern-day Turkey and Italy. The Jewish people moved to different areas, either as a result of the expulsion from Jerusalem in the first century AD or from migrating previously. As a result, there were Jews all over the world, from Europe (Ashkenazim/Sephardim), the Middle East (Mizrahim), North Africa (Maghrebi Jews), India (Cochin and Baghdadi Jews and Bene Yisrael) , China (Kaifeng Jews), and Ethiopia (Ethiopian Jews or Beta Yisrael, not falasha).

Ethiopian Jews are their own category within the Jewish people with their own specific practices. As such, they are not Ashkenazi, Sephardi or Mizrahi Jews. They are Ethiopian Jews.

Some Jews have thought that Ethiopian Jews were not “proper” Jews because they did not follow all of the rabbinical prescriptions that modern Jews follow. This has led to some racism in Israel, both in secular society and in the religious Jewish congregations. However, the myth that Ethiopian Jews are not Jewish has since been debunked and Ethiopian Jewish practices date back to the time of King Solomon.

Ethiopian Jewish practices are less “developed” than Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jews. By this, I mean that they do not hold to the entire Talmud, or at least did not at the time of their return to Israel.

Nevertheless, the Jewish group that is most Biblical is Karaite Judaism, who reject all Jewish writings in favour of adhering to the Tanakh (Old Testament; Hebrew Bible) alone as their “rule of faith”, as Christians would put it. That said, many Jews do not regard Karaite Jews as Jewish as they do not hold to the Talmud.