[Avodah] Bene Israel of India

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 01:31:53AM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: I have long wondered this very question, especially in regard to
: the Jews of Ethiopia, but also in regard to the Bene Israel and all
: similar groups.

: The egalitarian in me winces when I smell a presumption that the Mesorah
: of these other groups is pasul...

There are points of assymetry, though:

1- Population does matter -- acharei rabim and all that.

2- We are the children of those who had the last Sanhedrin. We are
following a development based on a later snapshot of the halakhah as
binding on everyone.

3- We are relying on their mesorah to even say they're Israelites, and
there is a real rei'usa to make it a valid question. I think there is
a circularity to relying on their mesorah to say they're Israelites, and
relying on they're being Israelites to give weight to their mesorah.

4- We're talking about people who lost the original Hebrew Tanakh in
any form, as well as most mitzvos. (In the case of the Bene Israel,
at the time the Baghdadim fled to India, in the case of the Ethiopians,
until integration into Israei society.) I don't see how we can compare
mesoros, given that theirs have such large provable holes.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Never must we think that the Jewish element
micha at aishdas.org        in us could exist without the human element
http://www.aishdas.org   or vice versa.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch