This is the home of the Falashas, the indigenous Jews who still practise a pre-rabbinic form of Judaism. Their presence in the country pre-dates both the Christians and Muslims and their origin has for long been a subject for speculation. Their small clan, numbering today probably fewer than 30,000 souls, represents the relic of a tribe which has behind it a record of courage and endurance in the face of adversity which bears comparison with any other section of the Jewish people. They played a significant role in the formative period of the Ethiopian variety of Christianity, and for over a thousand years they maintained their independence, at one time, it is said, even overthrowing the paramount power of the Amhara kings.

The name Falasha derives from an ancient Ethiopic, or Ge'ez word, meaning to emigrate(1) and hence signifies an exile, immigrant or stranger. It is sometimes used pejoratively, much as the word Jew is in English. Some Falashas prefer to call themselves Beta Israel (House of lsrael) or else they use the more ancient Agau term kayla. Their original language is a dialect of Agau known as Kwarinya which is now almost extinct, having been replaced by Amharic or Tigrinya.

The Falashas, unlike their co-religionists in almost every other country of the Diaspora, are primarily agriculturists. Until the socialist revolution in 1974, when the land was nationalised, they were nearly all tenants of mostly rapacious landlords, though a few owned their own smallholdings. They live in scattered, primitive villages principally in the highlands of the north-west of the country in the neighbourhood of Lake Tana, in the Semien mountains further north, in Lasta and in Tigrai provinces and in small groups elsewhere. In common with their gentile neighbours they lead a life which is simple in the extreme and can have altered

(1) Leslau, Falasha Anthology, p. ix.