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One People, One
Blood
Price: $26.95
First Paperback Edition
Subtitle: Ethiopian-Israelis and the Return to Judaism
Author:
Don Seeman
Subject: Jewish
Studies, Anthropology
Paper ISBN: 978-0-8135-4936-1
Pages:
260 pages, 9 photographs
Publication Date: September 2010
Series: Jewish
Cultures of the World
Praise:
"Written with grace and thoroughly
researched, One People, One Blood
is an ethnography with a lot of heart that also sheds new light on
a fascinating and fraught chapter in recent Jewish history."—Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish
Cuba
"Seeman has an eye for multifaceted
complexity, and a gift for sensitive exploration of the many tough
issues that the existence of the “Feres Mura” has raised. The book also
offers great insight into the concerns and thought processes of morally
serious ethnographers."—Jewish Book World, Summer 2010
Description:
“Qäs be-qäs,
nqulal be-grou yehedal” . . .“Little by little, an egg will come to
walk upon its own leg.” Ethiopian-Israelis fondly quote this bit
of Amharic folk wisdom, reflecting upon the slow, difficult history
that allowed them to fulfill their destiny far from the Horn of Africa
where they were born.
But today, along with those Ethiopians who have been recognized as Jews
by the State of Israel, many who are called “Feres Mura,” the
descendants of Ethiopian Jews whose families converted to Christianity
but have now reasserted their Jewish identity, still await full
acceptance in Israel. Since the 1990s, they have sought homecoming
through Israel’s “Law of Return,” but have been met with reticence and
suspicion on a variety of fronts. One
People, One Blood expertly documents this tenuous relationship
and the challenges facing the Feres Mura. Distilling more than ten
years of ethnographic research, Don Seeman depicts the rich culture of
the group, as well as their social and cultural vulnerability, and
addresses the problems that arise when immigration officials, religious
leaders, or academic scholars try to determine the legitimacy of Jewish
identity or Jewish religious experience.
About the Author:
DON SEEMAN is an
associate professor in the department of religion and the Tam Institute
for Jewish Studies at Emory University.
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Price: $26.95
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