Ethiopian Jews in Israel
Encyclopedia
The Ethiopian Jews in Israel refers to the immigrants and descends of the Beta Israel
Jewish communities of Ethiopia
who live in Israel
. Often they are placed under the Mizrahim
communities.
Most of Beta Israel emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel during two massive waves of immigration mounted by the Israeli government - "Operation Moses
" (1984) and during "Operation Solomon
" (1991).
Today Israel is home to the largest Beta Israel community in the world and has about 121,000 Ethiopian Jews, which are mainly centered in the urban areas of central Israel.
Several of their supporters in Israel, whom recognized their Jewishness decided to assist them. These supporters began organizing in associations, among others under the direction of Ovadia Hazzi, a Yemeni Jew and former sergeant in the Israeli army whom was married to a wife from the Beta Israel community since the Second World War. Several of those illegal immigrants managed to get get a regularization with the Israeli authorities through the assistance of these support associations. Some agreed to "convert" to Judaism, which helped them regulated their personal status and remain in Israel. People who get their regularization often brought their families to Israel as well.
In 1973, Ovadia Hazzi officially raised the question of the Jewishness of the Beta Israel to the Israeli Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
. The rabbi, whom cited a rabbinic ruling from the 16th century David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra
and asserted that the Beta Israel are descended from the lost tribe
of Dan
, and eventually acknowledged their Jewishness in February 1973. This ruling was initially rejected by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren
, who eventually changed his opinion on the matter in 1974.
In April 1975, the Israeli government of Yitzhak Rabin
officially accepted the Beta Israel as Jews, for the purpose of the Law of Return
(An Israeli act which grants all the Jews in the world the right to immigrate to Israel).
Later on, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin
obtained clear rulings from Chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
that they were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes
. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel
did however initially require them to undergo pro forma Jewish conversions
, to remove any doubt as to their Jewish status.
until the early 1990s
(see below).
The emigration to Israel of the Beta Israel community was still officially banned by the Ethiopian government between the years 1973-1990. Despite the official ban, massive emigration took place in several waves during that period:
policy which drew heavy criticism in Israel and worldwide. According to the policy, which was never brought to the attention of the Israeli Ministry of Health
and was not revealed to the donors, all blood donations received from native Ethiopian immigrants and their offspring were secretly disposed of. A later public inquiry
traced this policy back to a misinterpretation of an 1984 instruction to mark blood donations received from Ethiopian immigrants, due to a relatively high prevalence of HBsAg
, indicative of Hepatitis B infections, in blood samples taken from this population.
A few days after the exposure of the secret MDA policy, approximately ten thousand members of the Beta Israel community demonstrated in front the Office of the Prime Minister
. The police forces at the place were prepared for a relatively quite demonstration consisted of a small force and were surprised and unprepared for the protesters' massive furious assault in which the policemen were injured by stones, sticks and steel rods. The police tried to repel the demonstrators with rubber bullets
, water cannons and tear gas. This was one of the most tumultuous demonstrations in the history of Israel: About 41 policemen and 20 demonstrators were injured, and 200 cars belonging to the employees of the Prime Minister's Office employees were damaged.
Several years before this policy was exposed, HIV
tests were conducted among the Ethiopian immigrants. The tests were conducted among 650 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated to Israel between the years 1984-1990 and 5,200 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated to Israel between the years 1990-1992. The results revealed that there were no HIV carriers among the immigrants who immigrated to Israel before July 1990. Nevertheless, among the 5,200 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated during "Operation Solomon
" there were 118 HIV carriers, whom made up 2.3 percent of the entire population tested.
The public outcry led to his dismissal of the CEO of the MDA at the time, and to the establishing of a commission of inquiry headed by former Israeli president Yitzhak Navon
. After several months of discussion the committee published its conclusions: The committee stated that the blood donors should have never been deceived, and that the procedures according to which blood donations are taken should be changed. However, Navon Committee's recommendations were never implemented. Moreover, while the Committee concluded that the Health Ministry's progressing was not riddled with racism
, researchers and publicists have both contested this conclusion.
On 6 November 2006, a protest of hundreds of Ethiopians led to a violent clash with the police forces in which the protesters attempted to block the entrance to the city of Jerusalem in a protest of the Israeli Health Ministry's decision to continue the MDA Blood donations disposal policy of, amongst other high risk potential groups, Ethiopian-born people.
To date, the MDA prohibits the use of blood donations which originated from natives of sub-Saharan Africa
, except South Africa
, natives of Southeast Asia
, natives of the Caribbean
and natives of countries which have been widely affected by the AIDS epidemic, including donations from the natives of Ethiopia. Moreover, since 1991 all immigrants from Ethiopia to Israel have to undergo mandatory HIV screenings, regardless of their intention to donate blood, despite the fact that mandatory screening programs are not considered to be morally justifiable.
Ethiopian Jews are gradually becoming part of the mainstream Israeli society in religious life, military service (with nearly all males doing national service), education, and politics. Similarly to other groups of immigrant Jews who made aliyah
to Israel, the Ethiopian Jews have faced obstacles in their integration to Israeli society. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment.
One study found that some of the problems with the absorption of the Beta Israel was due to the model of absorption chosen.
Most of the 100,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel are immigrants and descendants of two main waves, the first in 1981-1984 and the second in 1991. These airlifts were known as Operation Moses
and Operation Solomon
, respectively. Civil war and famine in Ethiopia prompted the Israeli government to mount these dramatic rescue operations. The rescues were within the context of Israel's national mission to gather Diaspora Jews and bring them to the Jewish homeland.
Individual Ethiopian Jews had lived in Eretz Yisrael prior to the establishment of the state. A youth group arrived in Israel in the 1950s to undergo training in Hebrew education and returned to Ethiopia to educate young Jews there. Also, Ethiopian Jews had been trickling into Israel prior to the 1970s. The numbers of such Ethiopian immigrants grew after the Israeli government officially recognized them in 1973 as Jews entitled to Israeli citizenship.
To prepare for the absorption of tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews, the State of Israel prepared two `Master Plans’ (Ministry of Absorption, 1985, 1991). The first was prepared in 1985, a year after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants. The second updated the first in response to the second wave of immigration in 1991 from Ethiopia. The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach which assumed that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, created with good intentions and a firm belief in assimilation. As noted in this section, results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.
According to a November 17, 1999 BBC
article, a report commissioned by Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption stated that 75% of the 70,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel in 1999 could not read or write Hebrew. More than half the population could not hold a simple conversation in the Hebrew language. Unlike Russian immigrants, many of whom arrive with job skills, Ethiopians came from a subsistence economy
and were ill-prepared to work in an industrialized society. Since then much progress has been made. Through military service most Ethiopian Jews have been able to increase their chances for better opportunities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/524662.stm. Today most Ethiopian Jews have been for the most part integrated into Israeli society, however a high drop out rate is a problem, although a higher number are now edging towards the higher areas of society.
