Dr. Bar Kribus is an archaeologist specializing in Late Antique to Early Modern Ethiopian archaeology and the history and material culture of the Betä Ǝsra’el (Ethiopian Jews). His PhD research, conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the guidance of Prof. Steven Kaplan and Prof. Joseph Patrich, focused on the material culture and way of life of the Betä Ǝsra’el mäloksewočč (the monastic high priesthood). 

A central component of this research is an archaeological survey of Betä Ǝsra’el monastic sites and holy sites in Ethiopia, pinpointing and examining these sites for the first time in history.  

Kribus was a member of the European Research Council’s JewsEast project, which examined medieval and Early Modern Jewish-Christian interaction in the region extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Later, he was a post-doctoral fellow of the Minerva Stiftung at the Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum. His research project at the time focused on the historical geography and material culture of Betä Ǝsra’el political autonomy in the Səmen Mountains of northern Ethiopia and the community’s wars with the Christian Solomonic Kingdom (14th – 17th century). His research led to the identification of Betä Ǝsra’el strongholds and the 17^th-century Betä Ǝsra’el capital in the Səmen Mountains.

Kribus is currently a post-doctoral fellow of the Dan David Society of Fellows at Tel Aviv University. His first research project as part of the fellowship examines and compares the architecture and layout of Betä Ǝsra’el, Christian, Muslim and Kǝmant prayer houses and holy sites in north-western Ethiopia. A second project, which he recently began, examines the dynamics between the Betä Ǝsra’el and Solomonic authorities and society from the 18th century to the 20th century, with a focus on distinct contexts and modes of interaction in different regions.

A central premise of Kribus’ work is that due to the extensive shared heritage of the different religious groups in the northern Ethiopian Highlands, cultural and religious features of a given group can only be comprehensively understood when compared and contrasted with parallel features in the plurality of groups in the region. In his research, Kribus highlights elements of the Betä Ǝsra’el religious tradition and modes of interreligious interaction that are markedly different from how Judaism and interreligious interactions involving Jews are often envisioned. In this way, he contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Judaism and interreligious interactions. 

While past research on the history of the Betä Ǝsra’el relied almost exclusively on textual and oral sources, Kribus’ unique approach incorporates the examination of material culture, relevant sites and their geographical context, as well as oral traditions and accounts linked to specific sites, thereby revealing a vast array of previously undocumented sources that enrich our knowledge of the community’s heritage.