Haymanot

Haymanot is the branch of Judaism practiced by the Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews.
In Geʽez, Tigrinya and Amharic, Haymanot means 'religion' or 'faith'. Thus in modern Amharic and Tigrinya, it is common to speak of the Christian haymanot, the Jewish haymanot or the Muslim haymanot. In Israel, the term is only associated with Judaism.

Religious leaders

Nabiyy "prophet", related to the Hebrew word, used in Jewish writings to refer to prophets.Hakhem - A wise man, who is skilful in Torah study, and can be an intermediary in the community for religious dispute, similar to a Chacham.
Kahen or Kes "priest", spiritual leader, similar to a Kohen and analogous to a rabbi
Abba, honorific title, used to describe holy men who often stay in solitude.
Liqa Kahnet, "High Priest", literal translation- at the top of the Kahanim
Debtera, itinerant holy man
Shemagle, elder

Texts

Mäṣḥafä Kedus is the name for the religious literature. The language of the writings is Geʽez. The Beta Israel lack a firm distinction between "canonical" and "non-canonical" religious texts. The religious texts of the Beta Israel include:

The Orit, which consists of the Torah as well as the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth.
The Five Books of Solomon: Mesályata Salomon, Tagsásá Salomon, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, and Song of Songs.
Other biblical and apocryphal books include: the Books of Samuel, the Books of Kings, The Minor Prophets, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Job, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Books of Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, the Books of Meqabyan, Jubilees, and Enoch.
Unique apocryphal writings include: The Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron, Nagara Muse, Təʾəzazä Sänbät, Arde'et, Gorgoryos, Barok ''Mäṣḥafä Sa'atat, fālasfā, Abba Eliyas, Mäṣḥafä Mäla'əkt, Dərsanä Abrəham Wäsara Bägabs, Gadla Sosna and Baqadāmi Gabra Egzi'abḥēr''.

Ethiopian Jews did not have access to the Talmud or other post-biblical Jewish texts, and traditionally practiced a purely Torah-based Judaism.

Prayer house

The synagogue is called, masgid, or ṣalot bet.

Dietary laws

Dietary laws are based mainly on Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Jubilees. Permitted and forbidden animals and their signs appear on and. Forbidden birds are listed on and. Signs of permitted fish are written on and. Insects and larvae are forbidden according to. Birds of prey are forbidden according to. Gid hanasheh is forbidden per. Mixtures of milk and meat are not prepared or eaten but are not banned either: Haymanot interpreted the verses, and literally "shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk". Nowadays, under Rabbinic influence, mixing dairy products with meat is banned.
Ethiopian Jews were forbidden to eat the food of non-Jews. A Kes eats only meat he has slaughtered himself, which his hosts then prepare both for him and themselves. Beta Israel who broke these taboos were ostracized and had to undergo a purification process. Purification included fasting for one or more days, eating only uncooked chickpeas provided by the Kes, and ritual purification before entering the village. Unlike other Ethiopians, the Beta Israel do not eat raw meat dishes like kitfo or gored gored.

Calendar and holidays

The Beta Israel calendar is a lunar calendar of 12 months, with each having 29 or 30 days. Every four years, there is a leap year, which adds a full month to the Jewish year. The calendar is a combination of the ancient calendars of Alexandrian Jewry, the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch, Abu Shaker, and the Geʽez calendar. The years are counted according to the Counting of Kushta: "1571 to Jesus Christ, 7071 to the Gyptians and 6642 to the Hebrews".
Jewish holidays in Haymanot, divided into months, are given below:

Nisan: ba'āl lisan on 1, ṣomä fāsikā on 14, fāsikā during 15–21, and gadfat or buho on 22.
Iyar: another fāsikā during 15–21.
Sivan: ṣomä mã'rar on 11 and mã'rar on 12.
Tammuz: ṣomä tomos during 1–10.
Av: ṣomä ab during 1–17.
Seventh Sabbath: fixed as the fourth Shabbat of the fifth month.
Elul: awd amet on 1, ṣomä lul during 1–9, anākel astar'i on 10, and asartu wasamantu on 28.
Tishrei: ba'āl Matqe on 1, astasreyo on 10, and ba'āla maṣallat during 15–21.
Cheshvan: a holiday for the day Moses saw the face of God on 1; a holiday for the reception of Moses by the Israelites on 10; a fast on 12; and měhlělla on 29.
Kislev: another ṣomä mã'rar and mã'rar on 11 and 12, respectively.
Tevet: ṣomä tibt during 1–10.
Shevat: wamashi brobu on 1.
Adar: ṣomä astēr during 11–13.

Monthly holidays are mainly memorial days to a given annual holiday:

Yačaraqā ba'āl on the first day of every month
Asärt on the tenth day to commemorate Yom Kippur
Asrã hulat on the twelfth day to commemorate Shavuot
Asrã ammest on the fifteenth day to commemorate Passover and Sukkot
Somä mälěya: a fast on the last day of every month.

Weekly holidays include the ṣomä säňňo, ṣomä amus, ṣomä 'arb, and Sanbat.

Monasticism

The Beta Israel are the only extant Jewish group with a monastic tradition, albeit a historic one. The monks, bearing the title, lived separated from the Jewish villages to live in monasteries. However, only some Ethiopian Jews were monastics, and was also used to refer to community elders. The monastic tradition went extinct in the mid-20th century.

Scholarly views

By 1994, modern scholars of Ethiopian history and Ethiopian Jews generally supported one of two conflicting hypotheses for the origin of the Beta Israel, as outlined by Kaplan:

An ancient Jewish origin, together with conservation of some ancient Jewish traditions. Kaplan identifies Simon D. Messing, David Shlush, Michael Corinaldi, Menachem Waldman, Menachem Elon and David Kessler as supporters of this hypothesis.

Some Ethiopian Jewish practices disagree with rabbinic practice but do match the practices of late Second Temple sects, suggesting that Ethiopian Jews may possess a tradition from ancient Jewish groups whose beliefs have become extinct elsewhere.