In September, 2006, the Israeli government's proposed 2007 budget included reducing Ethiopian immigration from 600 persons per month to 150. On the eve of the Knesset
vote, the Prime Minister's office announced that the plan had been dropped. Advocates for the Falash Mura noted that although the quota was set at 600 per month in March, 2005, actual immigration has remained at 300 per month.
On 9 November 2009, the Kiryat Ono Academy released a report that showed that 53% of Israeli employers would prefer to not employ Ethiopians.
amongst many of the new immigrants. Many of the Beta Israel immigrants, especially those whom came from remote villages in Ethiopia, never used electricity
, elevator
s or televisions. In addition, the adaptation to the Israeli food
was initially particularly difficult.
The breakup of many of the close and extend families after being brought to the various integration centers in Israel, as well as the initial integration with the Israeli society was very difficult for many of the new immigrants. Name changing also caused a symbolic break with the new immigrants' past. The Israeli authorities originally gave many of the new immigrants Hebrew given name
s, Hebrew names, and required them all to have family names, which did not exist in the Ethiopian society. These name changes created a two tier system, in which old and new names were used by the new immigrants. the immersion with the Hebrew language was not easy for the new immigrants, and the majority of the new immigrants never managed to master the language, even after living many years in Israel, resulting in a strong social marginalization. Finally, the questioning of their traditional religious practices by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
led to great confusion amongst the new immigrants.
Various Israeli sociologists have noted a variety of adjustment issues which the new immigrants were confronted by, which resulted in acute psychological problems and even occurrences of suicides amongst a minority group of immigrants in the first years after immigrating to Israel. In the late 1980s, the proportion of suicides among the Beta Israel community surpassed that of all the other communities in Israel until this rate declined.
camps. Satisfactory in terms of comfort, these "provisional" solutions had two main drawbacks. On the one hand, new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society. On the other hand, in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.
Over time, the Ethiopians settled mainly in the various cities and towns throughout Israel, mainly with the encouragement of the Israeli authorities whom granted the new immigrants generous government loans or low-interest mortgages. In many cases extended families of Ethiopean Jews voluntarily decided to settle in the same areas, thus creating many times ethnic enclaves within several Israeli cities and towns. In many cases this tendency contributed to the non-Ethiopian Israeli populations being more likely to leave the neighborhoods which had high concentrations of Ethiopian residents.
Many Haredim (ultra orthodox) still do not recognize the Beta Israel community as Jews, not just those from the Falash Mura.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel
has always doubted the validity of the marriages and conversions performed by the Beta Israel religious authorities, claiming that they are not complying with Halakha
. Initially, the Israeli Rabbinate requested that many immigrants were to go through a simplified conversion process before they got married in order to secure their Jewish status in Israel. Although these requests were originally widely accepted by the first Beta Israel immigrants from Tigray
, these simplified conversion process ceremonies were largely rejected in 1985 by the Beta Israel immigrants from Gondar
, resulting in a long ongoing conflict with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. The latter finally agreed to limit the number of these conversions and only conduct them in more dubious cases.
Regarding the religious leadership of the Beta Israel community, the 60 Kessim (priests) of the Ethiopian immigrants in Israel were employed by the Ministry of Religious Services
, and many of them continue to conduct religious ceremonies in Israel. They are however not recognized as rabbi
s and thus, for example do not have the right to perform marriages (the Israeli ultra orthodox rabbis have a monopoly for conducting Jewish marriages in Israel). As a result, many of the Kessim of the Beta Israel community have lost their prestige and social status. Nevertheless, a new generation of rabbis of Ethiopian origin, which has been forming in the various yeshivot in Israel, is gradually emerging and taking over the religious power to Kessim. The Kessim generally tend to reject forcing the rules derived from the rabbinical Talmud
, which they claim were not inscribed in the Bible.
Most of the religious traditions of the Beta Israel community seem to be diminishing rapidly, mainly due to the opposition from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Israeli way of life. In addition, the vast majority of Beta Israel students have been studying in the religious state school system, which promotes the orthodox Jewish practices. This generational shift causes a gap between the Beta Israel youth, whom pray in Hebrew according to the Jewish Orthodox rite, and their parents whom are trying somehow not to abandon the old religious traditions.
s in Ethiopia. Regarding the recent immigration of Falash Mura, NGOs (such as the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry) has attempted to provide those whom have been waiting for years in Ethiopia their immigration basic useful training for immigrants in Israel, as well as basic common concepts in Hebrew. Nevertheless, it is estimated that circa 80% of adult Falash Mura become unemployed in Israel.
Due to the significant difference between the qualifications of the Beta Israel community and the needs of the Israeli companies, high unemployment is common among the immigrants: In 2005 the unemployment rate was 65% amongst those over the age of 45. The younger generations born or whom have grown up in Israel are more successful in being absorbed into Israeli economy, especially due to receiving modern education, although the average rate of educated people amongst the Beta Israel community is still smaller than that of the general Jewish youth, and this factor delays the emergence of a larger middle class group of Ethiopian origin in the Israeli society. Despite that, in 2005, 3000 students graduated of higher education institutions, and 1,500 others graduated at the university. Nevertheless, even the academic graduates often experience trouble finding a job.
The low educational attainment, the very modest standard of living, and the occasionally degraded or isolated habitat - these set of circumstances relate and may in many times explain the development of delinquency
among the Beta Israel youth: in 2005 its rate was three times higher than the rate of the other Israeli youth.
Racist attitudes, or prejudice
, do tend to still occasionally occur in the Israel towards the Beta Israel community, especially where high concentrations of Beta Israel exist.
In 2004, racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews to Israel under the Law of return
. The delays in admitting Ethiopians may be attributed to religious motivations rather than racism, since there was debate whether or not Falasha Jews' (Beta Israel) were Jewish.
In 2005, racism was alleged when the mayor of Or Yehuda
, refused to absorb Ethiopian immigrants in their communities, mainly due to fear of having the property of the town decrease in value or having an increase in crime.
A survey published by the Jerusalem Post in 2005 indicated that 43% of Israelis do not want themselves or their children marrying a member of the Beta Israel community.
In 2009 school children of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into three semi-private religious schools in the town of Petah Tikva
. An Israeli government official criticized the Petah Tikva Municipality and the semi-private Haredi schools, saying "This concerns not only the three schools that have, for a long time, been deceiving the entire educational system. For years, racism has developed here undeterred". Shas
spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef
threatened to fire any school principal from Shas's school system who refused to receive Ethiopian students. The Israeli Education Ministry decided to pull the funding from the Lamerhav, Da'at Mevinim and Darkei Noam schools, the three semi-private institutions that refused to accept the students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
spoke out against the rejection of Ethiopian children, calling it "a moral terror attack."
In 2010 Barry Rubin
, the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs
(MERIA) Journal, said that while there have been some incidents in reaction to the arrival of Jews from Ethiopia, these have been few and universally rejected.
party sees itself as the political representative of the community, though other parties include Ethiopian members. In 2006, Shas
, a party representing Haredi
Jews of Sephardic and Middle Eastern background, included an Ethiopian rabbi from Beersheba
, in its list for the Knesset
in a conscious attempt to represent diverse geographic and ethnic groups.
