"Tofsei HaOrit": registration for the 5787 cohort is open — up to five scholarships for community members

What it is

"Tofsei HaOrit" ("those who hold the Orit") is a specialised track within the MA programme of Tel Aviv University's Bible department. It trains students — from the general public and from the Beta Israel community — to research the community's sacred texts and oral traditions themselves.

The name echoes "tofsei ha-Torah" (Jeremiah 2:8), the priests who held knowledge of the Torah. The department is explicit: "No, we do not ordain kessim… we train researchers to work on the sacred texts."

What the Orit is

The Orit (from the Aramaic oraita) is the name for the first eight books of the Ethiopian Bible — the five books of the Torah plus Joshua, Judges and Ruth. These are the most important sacred texts for the Beta Israel community. The Orit is written in Ge'ez, a sacred language understood only by the kessim, a handful of scholars, and a few Israelis of Ethiopian origin.

What is studied

Per the department's page, the studies combine three fields:

Bible — textual traditions, including the Ethiopic textual tradition, and methods of translation and interpretation.
Languages — Ge'ez and Amharic, with Prof. Anbessa Teferra of the Hebrew Language and Semitic Linguistics department, aiming at real competence in reading the Orit.
Anthropology — methods for collecting and preserving oral traditions, with Prof. Erika Weiss, for fieldwork: meeting and interviewing the community's most senior and eldest kessim.

The programme is headed by Prof. Dalit Rom-Shiloni.

Why it is urgent

The number of kessim trained back in Ethiopia keeps shrinking. What they hold — how the Orit is read, how it is translated, and what interpretation was passed on orally — is written in no book. A programme that sends students into the field to interview them is, in practice, a race against a clock.

What has already come out of it: a digital repository of Beta Israel sacred manuscripts, established in April 2024 together with the National Library of Israel and the Center for Ethiopian Jewish Heritage. In May 2024 a travelling workshop was held around the country with international scholars, and it located 19 uniquely important sacred manuscripts — among them two Orit manuscripts from the 15th century, the oldest ever found among Beta Israel. The manuscripts stay with their owners and are photographed in the kessim's prayer houses for research only; the images are intended to open to the public on the National Library's site.

The terms

Who it is for: BA graduates with an average of at least 80.
Structure: a completion year (Sundays), then two MA years (Wednesdays) — about three years, one long study day a week.
Scholarships: up to five scholarships for students from the Beta Israel community, covering tuition and a living stipend the department describes as "modest but meaningful". Amounts are not published on the page — ask directly.
Registration: requires an interview and acceptance.
Details: Bible department secretariat, 03-6409787; Prof. Dalit Rom-Shiloni, 050-33321005, dromshil@tauex.tau.ac.il.

Source: the programme page at the Bible department, Tel Aviv University · verified September 2026.

Sources

"Tofsei HaOrit" — study and research of the sacred texts of Beta Israel, Bible department, Tel Aviv University · verified 8 Sep 2026
Tel Aviv University — "For the first time: the oldest sacred texts of Ethiopian Jewry revealed" · verified 8 Sep 2026
Hebrew coverage the department itself links to: Yifat Erlich, "Laying the cards on the table", Israel Hayom, 30 May 2025; ynet, 3 July 2025