Fortunately, a blood-bath did not follow but the real damage done by the missionaries - even greater than the number of conversions - was to undermine the stability of a settled and closely-knit society. They raised doubts among the faithful and encouraged assimilation for the sole benefit of what Stern himself called 'that dead church', for which the missionaries admitted they had nothing but contempt.

By 1864, the year that saw the flogging and imprisonment of Stern, the Falashas at last found a religious champion in the person of the German rabbi Israel Hildesheimer of Eisenstadt (1820-99). No one could dispute the learned and greatly respected Hildesheimer's qualifications for giving a religious ruling. His orthodoxy was beyond question and he became the founder and leader of the community known as Adath Israel. He was the first religious leader of stature since Rabbi David ben Abi Zimrah in the sixteenth century to declare unequivocally that the Falashas were Jews and, further, that it was the duty of their co-religionists to come to their assistance. His declaration took the form of a very urgent appeal addressed to leaders of Jewish opinion in several countries. In England, Abraham Benisch, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, published it in full under an introductory paragraph in which he observed that all the information about missionary activities which Hildesheimer condemned so emphatically had originally appeared in his columns. (3) He would have appreciated a word of acknowledgement.

The rabbi had thoroughly examined the credentials of the Falashas and had satisfied himself, on the basis of Rabbi David ben Abi Zimrah's 'responsum', the writings ofFilosseno Luzzatto and inquiries he made in Jerusalem, that they were authentic members of the House of Israel. He urged that a mission should be dispatched as soon as possible to make contact with them and concluded his appeal with these words:

Since long my heart longed to give vent to my emotions. Have pity, dearest fellow-believers; save, deliver, aid this holy matter in the name of God; organise committees, offer yourselves as

(1) ibid., p. 301.
(2) J.C., 6 December 1867.
(3) J.C., 4 November 1864.