Graenum Berger
Encyclopedia
Graenum Berger was an American Communal administrator, institutional and communal planner, educator, world traveler, and the founding President of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews.
Born in Gloversville
, New York
of Jewish immigrant parents, in 1955, Graenum Berger met a group of Ethiopian Jewish students in Israel
. He had known there was a Jewish tribe in Ethiopia, but knew little about them. He began reading, and writing letters, and in ten years accumulated a vast file of information. In Ethiopia in 1965, he found penniless Jews (known as Falasha) trying to eke out a primitive living in a country that discriminated against them in every aspect of their lives. As a Jewish communal executive who knew all the professional and volunteer leaders in the American Jewish community, he assumed all he had to do was bring the problems of the Ethiopian Jews to their attention and they would be solved. He also presumed Israel would rise to the occasion and undertake a resettlement effort. He was wrong on both counts. So began his 35 year effort to bring the 50,000 member Ethiopian Jewish community to Israel, which eventually led to Operation Moses
in 1984-85, and Operation Solomon
in 1991. Shortly before his death, Dr. Berger was asked to comment on the "Felash Mura", descendants if ancient Falasha whose families had long abandoned Judaism. He felt they were not Jews and should not be granted the right to go to Israel under the Law of Return. Regardless, the aliyah of the Felash Mura eventually began and continues to this day at the rate of 300 per month.
Berger was given an old prayer book written in Ge'ez and a circumcision knife by the community that he originally contacted as a thanks. After his death, they were given by his family to the rabbi of a synagogue in New York he was a founding member of, the Pelham Jewish Center.
After 43 years of professional leadership, Berger retired in 1973. He authored a number of books including The Jewish Community as a Fourth Force in American Jewish Life (1966); Black Jews in America (1978); The Turbulent Decades, vol. I and II (1981); an autobiography, Graenum (1987); a biography about his brother, Ambassador Samuel D. Berger, A Not So Silent Envoy in 1992, and a memoir, Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! (1996), the story of his quest. Yeshiva University
awarded Graenum the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 1973. In 1989, the Graenum Berger Bronx Jewish Federation Service Center, a social welfare agency, was named in his honor. Dr. Berger died in 1999.
Born in Gloversville
Gloversville, New York
Gloversville is a city in Fulton County, New York, that was once the hub of America's glovemaking industry with over two hundred manufacturers in Gloversville and Johnstown. In 2000, Gloversville had a population of 15,413. Ten years later, the population had increased to 15,665- History :The...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
of Jewish immigrant parents, in 1955, Graenum Berger met a group of Ethiopian Jewish students in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He had known there was a Jewish tribe in Ethiopia, but knew little about them. He began reading, and writing letters, and in ten years accumulated a vast file of information. In Ethiopia in 1965, he found penniless Jews (known as Falasha) trying to eke out a primitive living in a country that discriminated against them in every aspect of their lives. As a Jewish communal executive who knew all the professional and volunteer leaders in the American Jewish community, he assumed all he had to do was bring the problems of the Ethiopian Jews to their attention and they would be solved. He also presumed Israel would rise to the occasion and undertake a resettlement effort. He was wrong on both counts. So began his 35 year effort to bring the 50,000 member Ethiopian Jewish community to Israel, which eventually led to Operation Moses
Operation Moses
Operation Moses refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a famine in 1984...
in 1984-85, 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...
in 1991. Shortly before his death, Dr. Berger was asked to comment on the "Felash Mura", descendants if ancient Falasha whose families had long abandoned Judaism. He felt they were not Jews and should not be granted the right to go to Israel under the Law of Return. Regardless, the aliyah of the Felash Mura eventually began and continues to this day at the rate of 300 per month.
Berger was given an old prayer book written in Ge'ez and a circumcision knife by the community that he originally contacted as a thanks. After his death, they were given by his family to the rabbi of a synagogue in New York he was a founding member of, the Pelham Jewish Center.
After 43 years of professional leadership, Berger retired in 1973. He authored a number of books including The Jewish Community as a Fourth Force in American Jewish Life (1966); Black Jews in America (1978); The Turbulent Decades, vol. I and II (1981); an autobiography, Graenum (1987); a biography about his brother, Ambassador Samuel D. Berger, A Not So Silent Envoy in 1992, and a memoir, Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! (1996), the story of his quest. Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
awarded Graenum the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 1973. In 1989, the Graenum Berger Bronx Jewish Federation Service Center, a social welfare agency, was named in his honor. Dr. Berger died in 1999.