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Show A reporter follows thousands on a hard trek HEY GATHERED AT dusk, silently, behind the thatched mud huts of their lonely village high in the mountains of northern Ethiopia 30 desperate men and women and IS children, all swaddled in rags. The dust rose up in spirals over the gray, parched, arid earth it had not rained there for more than a year. The sun. as is usual in equatorial Africa, dropped over the horizon in an instant, and soon it was pitch dark. The women gathered up some small bundles filled with provisions, mostly dry biscuits, for the long trek ahead. Much of it w ould be d through craggy, brush and empty desert. The men huddled around the village priest, who was intoning a prayer. Among the words in Amharic. the Ethiopian language. I thought I could distinguish a few in heavily accented, biblical Hebrew:Ato-nai- , Zion, shalom and Yerushalayim (God, Zion, peace and Jerusalem). These people Falashas. or black Jews were beginning the first leg of a long and arduous flight from the horrors of Ethiopia, much of it on foot, via Sudan to Israel, nearly 2000miles away. The journey to the Sudan border. 200 miles away, would take weeks. They would walk at night and hide from army and police patrols during the day. Not all of them would survive the journey, and they knew it. It is in the hands of God." said one of the men. This small group was part of a clandestine migration that has been going on intermittently for about 10 years and has recently come close to a stampede. Hundreds of thousands of Christians and Moslems already have walked out of Ethiopia intoSudan toescape famine, civil war and political oppression by the Marxist regime of Mengistu Now. the Falashas cite an additional reason for leaving: to fulfill divine prophecy. They say that they and their ancestors have believed since time immemorial that God assuredly would lead them back to the Promised Land. They believe they are descendants of the legendary Menelik. son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, or at least the offspring of offspring of the fabled 10 lost tribes of Israel. The priests like to quote the prophet: "Are ye not like the children of Ethiopia unto Me. O children of Israel? saith the Lord." (Amos 9:7) Others, however, have raised questions about the origins of the Falashas. The Ethiopian government, in a statement last February demanding the return of those secretly airlifted to Israel, said there is no historical, archaeological or anthropological basis" for the to what they hope is a promised land snake-infeste- Haile-Maria- Falashas' claim that they are descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel. There also have been disputes in Israel over the Jewishness of the Falashas. even though in 1975. to clear the way for Ethiopian immigration. Israel'schief rabbis had ruled that the Falashas are descendants of the tribe of Dan. "Falasha" in Amharic means "stranger." Today. Ethiopian Jews live in total isolation in their ow n mountain villages as farmers, cotton weavers and blacksmiths. They are lean. bony, nervous people, dignified in their manners, with elongated faces, high cheekbones, thick lips and skin good-lookin- BY COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY EDDIE ADAMS that ranges from coffee color to black. In New York or Tel Aviv, most people would sav they don't look Jew ish. But the Falashas certainly feel Jewish. They worship in round mud. tin and thatched-gras- s synagogues topped by giant brass Stars of David. They practice a rudimentary. form of Judaism that dates from before the first century and is based on only the first five books of the Old Testament. Thus, they use the Old Testament term "priest" (not rabbi). They follow the Jewish calendar and observe most Jewish holidays, especially the Sabbath and Yom Kippur. in theirown peculiar v ay. AMOS ELON On little stone altars, they still offer a ram's sacrifice at Passover. Many have Hebrew names: Abram. Gideon. Assa. In the Middle Ages, parts of Ethiopia were governed by Falasha kings. When the Falashas were first discovered by European explorers and missionaries, in the 15th century, these Ethiopians were surprised to hear that there were white Jews in the world too. At that time, there w ere said to be some 200.000 Falashas: today, there are barely 25.000. steadfast believers in their divinely ordained day of deliverance. "That day has now come." the old village priest said solemnly. The men PAGE 4 APRIL 28, 1985 PARADE MAGAZINE |
