I’m read it from a history book. It’s called Women leaders in African history / David Sweetman, and this website http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/Ethiopia/index.html#books. Maybe the book is wrong, but that what i read. I’ll do more reserach

I figure, since the entire area of the Fertile Crescent east to Northern Africa and the Meditteranean west to Persia was such a crossroads of trade, in peace and wartime, that whether we’re talking in “Biblical” times (i.e. 1500-1000 BCE) or anytime in the last 2000 years, it’s almost impossible to say what people LOOKED like, especially since what little art survived was not usually intended to be a portrait, but rather an idealized version of someone important enouigh to have their image on a coin, a bust, a sculpture (the exception being some late Greek and Roman art, where the intent was to show a realistic face).

As far as European Jewish racism/bias, I’d say that 1) for a while, they were the most visible face of Judaism in the West (and really, stilll are) and 2) it may be a factor of being oppressed and isolated for centuries… i.e. keeping to one’s own for fear of yet another pogrom or regional/local diaspora. As has been brought up around here before, being the target of one form of racism or discrimination does not mean that the targeted group is immune from doing the same.

I also think it may be an error to lump all European Jews (or any group) together. From what I’ve read, the traditions and lifestyle of, say, the Russian Jews would vary much from those in London, or the US, etc. and would vary from rural to city areas, etc. Yes, the core religious language and rituals would be the same, but the methods would change with the area and dominant culture in which the group is living.

There is still some debate as to the the Queen of Sheba’s origins. She may also have been from S. Arabia. being these locations are separated by a narrow body of water there have to be ties

it’s not often that Jewish diversity is brought up in the U.S. I discussed this with a Jewish friend (Israeli of Yemeni descent). Her response was “racism”. Apparently there is a tendency for some Ashkenazim to look down on Sephardim, Mizrahim etc… in Israel (& I suppose elsewhere). It took awhile for the Falasha community to even be accepted as Jews.

I wonder to what extent that racism is internal or a function of European heritage??hmmmm

Don’t mean to be a smart aleck, but you should check out information about Ethiopia yourself. The Solomon-Queen of Sheba story was a myth by Ethiopian royalty to pad their geneaology, similar to early British monarchs trying to connect their lineages to Brutus of Troy. And “Ethiopia” has never been Jewish. The Axumite Kingdom, the predecessor to Ethiopia, went from polytheistic to Christian. The Beta Israel (or Falasha) were most likely Ethiopian Christians who “Judaized” (basically becoming so fundamentalist that they considered themselves Jewish).

H, Ethiopian

This wasn’t obvious to me, because when I think of Jewish people, I think of American Jews, and it is my totally unscientific observation that non-white American Jews (i.e. excluding mixed Jews with a white Jewish parent) are quite rare.

Then again, it wasn’t until I read this post that I even thought to Google “Ethiopian Jew.” Learn something new every day!