Jewish Tradition

Jewish Tradition

Judaism, the first and oldest of the three great
monotheistic faiths, is the religion and way of life of the Jewish people

About Religious Life, much of Jewish religious observance is centered in the home. This
includes daily prayers which are said three times each day - in the morning,
the afternoon, and after sunset. Congregational
prayers usually take place in a synagogue, a Jewish house of prayer and study.
On Mondays, Thursdays, the Sabbath, festivals and High Holy Days, the synagogue
service includes readings in Hebrew from the Torah and the Prophets.

Jewish ethics may be guided by halakhic traditions, by other moral
principles, or by central Jewish virtues. Jewish ethical practice is typically
understood to be marked by values such as justice, truth, peace,
loving-kindness, compassion, humility, and self-respect. Specific Jewish
ethical practices include practices of charity and refraining from negative
speech. Proper ethical practices regarding sexuality and many other issues are
subjects of dispute among Jews.

For clothing, A kippah is a
slightly rounded brimless skullcap worn by many Jews while praying, eating,
reciting blessings, or studying Jewish religious texts, and at all times by
some Jewish men. The tallit
is worn by Jewish men and some Jewish women during the prayer service. Customs
vary regarding when a Jew begins wearing a tallit. In the Sephardi community,
boys wear a tallit from bar mitzvah age. Tefillin, known in English as phylacteries, are two square
leather boxes containing biblical verses, attached to the forehead and wound
around the left arm by leather straps. They are worn during weekday morning
prayer by observant Jewish men and some Jewish women.

A kittel , a white knee-length over garment,
is worn by prayer leaders and some observant traditional Jews on the High Holidays. It is traditional for the head of the
household to wear a kittel at the Passover seder in some communities, and some
grooms wear one under the wedding canopy. Jewish males are buried in a tallit
and sometimes also a kittel which are part of the tachrichim (burial garments).

Falasha (Ethiopic for
"stranger") is the term by which the Jews of Ethiopia are commonly
known: they refer to themselves as Beta Isra'el "House of Israel",
never as aihud "Jews". Most have now left Ethiopia and live in
Israel. Their religious beliefs and practices are in many respects so different
from orthodoxy that their Jewishness was often questioned. They were entirely
ignorant of the Mishnah and Talmud tradition (see above). They had no knowledge
of Hebrew: prayers and readings from scripture were in Ge'ez, which is also the
sacred language of Ethiopian Christians, nor did they observe rabbinic customs
concerning the mezuzah and phylacteries. They did observe ritual and dietary
laws with great zeal, although these did not include the rabbinic prohibition
of eating meat and milk at the same meal. They also kept the sabbath very
strictly. Like the Samaritans, they celebrated the Passover by sacrificing a
lamb on the 14th Nisan. They did not celebrate Purim, however, or (like the
Karaites) the popular festival of Hanukkah.

In common with other religious groups, including Christians, they practised
male and female circumcision on the eighth day after birth: the operation was
performed by a woman. The Falasha synagogue, known as a masjid
("mosque"), had an altar outside the east door, and a woman's court
to the south. Male priests known as kohanim officiated in worship, accompanied
by the rattling of sistra and the burning of incense. The study of the Bible,
especially the Psalms, was led by debteras "scribes". Among original
Falasha works, written in Ge'ez and of unknown date and authorship, are the
Commandments of the Sabbath, the Book of Abba Elijah, the Apocalypse of
Gorgorios, the Apocalypse of Ezra and the Death of Mos.

http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/judaism/falash.html

          Kinship, Marriage, and
Family

Kinship. Although not organized in larger entities like
corporative descent groups, lineages, or clans, the Falasha lived in a kinship
universe where the nuclear family (beteseb ) was the basic unit.. They
have extensive knowledge of wider family ties—and
thus of who is a Falasha/Beta Esráel.
There are no fictive-kin relationships among them, although informal
"adoption" is common.


