The Beta Israel Liturgical Music in Israel Today: Between Tradition, Norm and Creativity

The Fifteenth World Congress Of Jewish Studies Jerusalem

Session: Between Israeli and Jewish in Music
5.8.09 Chair: Yehoash Hirshberg

Summary:

Over the past two decades, the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Community has immigrated massively to Israel. It is paradoxically in Israel that its religious traditions have not been officially welcomed due to their specificity. The traditional status of the Jewish Ethiopian priests has not been recognized by the Israeli Religious Authorities, whereas the younger generation receives a normative Jewish education in religious schools.

This singular situation has deeply divided the Ethiopian community. Part of it chose to abandon its traditions in favour of Israeli ones, attending religious services in neighbourhood synagogues. Another part chose to remain faithful to the ritual practices of its ancestors. That is why, contrary to all expectations, the Jewish Ethiopian liturgy is still alive in modern-day Israel, as expressed in the construction of large prayer houses in different parts of the country. More recently, a new trend, led by a new generation of Jewish Ethiopian Israeli priests, has tried to introduce an alternative between the Ancients and the Moderns, by maintaining some old practices – such as traditional songs – while instituting new ones; in other words, by creating a purely Ethiopian Israeli liturgy.