The Amhara are the politically and culturally dominant ethnic group of Ethiopia. They are located primarily in the central highland plateau of Ethiopia and comprise the major population element in the provinces of Begemder and Gojjam and in parts of Shoa and Wallo. In terms of the total Ethiopian population, however, the Amhara are a numerical minority. The national population has usually been placed at between 14 and 22 million. It is generally estimated that the Amhara, together with the closely related Tigre, constitute about one-third of this total population. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia and, as such, has been an important factor in the Amharization of other ethnic groups through its required use in schools and government offices. Ninety-five percent of the Amhara (and of all Ethiopians) depend on farming and stock raising for subsistence. Just enough is raised to live on and pay taxes. The lack of good transportation has made the government's attempts to increase production futile. Irrigation, terracing, and the iron-tipped, wooden scratch plow form the extent of the agricultural technology. Cereals are the most important crops, with teff (Eragrostis abyssinica) as the major cereal. The Amhara also grow barley, wheat, maize, millet, and hops. Noncereal crops include broad beans, lentils, and chickpeas.  Farming is strictly men's work. Ethiopia's economy depends heavily on agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, 90% of exports, and 80% of total employment.   The main imports are food, petroleum, and petroleum products, machinery, motor vehicles and chemicals.  The main exports are coffee, hides and skins, oilseeds, grain and gold.  Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy, and Ethiopia earned $267 million in 1999 by exporting 105,000 metric tons, this is not true of the Amharic Jews but for the broader population. Ethiopia is primarily rural with fewer than 200,000 people living in urban areas. There are few towns with over 10,000 people. Traditionally, Amhara towns were just market centers where caravans stopped, people came to trade, and a small group of artisans and merchants, often foreigners, lived. This is true to a large extent even today. Most Amhara live in small, kin-based hamlets surrounded by their farmlands, and even urban Amhara are often part-time farmers. The Amhara have a stratified feudal society, although new elites are emerging to challenge the old hierarchy. Social stratification involves a number of distinctions which crosscut one another and whose intersections define an individual's status. Position in the social hierarchy is based on land tenure, feudal relations between nobles and peasants, secular versus Coptic Church affiliation, ethnic division of skilled labor, and, to a lesser extent, age and sex. Ethnic groups like the Beta Israel, many of whom are blacksmiths,  and the Faqi (indigenous Cushites who are leather tanners) are socially separate from the Amhara, but serve such important functions for everyday life that their isolation is not extreme. They live in separate hamlets, and interaction between these groups and the Amhara is ritually restricted. Commercially they are in close touch, however, since each needs the other's goods. While the status of women is lower than that of men, it is not as inferior as in many other Near Eastern or East African groups, especially Islamic societies. Women are barred from church offices and from entering the church, but in many ways noblewomen have roles comparable to men and are treated with equal deference. Peasant women are more restricted and have an inferior legal status, but after menopause their positions often improve. The Coptic Church split off from the western Christian Church in 451 A.D., and the Abyssinian Coptic Church split with the mother church in Alexandria in 1948. The Coptic Church of Abyssinia is a very important part of the life of the people. Messing claims that the people consider Amhara and Abyssinian Christian to be synonymous, and that there is a good deal of suspicion and ethnocentrism toward outsiders. The rules of the church are regarded as law and are almost unchallengeable, especially in rural areas. Priests do not preach--they perform ceremonies and are supposed to influence laymen by the example of their holy lives. The church is one of the country's largest landowners, and priests farm the land around their churches. Priests often establish their own residential family hamlets on church land and in the course of time become local patriarchs.

