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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Ethiopian Jews of Israel

The Ethiopian Jews of Israel, numbering approximately 168,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a historic Jewish community that lived for centuries in the northern and north‑western Ethiopian highlands (especially Gondar, Simien, and Tigray). Major immigration to Israel occurred in the late 20th century (Operations Moses, Joshua, Solomon). They are also known as Beta Israel. They are an Indigenous people in the Jews people cluster of the Jewish Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Amharic and their primary religion is Judaism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Jew, Ethiopian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Jewish Peoples
Country: Israel
People Cluster: Jews
Primary Language(s): Amharic (amh)
Primary Religion(s): Judaism
Population: 168,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011740
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Pray for the Ethiopian Jews of Israel

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Judaism
Religious Affiliation: Judaism

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Amharic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

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Media Resources in Amharic:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Amharic:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Amharic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Ethiopian Jews:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ethiopian Jews are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Ethiopian Jews:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ethiopian Jews are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Ethiopian Jews:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Ethiopian Jews of Israel

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
readJames 2:5

Pray for those living in despair to experience the riches of God's love and the hope of eternal life through faith in Christ.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
readHebrews 4:12

Pray for God's Word to be accessible to everyone in this people group in a way they will resonate with so that many will engage with it, receive it, and share it with others.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Jew, Ethiopian Across Countries (ROP3 - 102987) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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