Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel Living well and

248 Pages·2014·13.46 MB·English

Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel
Living well and “becoming deaf”
in the homeland
Tanya Schwarz
Thesis submitted for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Anthropology
The London School of Economics
and Political Science
University of London
May 1998
UMI Number: U615552
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Abstract
This thesis is an ethnographic study o f the Ethiopian Jews, or Beta Israel, a few years
after their migration from rural Ethiopian to urban Israel.
For the Beta Israel, the most significant issue is not, as is commonly assumed,
adaptation to modem society, which to a large extent they have successfully
achieved. But rather, their primary concerns revolve around the notion o f
“belonging” in their new homeland, and the loss o f control they are experiencing
over their lives and those o f their children.
The thesis analyses the experience o f immigration from the Beta Israel’s own
perspective and focuses on: first, the factors which contribute to the Beta Israel’s
sense o f well-being in Israel, second, the problems and difficulties they experience,
and finally, the strategies they are developing to overcome these difficulties.
This study elucidates the meanings o f two apparently contradictory ascriptions which
the Ethiopian Jewish immigrants make about themselves: “being well” and
“becoming deaf’. Their sense o f well-being is a result o f their successful recreation
o f communal life, their expression o f ethnic pride, and their appreciation o f their new
country. The expression “becoming deaf’, which also means in Amharic “becoming
ignorant”, denotes the older generation’s frustration at their inability to understand
Hebrew, their feeling o f being excluded by dominant society, and the loss o f control
they experience over most aspects o f their lives. For the younger generation, the
sense o f exclusion revolves around issues o f racial discrimination.
Ethiopian Jewish immigrants resist those aspects o f dominant society which they
dislike: they reject normative Jewish practices and uphold Beta Israel religious and
cultural ones, ideologically counteract disparaging Israeli attitudes, develop strong
ethnic bonds and engage in overt forms o f resistance. The difficulties o f the present
are also overcome by creating a perfect past and an ideal future: in what I have called
‘the homeland postponed’, all Jews will be united in a colour-blind world o f material
plenty and purity.
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Acknowledgements
I thank the Economic and Social Research Council for a Postgraduate Research Award and generous
fieldwork allowance that enabled me to pursue this research. My last months o f writing-up were
kindly supported by the Royal Anthropological Institute (Radcliffe-Brown / Sutasoma Award) and by
the London School of Economics (Malinowski Memorial Fund). In addition, I thank Emma
Rothschild at the Centre for History and Economics, King’s College, Cambridge for funding a
preliminary year of post-graduate study.
In Israel, my Ethiopian adoptive family and neighbours and the Ethiopian Jewish community as a
whole received me with boundless courtesy and hospitality. They rarely tired of my questions and
allowed me to share their joys and sorrows for close to two years. My adoptive father became a
veritable parent, cherishing me and guiding me, and I formed close friendships with many of his
relatives and neighbours. I learned much from Ethiopian Jews on a personal level; their grace,
hospitality, and remarkable ability to adapt to a totally new lifestyle, remain a source of inspiration. It
is impossible to adequately thank them.
Several non-Ethiopians helped to make fieldwork enjoyable. Shmulick Porat, a tireless community
worker, shared much of his insights and knowledge of Ethiopian Jews. Jonathan Miran and
researchers Dr Chaim Rosen, Dr Steven Kaplan and Dr Lisa Anteby, foremost experts on Ethiopian
Jewry, offered me friendship, guidance and encouragement. My relatives in Israel provided welcome
breaks.
In Ethiopia, I was received regally by my Ethiopian Israeli adoptive family’s former neighbours in the
village of Cheera, Gondar. I travelled in Ethiopian villages for over two months, and I thank all my
hosts there, and Dr Alula Pankhurst and Dr Rick Hodes for welcoming me in Adis Abeba.
Without the inspiration and encouragement of my supervisor, Professor Maurice Bloch, this thesis
would not have been started, and never completed. He has greatly enhanced the quality o f my work
and I owe him an enormous debt.
Dr David Lan provided initial guidance on fieldwork, read the manuscript at various stages, and
generously contributed his enthusiasm and anthropological perceptions. Dr Michael Stewart’s
approach to anthropology has influenced my own, and his critical insight and encouragement over the
years have been invaluable.
I thank all the staff and postgraduate students of the LSE anthropology department for a stimulating
environment in which to conduct research. The enthusiastic welcome they gave the Departmental
Seminar paper I presented and their insightful comments were extremely useful. Tadesse Wolde,
Amina Abu Sehab, Ceri Willmott, Santiago Alvarez, Stokes Jones, Dena Freeman, Oliver Woolley
and Dr Mark Jamieson have been valued companions. Thanks also to Margaret Bothwell for
providing friendliness and stability in the department. At SOAS, I thank Professor David Appleyard
and Dr. Tudor Parfitt for stimulating discussions about Beta Israel.
I wrote-up in idyllic conditions thanks to my aunt Tanya Morgan who let me live rent-free in her
gorgeous home in Primrose Hill and to friends and family who periodically hosted me and my
computer in their beautiful homes in the French and English countryside.
My family and friends, and my parents and elder sister in particular, have been invaluable throughout
this project, and have put up with the strange psychological states of a Ph.D. student. Special thanks
to my elder brother for computer assistance and to my army of proof-readers: Dorothy, Walter, Habie,
Zoe, Miranda, Tom, Tom II, Matthew, Lucy, Kenny, Daniel and Maya. Tom III edited the final draft
with extreme care.
Thank you Kenny for filling the last year with love, lyrics, luxury, laughter, and lots of emails.
