The Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, are an African community of the Jewish diaspora. They coalesced in the Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire, which is currently divided between the Amhara Region and Tigray Region in modern-day Ethiopia. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the Beta Israel immigrated to Israel or were evacuated from Africa through several initiatives by the Israeli government.
Religious ceremony of Ethiopian Jews in Gondar, 1932
Raphael Hadane, the former Liqa Kahenat (High priest) of Beta Israel in Israel
Beta Israel women in Israel
Modern Synagogue in the city of Netivot in Israel
History of the Jews in Africa
African Jewish communities include:Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who primarily live in the Maghreb of North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as Sudan and Egypt. Some were established early in the diaspora; others after the expulsion from Iberia in the late 15th century.
South African Jews, who are mostly Ashkenazi Jews descended from pre-Holocaust immigrant Lithuanian Jews.
Beta Israel living primarily in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and sparsely in Eritrea.
Berber Jews, the majority of whom were assimilated and converted to Islam, especially during the historical persecutions of the Almohadic Caliphate in the Middle Ages. The modern population of Berber Jews in Africa now numbers about 8,000 people in Morocco, with the majority having emigrated to Israel since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, along with smaller numbers scattered throughout Europe and North America.
Historical communities which no longer exist in Africa due to assimilation, such as the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan in West Africa, who existed before the introduction of Islam to the region during the 14th century.
Various relatively modern groups throughout Africa, most of whom claim some form of a Judaic or Israelite identity, and/or ancestry.
Proportion of Jewish population in Africa
Berber Jews of the Atlas Mountains, c. 1900
Ethiopian Jews