Pictures above from http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/63450.htm

Over 40 percent of the population adhere to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), the single largest religious group. The EOC claims 50 percent of the country's total population of 61.7 million, or a total of 31,473,105 adherents, and 110,405 churches. The EOC is predominant in the northern regions of Tigray and Amhara. Another 40 percent of the population are Muslim, although many Muslims claim that the actual percentage is higher. Islam is most prevalent in the Somali and Afar regions, as well as in parts of Oromia. Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestantism are the fastest growing faiths and now constitute more than 10 percent of the population. According to the Evangelical Church Fellowship, there are 7.4 million Protestants, although this figure may be on the high side. Established Protestant churches such as Mekane Yesus and Kale Hiwot are strongest in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR), western and central Oromia, and in urban areas around the country. Roman Catholics, animists, and other traditional indigenous religions make up most of the remaining population. Atheism is negligible.

The Amaharic Jews are in general darker than the Amharas.  Their hair is shorter and often curly, their eyes are smaller and their faces not so long.  Their houses are the same.  Their usual food is teff or "dagussa", they don't eat raw meat.  Their dirk is hydromel or beer made from the dagussa grains.  Their dress is the same as the Amharas.  Their priests wear turbans like Christian priests.  The Roman toga is their fancy clothing, during work they wear short trousers or a waist cloth to their knees.  The women wear bracelets and ear rings but do not pierce the nose like the tribes of the Tigre district.  Laymen have no headdress, but usually shave the head and walk barefoot.  Women are not veiled.  http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=13&letter=F

Way of Life
Amharic men are responsible for tillling the soil and caring for the larger animals.  They grow barley, corn, millet, wheat, teff (a small grain rich in protein and iron), beans, peppers, and other vegetables.  Lowland farmers are able to produce two crops a year and in the less fertile highlands, farmers are able to produce only one.  Oxen are used for plowing and donkeys and mules are used for transportation. From the age of seven, boys are expected to work.  Women are responsible for cooking, making beer, collecting fuel (dried animal dung and wood), gathering water from the nearest stream or well, spinning cotton, weaving mats and baskets and caring for young children.  Girls are expected to help with the housework. Most Beta Israel are farmers and herders.  Staple foods include dairy, millet, and fruit.  Their houses are circular with thatched roofs are often built near a water supply.  Beta Israel  make pottery, primarily made by the women, it is admired throughout all of Ethiopia.  Men are said to be the best blacksmiths in Ethiopia.

Societies are organized around their religion.  Each large village has a kess to lead the community, a cahenet to conduct all religious affairs and to instruct the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) and a bebtara who assists the cahenet.  Disputes within the village are settled by the elders of the village who are led by the cahenet.

Traditionally, Beta Israel women live in the village's "house of malediction" during their menstrual periods, during labor and for a set period after the birth of a baby.  Before returning home, the female immerses herself in water to become ritually pure.  However, this practice is diminishing as the  population learn of different Jewish traditions.  Source: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~brussm/ffc/countries/ethiopia/ethnic.html

The Jews are distinct from their neighbors mainly due to their way of life and customs, which were religious and social in origin. Some worked in certain typical crafts that non-Jews in the surrounding area avoided in the main, e.g., pottery and blacksmithing. Their communal life was highly developed, based on family hierarchy, �honor codes,� adults in pivotal roles, separation between men and women and religion above everything else.  The leaders of the Falashas are divided into three classes, "nezirim," kohanim," and "debteras."  The nezirim live together in large numbers, and eat only food prepared by one of their own.  They are visited by other Falashas, and when the first born is not redeemed, he is given over to the nezirim.  The kohanim live with other Falashas, they are ordained by the nezirim, they are the ritual slaughterers, and receive part of the animal sacrificed.. The debteras assist the kohanim in their work. 
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=13&letter=F
The Kessuch

These are the priests or rabbis, who stand at the head of the social pyramid. As spiritual shepherds, they are responsible for running religious and communal life. They possess far-reaching authority on matters of religion, deciding dates of festivals, the new month, officiating at marriage, divorce and burial ceremonies and regarding the application of sanctions (including excommunication) against anyone contravening the community�s religious and social conventions.

The Shmagluch

These are the community elders and counselors whose position was second in importance to the Kessuch. They possessed power and played a role in the interpersonal domain regarding civil as well as capital law. The authorities held them responsible for social order and they served as a kind of guarantor for keeping the peace in Jewish villages. Their elevated community status was a function of wisdom and age, and did not demand education or ordination like the Kessuch.