Shas was not the only party attempting to appeal to the Ethiopian vote. Herut and Kadima
both had Ethiopians on their lists. Shlomo Mula, head of the Jewish Agency's Ethiopian absorption department, was ranked 33 on Kadima's list and Avraham was number three on Herut's list.
Shas's spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, enthusiastically embraced Ethiopians when they first began immigrating to Israel four decades ago. Despite Rabbi Ovadia's halachic ruling, some refuse to marry Ethiopians without a conversion in accordance with official Chief Rabbinate policy. Only in cities and towns with rabbis that accept Ovadia's ruling or the ruling of Rabbi Shlomo Goren
are Ethiopians married without immersion in a ritual bath (mikva) or, for men, hatafat dam, הטפת דם, see brit milah
), the symbolic cut to produce a drop of blood instead of circumcision.
Some non-Jewish Ethiopians expressed bitterness towards the Jewish emigration out of Ethiopia. Others hope that the growing Ethiopian population in Israel will create stronger social and political connections between Ethiopia and Israel. Some Ethiopian Jews currently participate in Israeli politics.
The Ethiopian government is also an important ally of Israel on the international stage. Israel often sends expertise assistance for development projects in Ethiopia. Strategically, Israel "has always aspired to protect itself by means of a non-Arab belt that has included at various times Iran, Turkey and Ethiopia."
The City of Kiryat Malakhi has a large concentration of Ethiopian Jews, with 17.3% of the towns population being members of the Beta Israel.
.
The majority of the Beta Israel immigrants continue to mainly speak in Amharic
(primarily) and Tigrinya
at home with their family members and friends. The Amharic language and the Tigrinya language are written in the Ge'ez script
, originally developed for the now-extinct Ge'ez language
.
. The museum, planned as a research, interpretive and spiritual center, is the brainchild of Tomer. This is an association of veteran Ethiopian immigrants and former Mossad
agents who participated in the first operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
Plans for the museum, expected to cost some $4.5 million, include a model Ethiopian village, an herb garden, an artificial stream, an amphitheater, classrooms, and a memorial to both Ethiopian Jews who died in Sudan on their way to Israel, and Ethiopian Zionist activists. "We view the conservation of the past as very important and believe the museum will attract young people and adults alike," Rehovot
Mayor Shuki Forer says.
Numerous Ethiopian Jews live in Rehovot and surrounding towns, which is why it was chosen as the site of the museum. The city has set aside 6 dunams (6,000 m²), of land for the museum complex.
One of the museum's founders was Baruch Tegegne
, who pioneered escape routes from Ethiopia via Sudan and fought for the right of Jews to emigrate to Israel. Other founders include veteran Ethiopian rights activist Babu Yaakov, a former member of the Ramle City Council, and Shetu Barehon, who worked in the transit camps in Sudan to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. A number of Ethiopian Jewish spiritual leaders and rabbis are also working to increase support for the project in the community and the Diaspora.
Bar-Yuda's long association with the Ethiopian Jewish community began in 1958. The Jewish Agency asked him to go to Ethiopia to look for Jews and to reach remote villages. His report, together with a 16th Century ruling by Rabbi David B. Zimra
, known as the Radbaz, was the basis for chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef's determination in 1973 that the Jews of Ethiopia were to be considered Jews according to halakha (Jewish religious law).
Beta Israel
Beta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
Jewish communities of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
who live in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Often they are placed under the Mizrahim
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
communities.
Most of Beta Israel emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel during two massive waves of immigration mounted by the Israeli government - "Operation Moses
Operation Moses
Operation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
" (1984) and during "Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel.In 1991, the sitting Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to being toppled with the recent military successes of Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, threatening Ethiopia with dangerous...
" (1991).
Today Israel is home to the largest Beta Israel community in the world and has about 121,000 Ethiopian Jews, which are mainly centered in the urban areas of central Israel.
History of the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia
Early emigration of the Beta Israeli community to Israel (1960s-early 1980s)
Between the years 1965 and 1975 a relatively small group of Ethiopian Jews emigrated to Israel. The Beta Israel immigrants in that period were mainly very few men who have studied and came to Israel on a tourist visa and then remained in the country illegally.Several of their supporters in Israel, whom recognized their Jewishness decided to assist them. These supporters began organizing in associations, among others under the direction of Ovadia Hazzi, a Yemeni Jew and former sergeant in the Israeli army whom was married to a wife from the Beta Israel community since the Second World War. Several of those illegal immigrants managed to get get a regularization with the Israeli authorities through the assistance of these support associations. Some agreed to "convert" to Judaism, which helped them regulated their personal status and remain in Israel. People who get their regularization often brought their families to Israel as well.
In 1973, Ovadia Hazzi officially raised the question of the Jewishness of the Beta Israel to the Israeli Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
. The rabbi, whom cited a rabbinic ruling from the 16th century David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra
David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra
Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Zimra , also called Radbaz after the initials of his name, Rabbi David iBn Zimra, was an early Acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading posek, rosh yeshiva, chief rabbi, and author of more than 3,000 responsa as well as several scholarly...
and asserted that the Beta Israel are descended from the lost tribe
Ten Lost Tribes
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to those tribes of ancient Israel that formed the Kingdom of Israel and which disappeared from Biblical and all other historical accounts after the kingdom was destroyed in about 720 BC by ancient Assyria...
of Dan
Tribe of Dan
The Tribe of Dan, also sometimes spelled as "Dann", was one of the Tribes of Israel. Though known mostly from biblical sources, they were possibly descendants of the Denyen Sea Peoples who joined with Hebrews...
, and eventually acknowledged their Jewishness in February 1973. This ruling was initially rejected by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren , was an Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi in Israel who founded and served as the first head of the Military Rabbinate of the Israel Defense Forces and subsequently as the third Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983.He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars,...
, who eventually changed his opinion on the matter in 1974.
In April 1975, the Israeli government of Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
officially accepted the Beta Israel as Jews, for the purpose of the Law of Return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
(An Israeli act which grants all the Jews in the world the right to immigrate to Israel).
Later on, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
obtained clear rulings from Chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
that they were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes
Ten Lost Tribes
The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to those tribes of ancient Israel that formed the Kingdom of Israel and which disappeared from Biblical and all other historical accounts after the kingdom was destroyed in about 720 BC by ancient Assyria...
. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
did however initially require them to undergo pro forma Jewish conversions
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
, to remove any doubt as to their Jewish status.
Massive emigration of the Beta Israeli community to Israel (Mid 1980s-early 1990s)
The Civil war and famine in Ethiopia and the deteriorating situation of the Ethiopian Jews led to a real concern for their fate and well-being, which prompted eventually the Israeli government to airlift most of the Beta Israel population in Ethiopia to Israel in several covert military rescue operations which took place between the 1980s1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
until the early 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
(see below).
The emigration to Israel of the Beta Israel community was still officially banned by the Ethiopian government between the years 1973-1990. Despite the official ban, massive emigration took place in several waves during that period:
- 1977 - 121 Beta Israel members emigrate to Israel following a secret agreement reached with the Ethiopian government, in which the Israeli government agreed to supply of arms to the new revolutionary government of Ethiopia, which was at that time at war against Somalia over the control of the OgadenOgadenOgaden is the name of a territory comprising the southeastern portion of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The title "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by Somali irredentists.The region, which is...
region. The agreement was canceled by the Ethiopian government after details of the agreement were revealed to the press by Moshe DayanMoshe DayanMoshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
in February 1978.
- 1980-1984 - Driven by civil war, many inhabitants of Northern Ethiopia including members of the Beta Israel community, fled to SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. According to a report in the Jerusalem Post from May 15, 1986 - 6,649 people, mostly Tigreans, emigrated to Israel though circuitous routes between January 1980 and autumn 1984 with the help of the Israeli special services.
- Fall 1984-Spring 1985 (Operation MosesOperation MosesOperation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
and Operation JoshuaOperation JoshuaOperation Joshua was the 1985 removal of 800 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel.George H. W. Bush, Vice-President of the United States at the time, arranged a CIA-sponsored follow-up mission to Operation Moses, which had brought 8000 people to Israel. Under Operation Joshua, an additional 800...
) - this emigration wave was in part motivated by word to mouth reports on the success of the emigration of many Jewish refugees to Israel. The great famine of 1984-1985 lead to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians from Northern Ethiopia to refugee camps in Northern Ethiopia and Sudan. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were starving during that time. Among these victims, it is estimated that between 3 to 4000 were members of the Beta Israel community. In late 1984, the Sudanese government, following the intervention of the U.S, allowed the emigration of 7,200 Beta Israel refugees to the Europe whom immediately flew from there to Israel. There two immigration waves were: Operation MosesOperation MosesOperation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
which took place between 20 November 1984 until January 4, 1985, during which 6,500 people emigrated to Israel. This operation was followed by the Operation JoshuaOperation JoshuaOperation Joshua was the 1985 removal of 800 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel.George H. W. Bush, Vice-President of the United States at the time, arranged a CIA-sponsored follow-up mission to Operation Moses, which had brought 8000 people to Israel. Under Operation Joshua, an additional 800...
(also referred to as "Operation Queen of Sheba") a few weeks later, which was conducted by the CIA, in which the 650 Beta Israel refugees remaining in Sudan were evacuated to Israel. The second operation was mainly carried out due to the intervention and international pressure very important of the U.S.
- 1985-1989 - The Ethiopian government eventually blocked emigration from Ethiopia, and the relative stabilization of the situation in the north of Ethiopia stopped the exodus of the Beta Israel community to the Sudanese camps. Nevertheless, illegal immigration aided by the Israeli secret service continued although it remained relatively quite small.
- 1990-1991 - After losing Soviet military support due to the collapse of the Eastern bloc, the Ethiopian government allowed the emigration of 6,000 Beta Israel members to Israel in small groups, mostly in hope of establishing ties with the U.S, the allies of Israel. During this time many Beta Israel members flee to Addis AbabaAddis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
, the capital of Ethiopia, hoping to escape the civil war in the north of Ethiopia (their region of origin), and hoping to be able to emigrate to Israel. During that period many Beta Israel members crammed into camps on the outskirts of the Addis Ababa waiting to be evacuated to Israel.
- 1991 (Operation SolomonOperation SolomonOperation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel.In 1991, the sitting Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to being toppled with the recent military successes of Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, threatening Ethiopia with dangerous...
) - In 1991, the political and economic stability of Ethiopia deteriorated, as rebels mounted attacks against and eventually controlled the capital city of Addis AbabaAddis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. Worried about the fate of the Beta Israel during the transition period, the Israeli government along with several private groups prepared to continue covertly with the migration. Over the course of the next 36 hours, a total of 34 El AlEl AlEl Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
passenger planesAirlinerAn airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
, with their seats removed to maximize passenger capacity, flew 14,325 Beta Israel non-stop to Israel. Again, the operation was mainly carried out due to the intervention and international pressure of the U.S.
- 1991-1994 - During these years, the last Beta Israel members whom remained in Ethiopia emigrated to Israel, especially those whom remained in the regionQwara (woreda)Qwara is one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Qwara is named after the former province Qwara, which was in the same area. Located at the westernmost point of the Semien Gondar Zone, Qwara is bordered on the south by the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, on the west by Sudan, on the...
between Lake Tana and the Sudan.
- 1992–present - From 1992 onwards, an irregular emigration began of Falash Mura, which was and still is mainly subjected to political developments in Israel.
Blood donations disposal controversy (1996)
On 24 January 1996 the Israeli tabloid Ma'ariv first published a hidden MDAMagen David Adom
The Magen David Adom is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The name means "Red Star of David"...
policy which drew heavy criticism in Israel and worldwide. According to the policy, which was never brought to the attention of the Israeli Ministry of Health
Health Minister of Israel
The Ministry of Health is a ministry in the Israeli government. The current Minister of Health is Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud.There is occasionally a Deputy Minister of Health...
and was not revealed to the donors, all blood donations received from native Ethiopian immigrants and their offspring were secretly disposed of. A later public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
traced this policy back to a misinterpretation of an 1984 instruction to mark blood donations received from Ethiopian immigrants, due to a relatively high prevalence of HBsAg
Hbsag
HBsAg is the surface antigen of the Hepatitis-B-Virus . It indicates current Hepatitis B infection.-Structure and function:The capsid of a virus has different surface proteins from the rest of the virus which act as antigens...
, indicative of Hepatitis B infections, in blood samples taken from this population.
A few days after the exposure of the secret MDA policy, approximately ten thousand members of the Beta Israel community demonstrated in front the Office of the Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister (Israel)
Office of the Prime Minister is the governmental ministration office with the responsibility of coordinating the actions of the work of all governmental ministry offices, on various matters, and serving and assisting the Israeli Prime Minister in his daily work...
. The police forces at the place were prepared for a relatively quite demonstration consisted of a small force and were surprised and unprepared for the protesters' massive furious assault in which the policemen were injured by stones, sticks and steel rods. The police tried to repel the demonstrators with rubber bullets
Rubber Bullets
"Rubber Bullets" is a song by 10cc from their debut self-titled album.Written and sung by Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman and produced by 10cc, "Rubber Bullets" was the band's first number one single in the United Kingdom, spending a single week at the top in June 1973. It fared worse...
, water cannons and tear gas. This was one of the most tumultuous demonstrations in the history of Israel: About 41 policemen and 20 demonstrators were injured, and 200 cars belonging to the employees of the Prime Minister's Office employees were damaged.
Several years before this policy was exposed, HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
tests were conducted among the Ethiopian immigrants. The tests were conducted among 650 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated to Israel between the years 1984-1990 and 5,200 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated to Israel between the years 1990-1992. The results revealed that there were no HIV carriers among the immigrants who immigrated to Israel before July 1990. Nevertheless, among the 5,200 Ethiopian immigrants whom immigrated during "Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel.In 1991, the sitting Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to being toppled with the recent military successes of Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, threatening Ethiopia with dangerous...
" there were 118 HIV carriers, whom made up 2.3 percent of the entire population tested.
The public outcry led to his dismissal of the CEO of the MDA at the time, and to the establishing of a commission of inquiry headed by former Israeli president Yitzhak Navon
Yitzhak Navon
Yitzhak Navon is an Israeli politician, diplomat, and author. He served as the fifth President of Israel between 1978 and 1982 as a member of the center-left Alignment party...
. After several months of discussion the committee published its conclusions: The committee stated that the blood donors should have never been deceived, and that the procedures according to which blood donations are taken should be changed. However, Navon Committee's recommendations were never implemented. Moreover, while the Committee concluded that the Health Ministry's progressing was not riddled with racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, researchers and publicists have both contested this conclusion.
On 6 November 2006, a protest of hundreds of Ethiopians led to a violent clash with the police forces in which the protesters attempted to block the entrance to the city of Jerusalem in a protest of the Israeli Health Ministry's decision to continue the MDA Blood donations disposal policy of, amongst other high risk potential groups, Ethiopian-born people.
To date, the MDA prohibits the use of blood donations which originated from natives of sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, except South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, natives of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, natives of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and natives of countries which have been widely affected by the AIDS epidemic, including donations from the natives of Ethiopia. Moreover, since 1991 all immigrants from Ethiopia to Israel have to undergo mandatory HIV screenings, regardless of their intention to donate blood, despite the fact that mandatory screening programs are not considered to be morally justifiable.
The absorption in Israel
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to Israel, the Ethiopian Jews have faced obstacles in their integration to Israeli society. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment.
One study found that some of the problems with the absorption of the Beta Israel was due to the model of absorption chosen.
Most of the 100,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel are immigrants and descendants of two main waves, the first in 1981-1984 and the second in 1991. These airlifts were known as Operation Moses
Operation Moses
Operation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
and Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon
Operation Solomon was a 1991 covert Israeli military operation to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel.In 1991, the sitting Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was close to being toppled with the recent military successes of Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, threatening Ethiopia with dangerous...
, respectively. Civil war and famine in Ethiopia prompted the Israeli government to mount these dramatic rescue operations. The rescues were within the context of Israel's national mission to gather Diaspora Jews and bring them to the Jewish homeland.
Individual Ethiopian Jews had lived in Eretz Yisrael prior to the establishment of the state. A youth group arrived in Israel in the 1950s to undergo training in Hebrew education and returned to Ethiopia to educate young Jews there. Also, Ethiopian Jews had been trickling into Israel prior to the 1970s. The numbers of such Ethiopian immigrants grew after the Israeli government officially recognized them in 1973 as Jews entitled to Israeli citizenship.
To prepare for the absorption of tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews, the State of Israel prepared two `Master Plans’ (Ministry of Absorption, 1985, 1991). The first was prepared in 1985, a year after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants. The second updated the first in response to the second wave of immigration in 1991 from Ethiopia. The first Master Plan contained an elaborate and detailed program. It covered issues of housing, education, employment and practical organization, together with policy guidelines regarding specific groups, including women, youths, and single -parent families. Like earlier absorption policies, it adopted a procedural approach which assumed that the immigrants were broadly similar to the existing majority population of Israel. The Plans were, no doubt, created with good intentions and a firm belief in assimilation. As noted in this section, results have been disappointing and suggest that much greater attention needs to be paid to issues of ethnicity.
According to a November 17, 1999 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
article, a report commissioned by Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption stated that 75% of the 70,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel in 1999 could not read or write Hebrew. More than half the population could not hold a simple conversation in the Hebrew language. Unlike Russian immigrants, many of whom arrive with job skills, Ethiopians came from a subsistence economy
Subsistence economy
A subsistence economy is an economy which refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. Capital can be generally defined as assets invested with the expectation that their value will increase, usually because there is the...
and were ill-prepared to work in an industrialized society. Since then much progress has been made. Through military service most Ethiopian Jews have been able to increase their chances for better opportunities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/524662.stm. Today most Ethiopian Jews have been for the most part integrated into Israeli society, however a high drop out rate is a problem, although a higher number are now edging towards the higher areas of society.
In September, 2006, the Israeli government's proposed 2007 budget included reducing Ethiopian immigration from 600 persons per month to 150. On the eve of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
vote, the Prime Minister's office announced that the plan had been dropped. Advocates for the Falash Mura noted that although the quota was set at 600 per month in March, 2005, actual immigration has remained at 300 per month.
On 9 November 2009, the Kiryat Ono Academy released a report that showed that 53% of Israeli employers would prefer to not employ Ethiopians.
Initial culture shock
The first contact with Israel generally led to a culture shockCulture shock
Culture shock is the anxiety, feelings of frustration, alienation and anger that may occur when a person is emplaced in a new culture.One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign country. Culture shock can be described as consisting of one or more distinct phases...
amongst many of the new immigrants. Many of the Beta Israel immigrants, especially those whom came from remote villages in Ethiopia, never used electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s or televisions. In addition, the adaptation to the Israeli food
Israeli cuisine
Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes by Jews native to Israel and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora. Since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli Jewish fusion cuisine has developed.Israeli cuisine has adopted,...
was initially particularly difficult.
The breakup of many of the close and extend families after being brought to the various integration centers in Israel, as well as the initial integration with the Israeli society was very difficult for many of the new immigrants. Name changing also caused a symbolic break with the new immigrants' past. The Israeli authorities originally gave many of the new immigrants Hebrew given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
s, Hebrew names, and required them all to have family names, which did not exist in the Ethiopian society. These name changes created a two tier system, in which old and new names were used by the new immigrants. the immersion with the Hebrew language was not easy for the new immigrants, and the majority of the new immigrants never managed to master the language, even after living many years in Israel, resulting in a strong social marginalization. Finally, the questioning of their traditional religious practices by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
led to great confusion amongst the new immigrants.
Various Israeli sociologists have noted a variety of adjustment issues which the new immigrants were confronted by, which resulted in acute psychological problems and even occurrences of suicides amongst a minority group of immigrants in the first years after immigrating to Israel. In the late 1980s, the proportion of suicides among the Beta Israel community surpassed that of all the other communities in Israel until this rate declined.
The formation of Ethiopian neighborhoods
The housing issue has been a recurring issue with all the various masses immigration waves to Israel, ever since the 1950s. For the Beta Israel community, various solutions have been implemented, particularly in mobile homeMobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
camps. Satisfactory in terms of comfort, these "provisional" solutions had two main drawbacks. On the one hand, new populations were pushed to the outskirts of the cities, creating ethnically fairly homogeneous groups and postponed their integration in the Israeli society. On the other hand, in many instances these areas were located in distant areas far from where the jobs opportunities are in the Israeli economy and did not have a nearby convenient public transport, thereby amplifying the issues of unemployment among the new immigrants.
Over time, the Ethiopians settled mainly in the various cities and towns throughout Israel, mainly with the encouragement of the Israeli authorities whom granted the new immigrants generous government loans or low-interest mortgages. In many cases extended families of Ethiopean Jews voluntarily decided to settle in the same areas, thus creating many times ethnic enclaves within several Israeli cities and towns. In many cases this tendency contributed to the non-Ethiopian Israeli populations being more likely to leave the neighborhoods which had high concentrations of Ethiopian residents.
The adaptation of the religious leadership
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
has always doubted the validity of the marriages and conversions performed by the Beta Israel religious authorities, claiming that they are not complying with Halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. Initially, the Israeli Rabbinate requested that many immigrants were to go through a simplified conversion process before they got married in order to secure their Jewish status in Israel. Although these requests were originally widely accepted by the first Beta Israel immigrants from Tigray
Tigray Region
Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...
, these simplified conversion process ceremonies were largely rejected in 1985 by the Beta Israel immigrants from Gondar
Gondar
Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...
, resulting in a long ongoing conflict with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. The latter finally agreed to limit the number of these conversions and only conduct them in more dubious cases.
Regarding the religious leadership of the Beta Israel community, the 60 Kessim (priests) of the Ethiopian immigrants in Israel were employed by the Ministry of Religious Services
Ministry of Religious Services
The Ministry of Religious Services -Religious Services Minister:The Religious Services Minister of Israel is the political head of the Ministry of Religious Services and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet...
, and many of them continue to conduct religious ceremonies in Israel. They are however not recognized as rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s and thus, for example do not have the right to perform marriages (the Israeli ultra orthodox rabbis have a monopoly for conducting Jewish marriages in Israel). As a result, many of the Kessim of the Beta Israel community have lost their prestige and social status. Nevertheless, a new generation of rabbis of Ethiopian origin, which has been forming in the various yeshivot in Israel, is gradually emerging and taking over the religious power to Kessim. The Kessim generally tend to reject forcing the rules derived from the rabbinical Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, which they claim were not inscribed in the Bible.
Most of the religious traditions of the Beta Israel community seem to be diminishing rapidly, mainly due to the opposition from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Israeli way of life. In addition, the vast majority of Beta Israel students have been studying in the religious state school system, which promotes the orthodox Jewish practices. This generational shift causes a gap between the Beta Israel youth, whom pray in Hebrew according to the Jewish Orthodox rite, and their parents whom are trying somehow not to abandon the old religious traditions.
Socioeconomic status
The biggest challenge to the Israeli Ethiopian Jews probably lies in the very low level of formal education of the immigrants. With few exceptions, when they first arrived to Israel they had no useful training for a developed economy like that of Israel, and in addition to that they did not know Hebrew. Due to the oral nature of rural living in Ethiopia, illiteracy was very common (according to one estimate, 90% among adults aged 37 and above), although young people were better educated and a minority group amongst the Beta Israel immigrants did attend secondary schoolSecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
s in Ethiopia. Regarding the recent immigration of Falash Mura, NGOs (such as the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry) has attempted to provide those whom have been waiting for years in Ethiopia their immigration basic useful training for immigrants in Israel, as well as basic common concepts in Hebrew. Nevertheless, it is estimated that circa 80% of adult Falash Mura become unemployed in Israel.
Due to the significant difference between the qualifications of the Beta Israel community and the needs of the Israeli companies, high unemployment is common among the immigrants: In 2005 the unemployment rate was 65% amongst those over the age of 45. The younger generations born or whom have grown up in Israel are more successful in being absorbed into Israeli economy, especially due to receiving modern education, although the average rate of educated people amongst the Beta Israel community is still smaller than that of the general Jewish youth, and this factor delays the emergence of a larger middle class group of Ethiopian origin in the Israeli society. Despite that, in 2005, 3000 students graduated of higher education institutions, and 1,500 others graduated at the university. Nevertheless, even the academic graduates often experience trouble finding a job.
The low educational attainment, the very modest standard of living, and the occasionally degraded or isolated habitat - these set of circumstances relate and may in many times explain the development of delinquency
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
among the Beta Israel youth: in 2005 its rate was three times higher than the rate of the other Israeli youth.
Racism issues
The absorption of the Ethiopians into Israeli society represents an ambitious attempt to deny the significance of race Israeli authorities, aware of the situation of most African diaspora communities in other Western countries, hosted programs to avoid setting in patterns of discrimination. The Ethiopian Jewish community's internal challenges have been complicated by limited but real racist attitudes on the part of some elements of Israeli society and the official establishment.Racist attitudes, or prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
, do tend to still occasionally occur in the Israel towards the Beta Israel community, especially where high concentrations of Beta Israel exist.
In 2004, racism was alleged regarding delays in admitting black Ethiopian Jews to Israel under the Law of return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
. The delays in admitting Ethiopians may be attributed to religious motivations rather than racism, since there was debate whether or not Falasha Jews' (Beta Israel) were Jewish.
In 2005, racism was alleged when the mayor of Or Yehuda
Or Yehuda
Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....
, refused to absorb Ethiopian immigrants in their communities, mainly due to fear of having the property of the town decrease in value or having an increase in crime.
A survey published by the Jerusalem Post in 2005 indicated that 43% of Israelis do not want themselves or their children marrying a member of the Beta Israel community.
In 2009 school children of Ethiopian ancestry were denied admission into three semi-private religious schools in the town of Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
. An Israeli government official criticized the Petah Tikva Municipality and the semi-private Haredi schools, saying "This concerns not only the three schools that have, for a long time, been deceiving the entire educational system. For years, racism has developed here undeterred". Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef
Ovadia Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a recognised Talmudic scholar and foremost halakhic authority.He currently serves as the spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Israeli parliament...
threatened to fire any school principal from Shas's school system who refused to receive Ethiopian students. The Israeli Education Ministry decided to pull the funding from the Lamerhav, Da'at Mevinim and Darkei Noam schools, the three semi-private institutions that refused to accept the students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
spoke out against the rejection of Ethiopian children, calling it "a moral terror attack."
In 2010 Barry Rubin
Barry Rubin
Barry Rubin is an American-born Israeli expert in terrorism. He is a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel and the director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the IDC, and a senior fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center's International Policy...
, the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs
Middle East Review of International Affairs
Middle East Review of International Affairs is a quarterly journal on Middle East issues edited by Barry Rubin and published by the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, which he also owns and directs.The GLORIA Center also publishes...
(MERIA) Journal, said that while there have been some incidents in reaction to the arrival of Jews from Ethiopia, these have been few and universally rejected.
Politics
Ethiopian-Israelis have been participating more in Israeli political life. The Atid EkhadAtid Ekhad
-Background and ideology:Atid Ehad was established in order to fight the 2006 elections and was headed by Avraham Negusa.The party primarily represented the interests of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel, though its membership included non-Ethiopians such as Yitzakael Shtetzler and Yossi Abramovich,...
party sees itself as the political representative of the community, though other parties include Ethiopian members. In 2006, Shas
Shas
Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ...
, a party representing Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
Jews of Sephardic and Middle Eastern background, included an Ethiopian rabbi from Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
, in its list for the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
in a conscious attempt to represent diverse geographic and ethnic groups.
Shas was not the only party attempting to appeal to the Ethiopian vote. Herut and Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
both had Ethiopians on their lists. Shlomo Mula, head of the Jewish Agency's Ethiopian absorption department, was ranked 33 on Kadima's list and Avraham was number three on Herut's list.
Shas's spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, enthusiastically embraced Ethiopians when they first began immigrating to Israel four decades ago. Despite Rabbi Ovadia's halachic ruling, some refuse to marry Ethiopians without a conversion in accordance with official Chief Rabbinate policy. Only in cities and towns with rabbis that accept Ovadia's ruling or the ruling of Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren , was an Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi in Israel who founded and served as the first head of the Military Rabbinate of the Israel Defense Forces and subsequently as the third Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983.He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars,...
are Ethiopians married without immersion in a ritual bath (mikva) or, for men, hatafat dam, הטפת דם, see brit milah
Brit milah
The brit milah is a Jewish religious circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day old male infants by a mohel. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal .-Biblical references:...
), the symbolic cut to produce a drop of blood instead of circumcision.
Some non-Jewish Ethiopians expressed bitterness towards the Jewish emigration out of Ethiopia. Others hope that the growing Ethiopian population in Israel will create stronger social and political connections between Ethiopia and Israel. Some Ethiopian Jews currently participate in Israeli politics.
The Ethiopian government is also an important ally of Israel on the international stage. Israel often sends expertise assistance for development projects in Ethiopia. Strategically, Israel "has always aspired to protect itself by means of a non-Arab belt that has included at various times Iran, Turkey and Ethiopia."
Population
The following is a list of the 16 most significant Beta Israel population centers in Israel as of 2006:| Rank | City | Total population |
Beta Israel population |
% of City Pop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netanya Netanya Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the... |
173,000 | 10,200 | 5.9 |
| 2 | Beersheba Beersheba Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300.... |
185,443 | 6,216 | 3.4 |
| 3 | Ashdod | 204,153 | 6,191 | 3.0 |
| 4 | Rehovot Rehovot Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,... |
104,545 | 6,179 | 5.9 |
| 5 | Haifa Haifa Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher... |
266,280 | 5,484 | 2.1 |
| 6 | Ashkelon Ashkelon Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age... |
107,759 | 5,132 | 4.8 |
| 7 | Rishon LeZion | 222,041 | 5,004 | 2.3 |
| 8 | Hadera Hadera Hadera is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel approximately from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along of the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain... |
76,332 | 4,828 | 6.3 |
| 9 | Jerusalem | 733,329 | 4,526 | 0.6 |
| 10 | Petah Tikva Petah Tikva Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately... |
184,196 | 4,041 | 2.2 |
| 11 | Kiryat Malakhi | 19,519 | 3,372 | 17.3 |
| 12 | Ramla Ramla Ramla , is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 AD by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik after the Arab conquest of the region... |
64,172 | 3,297 | 5.1 |
| 13 | Lod Lod Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod... |
66,776 | 3,176 | 4.8 |
| 14 | Afula Afula Afula is a city in the North District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley", referring to the Jezreel Valley. The city had a population of 40,500 at the end of 2009.-History:... |
39,274 | 3,123 | 8.0 |
| 15 | Kiryat Gat | 47,794 | 3,062 | 6.4 |
| 16 | Beit Shemesh | 69,482 | 2,470 | 3.6 |
| 17 | Yavne Yavne Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:... |
31,884 | 2,102 | 6.6 |
| 18 | Kiryat Yam | 37,201 | 1,672 | 4.5 |
| 19 | Bat Yam | 129,437 | 1,502 | 11.2 |
| 20 | Safed Safed Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters... |
28,094 | 1,439 | 5.1 |
| 21 | Gedera Gedera -External links:** *... |
15,462 | 1,380 | 8.9 |
| 22 | Pardes Hanna-Karkur Pardes Hanna-Karkur Pardes Hanna-Karkur is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. In 2009, it had a population of 31,800.-History:In 1913, 15 square kilometers of land was purchased by the Hachsharat Hayishuv society from Arabs in Jenin and Haifa for 400,000 francs... |
29,835 | 1,333 | 4.5 |
| 23 | Netivot Netivot Netivot is a city in the Southern District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 26,700. It was founded in 1956 as a development town along with Sderot to the north, and Ofakim to the south... |
24,919 | 1,217 | 4.9 |
| 24 | Be'er Ya'akov | 9,356 | 1,039 | 11.1 |
| 25 | Ness Ziona Ness Ziona Ness Ziona is a city in central Israel founded in 1883. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 38,100, and its jurisdiction was 15,579 dunams.-Nahalat Reuben:... |
30,951 | 986 | 3.2 |
| 26 | Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with... |
384,399 | 970 | 0.3 |
| 27 | Or Yehuda Or Yehuda Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand.... |
31,255 | 903 | 2.9 |
| 28 | Migdal HaEmek | 24,705 | 882 | 3.6 |
| 29 | Holon | 167,080 | 825 | 0.5 |
| 30 | Yokneam | 18,453 | 772 | 4.2 |
| 31 | Kiryat Motzkin | 39,707 | 769 | 1.9 |
| 32 | Kiryat Ekron Kiryat Ekron Kiryat Ekron or Qiryath Eqron is an Israeli town located on the coastal plain in the Central Region of Israel. Kiryat Ekron is named after the biblical Ekron, a major Philistine city that once existed at nearby Tel Mikne.... |
9,900 | 735 | 7.4 |
| 34 | Karmiel Karmiel Karmiel is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre... |
44,108 | 667 | 1.5 |
| 35 | Kfar Saba Kfar Saba Kfar Saba , officially Kfar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2009, Kfar Saba had a total population of 83,600.-History:... |
81,265 | 665 | 0.8 |
| 36 | Tirat Carmel Tirat Carmel Tirat Carmel , or Tirat HaCarmel, is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2007 the city had a total population of 18,700.... |
18,734 | 635 | 3.4 |
| 37 | Arad | 23,323 | 602 | 2.6 |
| 38 | Ofakim | 24,447 | 598 | 2.4 |
| 39 | Nazareth Illit Nazareth Illit Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later... |
43,577 | 596 | 1.4 |
| 40 | Kiryat Bialik | 36,497 | 524 | 1.4 |
| 41 | Sderot Sderot Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip... |
19,841 | 522 | 2.6 |
| 42 | Ma'ale Adumim | 31,754 | 506 | 1.6 |
