1st Edition

Ethiopian Jewish Immigrants in Israel The Homeland Postponed

By Tanya Schwarz Copyright 2001
    298 Pages
    by Routledge

    298 Pages
    by Routledge

    This is an ethnographic study of Ethiopian Jews, or Beta Israel, a few years after their migration from rural Ethiopia to urban Israel. For the Beta Israel, the most significant issue is not, as is commonly assumed, adaptation to modern society, but rather 'belonging' in their new homeland, and the loss of control they are experiencing over their lives and those of their children. Ethiopian Jewish immigrants resist those aspects of the 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 of resistance. The difficulties of the present are also overcome by creating a perfect past and an ideal future: in what the author calls 'the homeland postponed', all Jews will be united in a colour-blind world of material plenty and purity.

    1 Introduction 2 From Ethiopia to Israel Part One Living Well a11d Becoming Deaf in tire Homeland 3 An Ethiopian Village in Urban Israel 4 Israel the Homeland 5 Young Ethiopian Israelis 6 Rejected 7 On Becoming Deaf 8 Losing Control Part Two Overcoming Difficulties 9 Being Together as Ethiopians 10 Proud Ethiopians 11 The Purest of Jews 12 Subverting Negative Ascriptions 13 The Homeland Postponed

    Biography

    Schwarz, Tanya