Marriage. The Falasha traditionally showed group endogamy.
Marrying a Christian—although
not an infrequent occurrence—was
actively discouraged because of traditionally strong religious boundaries in
matters of food taboos, ritual purity, and so forth. The Falasha, like the
Amhara, say they do not marry relatives "within the seventh degree."
The marriageable age for girls ranges from 14 to 20, for boys from 18 to 28—another
similarity with the Amhara-Tigray. Great value was attached to virginity:
traditionally, a bride who was not a virgin on her wedding day could be
returned to her parents and might be cast out from the community. Nowadays
these rules have changed. Also, girls have demanded the right to choose their
own partners, instead of following their parents' preference.


Domestic Unit. The basic domestic unit is the nuclear
family (the Falasha being monogamous)—the
unit of production and consumption. Parents or married brothers and sisters may
live in the same village, in separate compounds. There is mutual assistance
between kin-related units, but one cannot speak of extended families in the
accepted sense of the word. Widows or widowers often go to live with the eldest
married son.


Inheritance. As there are few things to inherit—some cattle,
utensils, tools, jewelry—there
are no clearly defined rules of inheritance. If, in the "feudal"
past, a family had rist (land-use) rights, these were transferred to
the oldest son. Cash or personal belongings of the deceased would be divided
among the surviving spouse and children in mutual agreement.


Socialization. In rural Ethiopian society, elder persons
were respected and obeyed. Children are directed by their parents,
grandparents, and village leaders. Agricultural and other skills are learned by
imitation. Children, depending upon their age, are assigned specific tasks,
such as herding animals, fetching wood and water, or guarding crops. Corporal
punishment was an accepted means of disciplining and enforcing obedience.


Religious Beliefs and Practices. They believe in the God of Israel; the Old Testament
commandments are their guidelines. The Falasha celebrate most festivals and
fasts mentioned in the Torah,
observe food taboos, and offer sacrifices, for example, on Easter (Fasika).
Circumcision is carried out on the eighth day after birth, and the sabbath is
closely observed. The Falasha Holy Book is the Ethiopian Bible (in Ge'ez), without
the New Testament
but with some Ethiopian Apocryphals. Their prayer service, prayer texts, and
other religious books appear to be heavily influenced by medieval Ethiopian
Christian sources. There is no clear evidence of a Hebrew tradition and of independent
Jewish influence on the formation of Falasha Judaism. Some religious holidays
of the Falasha are not marked by other Jews, and the Falasha traditionally did
not celebrate post-Exilic festivals such as Hanukkah and Purim. Religious
leadership was provided by "monks" and priests. These monks have
disappeared since the late 1960s, but the priests still function as liturgical
and community leaders. Since the mid-twentieth century, Falasha Judaism has
been much influenced by Talmudic Judaism; religious practices not in accordance
with it have, for the most part, been abandoned. In Israel, the priests are
retrained as spiritual leaders. They learn rabbinical law, but few attain the
status of rabbi. After arrival in Israel, Falasha immigrants are familiarized
with the basics of Talmudic religious law. It is the requirement of a symbolic
"conversion" that has caused the most problems in Falasha social
adaptation in Israel. In addition to their Judaic belief, the Falasha
traditionally shared the common Ethiopian beliefs in supernatural forces and
spirits. They also consult magicians; some Falasha were themselves famous
magicians, who were also revered by Christians.


Death and Afterlife. The Falasha believe, in accordance
with the tenets of the Bible, in life after death, and that the dead will be
resurrected at the end of days. Burial takes place as soon as possible, even
before all relatives may have arrived. Death is the strongest source of ritual
pollution of living persons. Those having touched the corpse must remain in
isolation for several days before rejoining the community. Eulogies on the
deceased are given by various relatives on the day of the funeral or before.
There is no particular veneration of the dead, as there is no clear idea of
"lineage solidarity." Commemorative gatherings in honor of the dead
person are held one week, one month, and one year after the burial