MY FAMILY
THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM
SPONTANEITY & INDIVIDUALITY
To conclude this unit, teachers should offer another example of how the Beta Israel differs in its religious practice from other Jews, explaining the community’s preservation of a prayer style that date back to the era of the First Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Unlike most other Jewish communities who pray according to pre- determined texts, Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom explains, “In the world of the Ethiopian community… there is no regular text for blessings – rather, each person says a blessing as he feels appropriate.”64
In fact, the religious world of the Beta Israel, both in terms of prayers and other rituals, “is not expressed in precise definitions or exact halakhot. This is a world of spontaneity, of individuality.”65 For some, this may sound challenging. But for the Beta Israel, as for many Jews in prior generations, this practice is profoundly empowering.
With an understanding of the Beta Israel’s unique prayer style (based on ancient ritual), students should then be asked to imagine how they might relate differently to religion, if given the chance to pray individually and spontaneously, in their own words (and time, instead of with pre-established blessings and texts.
An ancient handwritten copy of the Orit, the Ge’ez translation of the bible used by the Beta Israel in Ethiopia.
Credit: National Library of Israel66
64 Ibid, 105.
65 Ibid, 21.
66 Photograph, National Library of Israel, https://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/english/library/news/pages/orit.aspx
