600-year-old texts reveal Beta Israel’s enduring Torah tradition and spiritual resilience.

July 15, 2025

A remarkable discovery by a Tel Aviv University research team has brought new light to the ancient Jewish heritage of Ethiopia’s Beta Israel community. In June 2024, two religious manuscripts dating back over 600 years were uncovered during a workshop held as part of the university’s Orit Guardians program. These are now believed to be the oldest known Jewish texts ever found in the possession of Beta Israel spiritual leaders.

The manuscripts, known as the Orit, contain the Five Books of Moses along with the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. They are written in Ge’ez, a sacred liturgical language traditionally preserved by the community’s spiritual leaders, or Kessim. This find is a profound affirmation of the deep and enduring Jewish identity of Ethiopia’s Jews, whose traditions have often been marginalized or misunderstood.

“This is the first time it’s been shown that Kessim from Beta Israel have in their possession Orit books more than 600 years old,” said Professor Dalit Rom-Shiloni, who helped spearhead the project through the university’s Faitlovitch Collection.

The workshop, a collaborative effort with scholars from Israel, Germany, and Ethiopia, documented 17 sacred manuscripts in total two from the 15th century, two from the 18th, and thirteen spanning the 17th to 20th centuries. While the physical manuscripts remain with their guardians, all have been digitally archived with support from the National Library of Israel.

What makes these discoveries even more meaningful is that these are not museum pieces tucked away in glass cases they are “living books,” still used by the Beta Israel in prayer and rituals. Some were smuggled into Israel by families escaping persecution, preserving their heritage at great personal risk.

This work stands as a powerful reminder that Jewish identity thrives in diverse forms and lands. The Orit Guardians program is now committed to preserving these manuscripts and the traditions they embody, ensuring this treasured heritage remains part of the Jewish story for generations to come.

Prof. Youval Rotman, Academic Director of the Koret Center and faculty member in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University, added, “This is an extraordinary finding. Discovering ancient manuscripts is rare, and when they are the oldest of their kind in existence, the find is all the more exceptional.

“This discovery was made thanks to the Orit Guardians’ emphasis on studying the textual knowledge and interpretive tradition preserved and orally transmitted over centuries within the various Beta Israel communities. The uniqueness of the program lies not only in mapping manuscripts and training students for their research but also in doing so as an integral part of the knowledge preserved within the community—thereby continuing and expanding it.

“The young researchers form personal connections and earn the trust of the Kessim as successors to the tradition and oral interpretation. In doing so, they connect communal-social knowledge to academic knowledge—and this is our great pride.

“The program unearths hidden treasures that have so far dwelt within the four walls of local synagogues, then documents and studies them and makes them accessible. Imagine a situation in which the great Bible commentaries were passed down orally through generations.”

Prof. Rom-Shiloni concludes, “Through the traveling workshop of the Orit Guardians program we discovered 17 sacred books of Beta Israel held by Kessim across Israel and still used as ‘living books’ in the prayer houses of Ethiopian Jewry. Among them, we discovered two Orit books—the Torah of Beta Israel—written in the 15th century, the earliest found so far in the hands of Jewish Kessim.

“Alongside the excitement, we believe our discovery is only the tip of the iceberg. It is likely that many more sacred books of Beta Israel are held by families and Kessim around the country, and we will continue searching for them.

“It is important to emphasize that all manuscripts located (like those found through the workshop) will remain in the possession of their owners, while being photographed and documented to make them accessible to interested members of the community, the broader public, and researchers in Israel and around the world.

“Another, especially urgent task of the Orit Guardians is documenting the scholarly oral traditions of the Kessim in Ethiopia, which includes translation from Ge’ez to Amharic and interpretation of the Orit and other holy books. This heritage, transmitted only orally from generation to generation, has never been set down in writing.

“Today, only 18 senior Kessim, who were trained in Ethiopia and hold this knowledge, remain active in Israel, and they are aging. If we do not act quickly, we might lose this precious cultural treasure.”