Ethiopian Church

• Today we went on one of those walking tours thatcovers 3 blocks in 2.5 hours -- and that's with the guide saying, "I don't have time on such a short tour to tell you all about" this building or that family.
• Rehov Etyopia runs north from Rehov HaNevi'im (the Street of the Prophets), about which more later. Several buldings along the street belong to the Ethiopean Church, which has a long connectiion with Jerusalem. When the Italians conquered Ethiopia in 1936 (in order to show that they could have an empire), Emperor Haile Selassie lived in Rehavia for a year. He is entered in the rolls of residents with his occupation given as "King of Ethiopia." In Hebrew, "king" is a more honored word than "emperor."
• We ended up at the round Ethiopean church, in a walled compoud a little way up the street. Probably every chruch you've seen has a rectangular structure. In this one, the altar is inthe middle of the circle. It has its own smaller dome inside the building's large one. Like the Greek Orthodox, the Ethiopeans hide the altar table behind a partition, so the mystery of the mass is not visible to the congregation.
• The Ethiopeans remove their shoes before entering the bldg. We all went in barefoot or in stocking feet.
• Lapped eastern rogs cover the floor. A bench runs around the outer wall.Otherwise there is no seating. Perhaps congregants sit on the floor, or perhaps, like the Russian Orthodox, they stand throughout the service.
• Around the compoud are houses for the community.
• Outside the wall, across the street, is the house where Eliezer Ben Yehuda lived for many years with his family.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox