The Falashas: The Forgotten Jews of Ethiopia, by David Kessler
Today's date is: 5/12/2025
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| 135 influence of the missionaries and had been baptised. He had a Christian education and, as his friend, Dr Israel Ben Ze'ev, has written, (1) he would surely have been lost to the Jewish community had it not been for Faitlovitch's intervention. After the teachers' training college in Paris he spent seven years at the rabbinical seminary in Florence, one year in Frankfurt, and completed his studies in Paris and Switzerland. The First World War intervened but he returned to Ethiopia in 1923 to teach. On his return to Europe in 1905, Faitlovitch set about writing his doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne and organising assistance for the Falashas. From this period can be dated the beginning of the first concerted aid programme. Having studied the condition of the Ethiopian Jews on the spot, Faitlovirch was determined to arouse the conscience of his co-religionists. He was convinced that the missionaries had to be opposed by the creation of new schools which would provide education and prove to the Falashas that they had not been abandoned by their white brethren. Little could be achieved without money and his first task was to found pro-Falasha committees in Europe and the United States. Originally, he made Germany the headquarters of his movement but soon it was moved to Florence, to be presided over by the Polish-born rabbi Dr Margulies, who was head of the rabbinical seminary there. 'The ultimate object of our endeavours', the rabbi said in an interview, 'is to found a Jewish school in Eritrea', and to introduce western methods and knowledge.(2) Faitlovitch was indefatigable in pursuit of his aims though he realised that besides money he also needed the moral support of the rabbinate. He had to demonstrate that his proteges were Jews and to persuade the religious authorities to recognise them as such. An orthodox Jew himself, he had examined the beliefs and customs of the Falashas with understanding and sympathy and was in a strong position to enter into debate with the rabbis. Already before his first visit he had secured the encouragement of the highly respected Chief Rabbi of France, Zadok Kahn. Now he extended his range and Rabbi Margulies eagerly became an enthusiastic ally. In just over a year after his return to France, Faitlovitch secured the signatures of forty-four leading orthodox rabbis to an open letter, written in Hebrew, and addressed to 'our brethren, sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who dwell in Abyssinia'. The signatories were from many countries and included Hermann Adler and Moses Gaster, respectively the Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief (1) Preface to the Hebrew edition of Quer durch Abessinien (1958). Ben Ze'ev died in Israel in 1980. |