By
– August 26, 2011
Ever since Westerners first encountered Ethiopian Jews, or Beta Israel in the 1800’s, they have elicited deep interest and concern from Western Jews. In 1991, during a time of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the State of Israel airlifted approximately 14,500 Beta Israel from Ethiopia to Israel, and left behind thousands of Feres Mura, Beta Israel whose ancestors had converted to Christianity. Since then, tens of thousands of “Feres Mura” have emigrated to Israel, and many more wish to do so. (The author always uses quotes for this term because while it can be considered a term of disparagement, it is a significant and useful term.) Don Seeman, an ethnographer who has been studying the Beta Israel community since the 1980’s, has chronicled and analyzed the situation of the “Feres Mura,” both in Israel and in Ethiopia.
Seeman has an eye for multifaceted complexity, and a gift for sensitive exploration of the many tough issues that the existence of the “Feres Mura” has raised: amongst the Beta Israel themselves, for Orthodox religious authorities in Israel, for the State of Israel, and for our understandings of what it means to be a Jew and what it means to “return” to Judaism. Seeman spent many years amongst the Ethiopian-Israelis (which includes bothBeta Israel and “Feres Mura”), and he shows Genuine affection for them, introducing us to a number of distinctive Ethiopian-Israeli personalities along the way. The book also offers great insight into the concerns and thought processes of morally serious ethnographers asthey try to accurately and fairly represent the subjective experiences of the peoples they study, knowing full well that their work may have ramifications for their subjects.
Eric Ackland is a freelance writer.
