The mid-nineteenth-century was a period when great efforts were made by the Jewish communities of Western Europe, and especially of Britain under the energetic leadership of Sir Moses Montefiore, to succour their less fortunate brethren in other parts of the world. Philanthropy was in the air. It might have been expected, therefore, that the plight of the hard-pressed and impoverished Ethiopian Jews would attract widespread and sympathetic notice. That this did not occur can be attributed principally to the uncertainty which existed among the orthodox as to whether the Falashas should be considered as part of the Jewish people. The Ethiopian Jews' ignorance of the Oral Law and the rules of conduct contained in the Halacha, their retention of certain practices such as the sacrifice, and their adoption of some non-Jewish customs combined to put doubts into the minds of rabbis and laymen alike. Besides, with their adherence to the notion of a Jewish race, descended from the white-skinned children oflsrael, how was it possible that there could be Jews who were very nearly black?

The methods adopted by Stern and his colleagues had been made quite clear in their writings and speeches. In the past Christians and Muslims had often attempted to convert Jews by forcible and brutal methods. The new style of missionary adopted persuasion which sometimes amounted to sheer deceit. Bringing to bear sophisticated theological arguments, Stern and his friends sought to discredit the faith of the simple and primitive people. 'We informed them', wrote Stern, 'that we were also Falashas who, moved by compassion for their hopeless and deplorable condition, had crossed seas and deserts, dreary swamps and unsightly wilds to communicate to them those tidings of mercy which alone can secure peace to the troubled conscience and fill the soul with love to a sin-hating God.'(1)

Stern knew what the consequences of his preaching might be and at times his callousness was staggering. He foresaw that conversions might provoke serious trouble for, he wrote, 'it may rouse the slumbering demon of persecution, and subject the newly-gathered converts to a baptism of fire, and a trying and sifting ordeal of their faith. An eventuality of this kind we must be prepared to expect, whenever the great truth which is at present moving the heart of the unbelieving Falasha shall come into collision with the pride, ignorance, and superstition of the corrupt

(1) Wanderings among the Falashas in Abyssinia, p. 200.