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Detailed Table of Contents
One: Introduction 19
A. Fieldwork 20
B. Immigrants in the Literature 22
1. General sociological and anthropological approaches 22
2. Sociological and anthropological study of immigrants to Israel 23
3. Motivations for migrating 25
4. Nature of the receiving and sending societies 27
The Beta Israel in Ethiopia 30
1. Theories of origin 31
2. Historical fragments 32
3. Migration 39
4. Contemporary demography and geography 41
Ethiopian Jews in the Literature 42
1. Ethnographies of Beta Israel in Ethiopia 43
2. The Beta Israel in Israel: The Falasha Phenomenon 44
3. Living Well and “Becoming deaf’ in the Homeland 46
Two: Being Together 50
A. Introduction 50
1. An Ethiopian neighbourhood 50
2. Inside and Outside 51
B. "Being together ” as neighbours 54
I. Ethiopian Neighbours 55
1. Circles of Neighbours 55
2. Becoming a neighbour 56
3. White Neighbours 5 7
II. Social relations among neighbours 58
1. Visiting Neighbours 58
2. Celebrations and mourning 59
3. Credit Societies 62
4. Dissent amongst Neighbours 64
C. "Being Together ” As Kin 65
I. Defining kin 65
1. The Term “zamad” 65
2. The ‘feel’ of kin 67
II. Social relations 69
1. Visiting kin 69
2. The Telephone 70
3. Mutual help 70
4. Quarrels and reconciliation 71
D. Ethiopian Jews Together in Israel 72
I. Divisions 72
1. Years of residence 72
2. Ethiopian region of origin 74
3. Slaves and non-slaves 75
II. “Being Together” as Ethiopians 76
1. Celebrations 76
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2. Ethiopians vis-a-vis Israelis 77
Three: Tough Traditions 81
1. Introduction 81
B. Proud Ethiopians 83
I. Speaking of honey: the land of Ethiopia 83
II. Ethiopian Traditions 86
1. Ethiopian Behaviour (huneta) 86
2. Ethiopian Customs (ye'agar baal) 88
C. The True Jews 90
I. Religious Belief and practice 92
1. Myths of Origin and Colour 92
2. Religious belief: the Bible 93
3. Daily Religious Practice: Prayers and Sabbath (qidame) 94
4. Annual Holidays 98
5. Bar Mitzvah 100
Purity laws 101
2. Menstruation 102
3. Post-partum women 103
4. Meat 104
Marriage rules 105
1. The rules 105
2. Breaking marriage rules 106
Four: The Homeland 110
A. The Notion o f the Homeland 110
I. “Our country” Israel 110
II. The Golden Country: Israel 112
1. Israel as a country of knowledge 113
2. An easy life 114
3. Material goods 115
4. Financial dealings 117
5. Social security 119
B. A Desire to Integrate 120
I. Rhetoric of Integration 121
II. Participation in Civil Life 121
III. Social Integration 123
1. Ethiopians on Israelis 123
2. Socialising with Israelis 124
IV. Cultural Adaptation 125
1. Beta Israel efforts 125
2. Beta Israel’s experience of cultural change 127
C. Ethiopian Youth 128
I. Students 130
II. Soldiers 131
III. Workers 134
IV. Identity 136
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Five: On Becoming Deaf 144
A. Becoming deaf as a language problem 146
I. “We have no mouth” 146
II. Language in Amhara culture 147
III. Learning and not learning Hebrew 150
1. Hebrew classes 150
2. Difficulties and motivations in learning Hebrew 151
IV. Deafness in daily life 152
1. “Deafness” as an inability to read 153
B. Deafness as ignorance 155
I. Deaf about technology and bureaucracy 155
II. “Deaf’ about Israeli ways 157
C. "They think that we are dea f’ 158
I. “They do not even say ‘Hello’” 158
II. Religious rejection 160
III. Young People’s Analysis of “Racism” 161
IV. The Blood Crisis 163
1. The demonstration 163
2. Discourse about the blood crisis 164
Six: Losing Control 168
B. Losing control over production 169
I. Land and Livelihood 169
1. Unemployment 169
2. Livelihood 170
3. The physical environment 170
II. Work 173
C. Losing control over the social order 175
I. Men’s loss of control over women 175
II. Children 177
1. Socialisation of children 177
2. Naughty children 178
3. Cattle-children 181
III. Religious and Domestic Affairs 182
D. Loss o f control over well-being 184
1. The causes of illness 186
2. Curing Illness 187
3. Suicide 189
Seven: The Homeland Postponed 191
A. Resistance 192
I. Group Boundaries 192
1. Upholding customs and communal ties 192
2. Changing traditions 193
II. Voluntary Deafness 196
III. Subverting Negative Ascriptions 198
1. Socialising difficulties 198
2. The Language of purity 199
3. Racism as rhetoric 200 .
IV. Overt resistance 201
B. Imagining an Ideal Future 202
1. The ideal past 202
2. The homeland postponed 203
II. Purity Restored 204
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III. Becoming Farenge 206
2. Become Israeli (Farenge) 207
3. Fighting to integrate 211
IV. Maintaining Ethiopian Identity 212
Eight: Conclusion 218
I. Rapid adaptation 218
II. Socio-cultural Change 221
1. Examples of cultural change 222
2. Choosing cultural change 225
III. Discrimination and Ethnicity 227
IV. Imaginations of the Future 229
1. The Myth of Return 229
2. The Future in the homeland 231
V. Argument of the Thesis 233
Bibliography 236
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Before the Israeli-style wedd ing in a hired hall. Jaffa, 1996.
Celebrating afterwards Ethiopian-style in
an emp ty parking-lot. Afula Tse'era, 1996.