ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how Eldad constitutes the “given” that cleared away the doubts as to the Beta-Israel’s Jewishness. More specifically, the ancient information about this figure was the element that enabled the Jewish world to absorb Ethiopian Jewry’s foreignness between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Beta-Israel was indeed a recognized group within Ethiopia’s tribal mix at the outset of the modern era. Neighboring tribes devised superstitions that scapegoated the Beta-Israel for every disaster or trouble to strike the region. For instance, it was believed that at night Beta-Israel turned into bouda — a sort of demon that killed people, burnt down huts and villages, and spread virulent disease. Despite the voices of objectors, the Beta-Israel henceforth became a significant political and social issue in the Jewish discourse. The interest in and contacts with the Beta-Israel steadily gained momentum.
