SCIONS OF LOST TRIBES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3147, 11 December 1922, Page 8

SCIONS OF LOST TRIBES.

(By Kay Bril.)

The mystery of the lost tribes ot Judea has intrigued generations of scientists. Explorers and expeditions have searched records and ruins in an endeavor to unearth the missing traces. Bike the “aliasing link,” the lost tribes of Judea have become a familiar subject.

Tt remained for Prof. Jacques Faitlovitch. of the University of Geneva, to bring hack a comprehensive report on what remains of two and a-half tribes of Judea. Prof. Faitloviteh ban just returned from Abysinnia, to which he headed an expedition in idler the auspices of the American Jewish Committee and the Joint Distribution Committee. Prominent men like Louis Marshall. Cyrs Adler, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Justice Louis D. Brandeis, of the Supreme Court, were interested in the quest. The descendants of the lost tribes, Prof. Faitloviteh claims, are now living in Abyssinia under the name of Falashas.

In his apartment, at No. 500 West 122 nd Street, the Professor, who is a dark-skinned, blue-eyed man. spoke enthusiastically abot his discoveries. He illustrated his remarks with photographs and objects of archaeological interest he had found. This tribe of Falashas traces its origin back to King Solomon when the kingdom of Israel was divided. Two and a half of the tribes were exiled to Judea. Therefore, racially the Falashas are Jewish, although they have had a different historical development. Watching the customs and ceremonies of the Falashas, one lea me how people lived in ancient Palestine. It is like meeting the early Hebrews face to face. Secluded from the rest of the world by tradition and language, the Falashas have kept the old customs almost intact. Their daily lives are run on the schedule prescribed in the Bible. Through tho changing centuries they have preserved and adhered to the customs of Biblical davs.

The Falashas still offer up religious sacrifices of oxen and lambs, just as their ancestors did in the days of Jerusalem and Babylon. Religions dances form a part of their ritual. On the Day of Atonement the dances quicken to a high pitch of frenzied intensity. Drums, bells, zithers and other resonant instruments are used. These are accompanied by voices chanting prayers and p,slams. Out of the somen hat pure God worship of the early Hebrews the Falashas have devolved a fetish, African in its development. Yet. of course, the Falashas are not an African race.

Their skin, only slightly dark, and their regular, finely cut features proclaim them distinctly non-African. Their names. “Falasha”—a surname given to them by the natives, meaning exiled immigrants—proves them strangers come from abroad to establish themselves in Ethiopia. They call themselves Hot a Israel (The House of Israeli and state with pride that they are the offspring of the stock of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Although no historical documents exist in writing, their oral traditions, handed down from father to son, sustain their claim as jews. “It is their religion,” said Professor Faitloviteh, “which saved them from the obsessing torpor of African barbarism. Their belief, strictly monotheistic, ’raised their intelligence to a level which the aborigines, half fetishists, could never attain. In their prayers they ask God to make Zion resplendent and bring them back to Palestine, their cherished country. Like many Jews, they await the Messiah who will re-establish the Jewish nation, and who, according to them, is to be a. Prince or prophet of the issue of the family of David. “The houses of the Falasbas are always segregated. They live in separate quarters from the native Abyssinians. Wherever they are in great numbers, they establish themselves in a village quite a distance from those of the natives. They surround themselves with a hedge, serving not only as an inclosuro but also as a defence against people not belonging to their cult. “Without consent, no stranger may enter the limits of their establishments. Never do they permit non-Jews to come into their dwellings. Their relations with the exterior world are carried cn outside the precincts. They take, care to establish themselves near a. river or running water in order to carry out their ritual ablutions. “Their houses are constructed in tho same manner' as those of the natives. They arc huts of wood or stone, cylindrical in shape, plastered inside and out with mud or clay. The pointed roof is covered with reeds and straw. Doors serve at the only opening for light. All 1 the houses are built on a. level with tho ground. They are usually uniform and each family, in accordance with its means, has one or more huts. “The mesgid (place of prayer) is generally near the dwelling place'; possibly a little more elegant in const ruction. In the important religious centres, at the larger settl’emente. tho houses of worship arc constructed after the pattern of the ancient temples of Jerusalem. The mesgid has a courtyard, and is surrounded by a palisade of brush. The enclosures are often used for public meetings, and ae a school for the teaching of religion by the Kahen (priests) and the DabtenH (scholars). Admission is forbidden to all strangers not belonging to their religion. “In the larger communities an altar is erected near the main entrance,

where occasional sacrifices are offered. The approach to this place is forbidden to women, who: are; reuired to remain at a distance if they wish to attend the sacrificial ceremony. During the service, the priest and his assistant place themselves in the centre with the offering, which may be a lamb or an ox. The faithful about them chant special prayers and Biblical verses about sacrii tice. After the sacrifice all retire into j the mesgid where they pass the day in

feasting “The Falasha priest conducts divine services and is the religions head of the community. It is lie who offers the sacrifices prescribed in the lliblc. Among tbe Falushas exists no difference of religion nor any class distinction. The priests follow trades and work, like every one else. Only in the matter of headgear arc they distinguished! from the others. They wear turbans of white cloth, while the others. like all Abyssinians. go bareheaded. “All the books of the Falasbas are written in Gheez. the classical and! literary language of Abyssinia. Except for a few Biblical) names, nothing of the Hebrew language has been preserved among them. Even their prayers are recited in. Chcez. There is also tin 1 language of their Bible, which was translated from the Hebrew. The Falashas ordinarily speak the languages of the regions in which they dwell, and —contrary to the assertion of several travellers--they have no dialect ol their own. Those who live in the central and southern provinces speak Amharic and those of the northern -speak Tigrigna, the t\yo languages of Abyssinia. “The family life of the Falasbas is dignified, patriarchal and noble. To the traveller the contrast between their family life and that of the Abyssinians

is striking. The husband, wife and children constitute a respectable domestic circle. The children have great reverence for their parents, living with them always, being the prop of their old age. Very few of the young desert the parental homos, even when married. They marry young, at the ages of 18 or 20. There are few bachelors. Neither concubinage or polygamy, common in Abyssinia, is permitted among them, notwithstanding that the Bible does not forbid these practices. “They possess a distinct group consciousness, and until a few yeans ago had rulers of their own. Marriages outside the tribe are a rarity. The Falashas are the artisans and tradesmen of the country. The natives, for the most part, are interested! in agriculture and warfare. They regard the Falashas with awe and hatred. In the southern part the natives call them Tabibans, which means wise men. The natives arc finite hostile toward the Falashas because of the racial differences. “They are ai dying race. Not very long ago they numbered 200,000. When the missionaries began coming into the country they converted about 50,000 to Christianity. About the same time a pestilence wiped' out thousands of families. Now there are only about 50,000 Falashas left. And they once ruled Abyssinia. “They can be saved,” Professor Faitloviteh l concluded enthusiastically, “by books and by tea chop. It is better to preserve the race now than later to collect th-edr remains and relies for museums.”