Ethnos

Falasha - Beta Israel

The Beta Israel (or "House of Israel"), known by outsiders by the pejorative term Falasha ('exiles' or 'strangers') are Jews of Ethiopian origin. Over 40,000 of them were migrated to Israel from the time of Israel's Operation Moses and Operation Solomon, continuing until the present time, under the provisions of the Law of Return (1950).

The Beta Israel come from a Jewish enclave in Ethiopia which is said to have lost contact with other Jewish communities until the 1860s. Popularly touted as a "lost tribe," the Beta Israel at first found many cultural barriers to acculturating in Israel.

They once spoke the Qwara language (Kayla), a Cushitic language, but now they speak Amharic, a Semitic language. Their liturgical language, along with Hebrew, is Ge'ez. The term Falasha is considered pejorative and today they prefer the term Beta Israel for themselves. ***