| 43 | Gan Yavne Gan Yavne Gan Yavne is a in the Center District of Israel, located adjacent to the city of Ashdod. It was founded in 1931 and declared a local council in 1950.Gan Yavne lies east of the Tel-Aviv–Ashkelon highway... |
15,826 | 501 | 3.2 |
| 44 | Tiberias | 39,996 | 483 | 1.2 |
| 45 | Bnei Brak | 147,940 | 461 | 0.3 |
| 46 | Rosh HaAyin Rosh HaAyin Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek... |
37,453 | 424 | 1.1 |
| 47 | Kfar Yona | 14,118 | 413 | 2.9 |
| 48 | Ra'anana Ra'anana Ra'anana is a city in the heart of the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel with a population of 68,300, . Ra'anana is bordered by Kfar Sava on the east and Herzliya on the southwest... |
72,832 | 385 | 0.5 |
| 49 | Kiryat Ata | 49,466 | 350 | 0.7 |
| 50 | Eilat | 46,349 | 331 | 0.7 |
| 51 | Nahariya Nahariya Nahariya is the northernmost coastal city in Israel, with an estimated population of 51,200.-History:Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the Fifth Aliyah in the 1930s... |
50,439 | 309 | 0.6 |
| 52 | Herzliya Herzliya Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the western part of the Tel Aviv District. It has a population of 87,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 26 km²... |
84,129 | 271 | 0.3 |
| 53 | Beit She'an | 16,432 | 230 | 1.4 |
| 54 | Hod HaSharon Hod HaSharon Hod HaSharon is a city in the Center District of Israel.Officially declared a city in 1990, Hod HaSharon was created from the union in 1964 of four neighboring villages: Magdiel, Ramatayim, Hadar, and Ramat Hadar... |
44,567 | 210 | 0.5 |
| 55 | Yehud-Monosson Yehud-Monosson Yehud-Monosson is the joint municipality of the town of Yehud and the neighboring communal settlement of Neve Monosson in central Israel, created by their partial municipal merger in 2003, under the terms of which Neve Monosson retained municipal autonomy under a Local Administration ... |
25,464 | 172 | 0.7 |
| 56 | Nesher Nesher Nesher is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In 2011, Nesher had a population of 23,000. The mayor of Nesher is David Amar.-Etymology:... |
21,246 | 166 | 0.8 |
| 57 | Even Yehuda | 9,711 | 163 | 1.7 |
| 58 | Ofra Ofra Ofra is an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank in the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. It is situated on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus , 25 km from Jerusalem and has 3,200 inhabitants .... |
2,531 | 131 | 5.2 |
| 59 | Kedumim Kedumim Kedumim , also spelled Qedumim, is an Israeli settlement and a town located in the Samarian hills of the West Bank that was founded during Hanukkah 1975 and now enjoys the municipal status of local council. Founded in 1975 by members of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, its current population is... |
3,208 | 104 | 3.2 |
| 60 | Ramat Gan | 129,658 | 101 | 0.1 |
The City of Kiryat Malakhi has a large concentration of Ethiopian Jews, with 17.3% of the towns population being members of the Beta Israel.
Language
The main language used for communication among Israeli citizens and amongst the Ethiopian Jews in Israel is Modern HebrewModern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
.
The majority of the Beta Israel immigrants continue to mainly speak in Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
(primarily) and Tigrinya
Tigrinya language
Tigrinya , also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrnia, Tigrina, Tigriña, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic language spoken by the Tigrinya people in central Eritrea , where it is one of the two main languages of Eritrea, and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia , where it...
at home with their family members and friends. The Amharic language and the Tigrinya language are written in the Ge'ez script
Ge'ez alphabet
Ge'ez , also called Ethiopic, is a script used as an abugida for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea but originated in an abjad used to write Ge'ez, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church...
, originally developed for the now-extinct Ge'ez language
Ge'ez language
Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the northern region of Ethiopia and southern Eritrea in the Horn of Africa...
.
Ethiopian Heritage Museum
A museum highlighting the culture and heritage of the Ethiopian Jewish community is to be built in RehovotRehovot
Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...
. The museum, planned as a research, interpretive and spiritual center, is the brainchild of Tomer. This is an association of veteran Ethiopian immigrants and former Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agents who participated in the first operations to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
Plans for the museum, expected to cost some $4.5 million, include a model Ethiopian village, an herb garden, an artificial stream, an amphitheater, classrooms, and a memorial to both Ethiopian Jews who died in Sudan on their way to Israel, and Ethiopian Zionist activists. "We view the conservation of the past as very important and believe the museum will attract young people and adults alike," Rehovot
Rehovot
Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...
Mayor Shuki Forer says.
Numerous Ethiopian Jews live in Rehovot and surrounding towns, which is why it was chosen as the site of the museum. The city has set aside 6 dunams (6,000 m²), of land for the museum complex.
One of the museum's founders was Baruch Tegegne
Baruch Tegegne
Baruch Tegegne , was a prominent leader of Ethiopian Jews in Israel and advocate of their immigration in the 1980s and 1990s. He lived in Israel.-Early years:...
, who pioneered escape routes from Ethiopia via Sudan and fought for the right of Jews to emigrate to Israel. Other founders include veteran Ethiopian rights activist Babu Yaakov, a former member of the Ramle City Council, and Shetu Barehon, who worked in the transit camps in Sudan to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. A number of Ethiopian Jewish spiritual leaders and rabbis are also working to increase support for the project in the community and the Diaspora.
Bar-Yuda's long association with the Ethiopian Jewish community began in 1958. The Jewish Agency asked him to go to Ethiopia to look for Jews and to reach remote villages. His report, together with a 16th Century ruling by Rabbi David B. Zimra
David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra
Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Zimra , also called Radbaz after the initials of his name, Rabbi David iBn Zimra, was an early Acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading posek, rosh yeshiva, chief rabbi, and author of more than 3,000 responsa as well as several scholarly...
, known as the Radbaz, was the basis for chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef's determination in 1973 that the Jews of Ethiopia were to be considered Jews according to halakha (Jewish religious law).
See also
- Beta IsraelBeta IsraelBeta Israel Israel, Ge'ez: ቤተ እስራኤል - Bēta 'Isrā'ēl, modern Bēte 'Isrā'ēl, EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "Community of Israel" also known as Ethiopian Jews , are the names of Jewish communities which lived in the area of Aksumite and Ethiopian Empires , nowadays divided between Amhara and Tigray...
- Israeli Jews
- Aliyah from EthiopiaAliyah from EthiopiaThe Jewish aliyah from Ethiopia began during the mid-1970s, during which the majority of the Jewish Ethiopians immigrated to Israel.- Eligibility of Jewish Ethiopians for Aliyah :...
- Jews and Judaism in Africa
- Ethiopia–Israel relationsEthiopia–Israel relationsEthiopia–Israel relations are foreign relations between Ethiopia and Israel. Both countries re-established diplomatic relation in 1992. Ethiopia has an embassy in Tel Aviv; the ambassador is also accredited to the Holy See, Greece and Cyprus...