Zenash Beyene
Restaurateur
Ras Dashen Restaurant
Chicago, IL
Zenash Beyene one of very few if not the only Ethiopian Jew "Beta Isreal" operating an Ethiopian Restaurant in America. Zenash apart from her unique religous background Zenash has had a colorful life living in Saudi Arabia and Sudan where she operated her own Ethiopian Restaurant before moving to America and opening an Ethiopian Restaurant in Chicago.
Articles on Zenash Beyene :
Passover's antiquity preserved
in age-old Ethiopian tradition
Lerner Skyline - by Leah A Zeldes
''At sunset Monday, April 5, Jews worldwide will begin the observance of Passover, a celebration that dates to the time of Mosses. Mosses according to the Bible, married an Ethiopian woman.
The Jews of Ethiopia call themselves Beta Israel , "House of Israel". Their community is ancient - tradition holds that they're descended from Jews who traveled from Jerusalem to Ethiopia with Menelik, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Today, most of the Beta Israel live in Israel, Zenash Beyene, 46 owner of Edgewater's Ras Dashen restaurant, 5846 N. Broadway, believes she and her family may be the only Ethiopian Jews in Chicago, an isolation not unlike that of her people's from the rest of the world's Jews, from whom they were separated for millennia...
Like that of the Sephardic Jews (those descended from Jews evicted from Spain in 1492), Beta Israel custom does not forbid kitniot, or legumes, during Passover. That prohibition extends only to Ashkenazim (Jews of Eastern- and Middle European descent, who make up the bulk of American Jewry), so chickpeas are allowed for Ethiopians.
However, Ethiopian Jews abstain from eating fermented milk products, such as yogurt, butter or cheese, during Passover. Beta Israel kashrut does not include the separation of meat and milk, a rule adopted by other Jews after their community became separated.
Main courses during Passover might be fish or meat stews, lamb or roasted seeds, according to Beyene, not greatly different from foods eaten the rest of the year.
She remains glad she came here [America], and though she visits Israel , where much of her family lives now, she's glad to come home to Chicago . Her Israeli-reared daughter and her grandchildren have joined her here...."
Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant
5846 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60660
Phone (773) 506-9601
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