The influence of Jewish observances on the Ethiopian church is most apparent in the unique position occupied by the Tabot (2) or Ark of the Covenant. The original Ark containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments which, tradition maintains, was stolen from Jerusalem is supposed to reside in the cathedral at Axum. Reproductions are kept in every church and are the object of the greatest veneration. Churches, like synagogues, if they are large enough contain a section known as the Holy of Holies. For the Christians this is the place of the Tabot, for the Jews it is the abode of the Torah and in both cases it may only be entered by the priests. The relationship to the original Temple worship is striking and has led Rathjens to remark that 'the Old Testament traits in the character of the Abyssinian church are the remains of a Jewish cult practised by a part of the Abyssinian people before the introduction of Christianity'.(3) At the festival of Epiphany, in particular, when the Tabot is carried in procession to the accompaniment of singing and dancing, one is forcibly reminded of the biblical passage when 'David and all the house of lsrael brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet'.(4)

A great deal of the Falasha form of Judaism has been taken direct from the ancient ceremonies of the Temple. They reminded some of the early travellers, such as Bruce and Beke, of the customs of the Samaritans in Palestine who claim to be descendants of the remnant of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. There are certainly resemblances between the Falasha form of worship and the Samaritan ritual though there are also wide divergencies. Both conserve, but for different historical reasons, many aspects of pre-dispersion Judaism. Like the Samaritans, the Falashas offer animal sacrifices - or they did until recently, as reported by Leslau in 1947. Ben Zvi states that the Samaritans take great care in the observance of the levitical rules appertaining to cleanness and uncleanness and are very strict about the prescribed treatment of women during menstruation and in separating them from the rest of the household.(5) On fundamental issues, however, there are

(1) cf. Leviticus 12.
(2) According to Ullendorff the word is derived from the Jewish Aramaic tebuta (Ethiopia and the Bible, p. 82).
(3) Die Juden in Abessinien. p. 45.
(4) 2 Samuel 6: 15.
(5) The Exiled and the Redeemed, p. 128.