Researchers in Israel have uncovered two handwritten biblical manuscripts from the 15th century that belonged to the country’s Ethiopian Jewish community, making them the oldest known sacred texts of their kind.
The rare discovery was made as part of a project led by Tel Aviv University (TAU) aimed at documenting and preserving the ancient religious heritage of Ethiopian Jewry.
The two books, known as Orit — Ethiopian Judaism’s version of the Bible — were found during a recent field workshop held in June 2024 by Tel Aviv University’s Orit Guardians program. The project aims to document and preserve the ancient religious heritage of Ethiopian Jewry.
Written in Ge’ez, an ancient liturgical language used by Ethiopian Jews, the texts include not only the Five Books of Moses but also the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.