Chapter 1 - The Rise and Decline of Betä ƎsraʾelMonasticism

Summary

PRIOR TO THEIR migration to Israel, the Betä Ǝsraʾelinhabited an area of the northwestern Ethiopian Highlands, extending fromthe lowlands of Q^wara near the Sudanese border in the west to thetown of Aksum in the region of Tǝgray in the east, and LakeṬana, the source of the Blue Nile, in the south (map 1.1). Throughoutmuch of their recorded history, the Betä Ǝsraʾel were,to some degree, incorporated in, and at times, in conflict with, theChristian Solomonic kingdom. To understand the roles of the monks inBetä Ǝsraʾel history and society, we must begin withthe years that preceded the rise of Betä Ǝsraʾelmonasticism, and with the context in which this institution developed.

Before the Solomonic Period

The origin of the Betä Ǝsraʾel has been the subject ofintense scholarly debate. One rea-son for the intensity of this debate isthe scarcity and nature of the sources referring to Jews and Judaism inpre-Solomonic Ethiopia. The earliest evidence for the impact of Judaism onthe Ethiopian Highlands dates to Late Antiquity: the Kingdom of Aksum, namedafter its capital, was founded around the first century bce / first centuryce, and gradually expanded to encompass the present-day region ofTǝgray, the highlands of Eritrea, and the adjacent Red Sea coast(Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 2012). This kingdom took part in theinternational Red Sea trade and extended its influence into the Nile Valleyand South Arabia. In the fourth century, the king and elite of the kingdomconverted to Christianity. By the sixth century, Christianity had becomeestablished as the dominant religion in the territories of this kingdom.

According to Ethiopian tradition, a substantial portion of thiskingdom's population was Jewish prior to its conversion toChristianity. While no archaeological or contemporary historiographicalevidence for a Jewish presence in the Aksumite kingdom has been discoveredto far (an inscription mentioning an individual by the name of Judah beingone possible exception), there may be indirect evidence for this. Scholarshave argued that a Jewish presence in Aksum is indicated by Jewish-Aramaicloan words in Geʿez, the official language of the Aksumite kingdom,which later became the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Churchand of the Betä Ǝsraʾel.