The Living Bible of the Ethiopian Jews

Lecture by Professor Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Tel Aviv University. Bible manuscripts of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) have been treated by scholars historically as secondary texts rather than being studied in their own right. The speaker aims to investigate the traditions of reading, translating, and interpreting the Bible among Beta Israel religious leaders, who consider their Bible manuscripts as “living books.” Oral traditions which rely on biblical passages can be traced through texts over the course of at least six hundred years and show dynamic transmission and interpretive vitality at several points in time along that long history. Professor Rom-Shiloni respects these textual traditions for their remote past, but also investigates their transmission processes and long reception history.