A Supplementary Falasha Bibliography by Wolf Leslau

It is not an easy task to write a bibliography on the Falashas. Of course, the few basic books and articles onthe Falashas are soon discovered and enumerared. But the difficulty of compiling a complete bibliography on the Falashas lies in the fact that they are so often mentioned only incidentally In the numerous books, and articles dealing with Ethiopia in general. In most cases there is no special chapter devoted to them nor is there an index referring the reader to the subject. Another basic problem in the compilation of a bibliography of this kind is the decision the compiler has to make whether an incidental mention of the FaJashu should be included in the bibliography regardless of the importance of the detail reported in the book or in the article. It is doubtful whether a definite and a general answer can be given to this question. In the present bibliogaphy I tried to be as complete as possible and included in it all the items in which the Falashas are mentioned, but I am aware, of course, that the bibliography is far from complete.

This bibliography is a supplement to the one pubished by A. Z. Aescoly, "The Falashas: A bibliography," in Kiryath Sefer, xii,xiii (1935-1937).It is a supplement in two respects:
1) it contains the items that were published up to 1937, but escaped the attention of Aescoly;
2) it includes the items that have appeared since 1937.

The bibliography is divided into the following sections:

I Bibliographies
II. Literature and manuscripts
III. Books and articles on the Falashas
IV. The article "Falashas" in the various encyclopedias
V. Books on Ethiopia and Africa mentioning also the Falashas
VI. Articles on Ethiopia and Africa mentioning also the Falashas
VII. Missions to the Falashas
VIII. Works on the Jews and Judaism dealing also with the Falashas
IX. Items dealing with the emigration of the Falashas to Israel.

Within each section the reader will find first the items published in Hebrew and/or in Yiddish and then the items in the oIher languages. All the items are arranged in chronological order except those in the section of the encyclopedias. In that section the encyclopedias are arranged in the alphabetical order of the languages, and then alphabetically within each language.

Needless to say the various items are not to be found in any one library, nor, for that matter, in any one country. The libraries of the United States as well as those of France and England were consulted. I was particularly fortunate in being able to use Dr. J. Faitlovitch's library in Tel Aviv. Dr. Faitlovitch generously put his library at my disposal which helped me greatly in discovering many items not found elsewhere. This was particularly the case with the daily newspaper clippings reporting on the Falashas in the various stages of Dr. Faitlovitch's activities in their favor. It is unfortunately too late to express my profound gratitude to him personally since Dr. Faitlovitch died on October 15, 1955, while I was working on the introduction of this article. An important phase of the movement in favor of the Falashas disappears with the passing away of Dr. Jacques Faitlovitch זכרונו לברכה.

In recent years the problem of the emigration of the Falashas to Israel came to the foreground. For a certain time a Falasha school in Asmara (Eritrea) gave Orthodox religious training to some Falashas. A few young Falasha boys and girls were sent to Israel. They will eventually return to Ethiopia and train the other Falashas in the skills that they will have received in lsrael. Various opinions were expressed on the advisability of bringing the Falashas over to Israel. The reader will find in this bibliography a few items dealing with this subject.