Family Heads

The family head is generally the oldest man, e.g., grandfather, father, or oldest brother. Everyone living in the particular complex (referred to as �grandfather�s house� i.e., household members) is subject to the rule of the authority figure, i.e., the head of the clan.

Men

Males have a more senior status than females, and had exclusive control over the family�s resources. They were responsible for earning a living, representing the family to the community, and for children�s education. Most men worked in agriculture, as well as weaving, blacksmithing, metal work and building.

Women

Women are dependent on the men and are not expected to be economically independent. Women are responsible for housework (cooking, cleaning, laundry, drawing water, gathering firewood, etc.) and child rearing. Each woman had about seven children on average. The women also work in pottery and embroidery, and wove baskets and other articles from straw and leaves.

 

Children and Education

About 20% of the adults can read.  Children show respect to their parents, and to their elders, particularly the head of the family. They do whatever they are told, speaking after their elders and only when given permission. Obedience is almost total, as it is written, "Listen to your father�s morals and do not abandon the Torah of your mother"; any deviation from the behavioral norm was punished severely.

Ethiopian schools are run by religious groups and government. Free education is offered for the general Amharic population from primary school through college, however, regular school facilities are able to enroll only 43% of school age children, and the Jews of Beta Israel away from the capital of Abis Abababa. are for the most part excluded. 

Today, an estimated 7,000 Amharic Jews live in Gondar and 19,000 in Addis Ababa.  At the Beta Israel compound in Addis, almost 5,000 children attend school where they are taught the official Ethiopian curriculum in Amharic and learn English, in addition to Hebrew and Jewish studies

Rural economic conditions make it difficult for children to attend school and families lack the funds for school supplies.  They are needed for farming and chores.  Schools have problems with overcrowding; class sizes in schools average 80-120 students.  Some schools run two or three shifts a day to accommodate.  In a typical middle school, the curriculum includes geography, history, Amharic, English, mathematics and science.  Private schools are run by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and are primarily for male students.  They stress theological training and the study of Ge'ez, the ancient Ethiopian language.  Today, less than 35% of Ethiopia's elementary school age population is enrolled in primary schools, this is improved from 1994.

The vast majority of the Jews in Gondar do not attend school, and from about the age of two, children move around by themselves near the house. At about six, some start helping with the housework (girls) and in the field (boys). Until the age of twelve, they gradually learn their roles by copying same gender adults (boys their fathers, girls their mothers). Boys over about age eleven and girls over age nine were already considered youths, not children, with their own burdens and responsibilities.
 

Sources: http://www.fol.org.il/eng/jews2.html http://www.africa-ata.org/contents_a.htm

and http://homepages.wmich.edu/~brussm/ffc/countries/ethiopia/education.html

For more on education see: http://www.usaidethiopia.org/HID/HID%20page.htm

Media
The state controls radio and television, but the print and electronic media have seen dramatic changes since the country is no longer under the rule of Mengistu.  The number of privately owned newspapers has grown to more than 50, with the weekly Addis Tribune now available on the internet. The Walta web site also hosts a few pro government English language newspapers.  The independent press offers quite different reporting to the state owned newspapers and is often critical of the government.  The main television broadcasting network is Ethiopian Television (ETV).  The network is state owned and broadcasts in Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromifa and English.

Source: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~brussm/ffc/countries/ethiopia/environment.html

Medicine
Current estimates suggest that one out of every 14 adults in Ethiopia may be infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases may be over 400,000.  Under financing of the health system has resulted in lack of basic health care services.  It is estimated that more than 80% of Ethiopians must walk more than two hours to reach a health care facility.  Children are usually not born in a hospital.  For every 1,000 live births, 135 children die in infancy.  There is one doctor per 28,000 patients and one nurse per 8,393. 

Sources: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~brussm/ffc/countries/ethiopia/health.html and http://www.peopleteams.org/amhara/amhara_statistics.htm