JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

as “an act of renewing their covenant with the Jewish people”
(Jerusalem Post, August 1977).
Some Ethiopian Jews, who have suffered much as a people
to preserve their Judaism against almost insurmountable
odds, felt the ceremony was an insult. Nonetheless, all went
through with it until 1985 when they started to oppose to it.
This opposition culminated in a month-long strike in the autumn
of 1985 that ended with an agreement (S. Kaplan “The
Beta Israel and the Rabbinate: Law, Politics and Ritual,” Social
Science Information 27, 3, 1988, pp. 357–70). Nevertheless this
issue continued to be considered very sensitive and when in
1989 rabbi David Chelouche was appointed marriage registrar
for all Ethiopians in the country the question was settled by a
compromise: “Since he did not believe that Ethiopians needed
to undergo any form of conversion, those married under his
auspices were exempted from any preconditions not imposed
on other Israelis” (S. Kaplan and H. Salomon, “Ethiopian Jews
in Israel: a Part of the people or Apart from the people?” in
U. Rebhun and C. Waxman (eds.), Jews in Israel: Contemporary
Social and Cultural Patterns, Hanover and London,
2003, pp. 118–148: 131)
[Howard M. Lenhoff / E. Trevisan Semi (2nd ed.)]
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFORTS. In the U.S. during April 1974,
the old American Pro-Beta Israel Committee started by Professor
Jacques Faitlovitch and another committee merged to
form the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. This new
organization, founded by Dr. Graenum Berger, has brought
the plight of the Ethiopian Jews to the forefront of issues in
American Jewry, and supports many absorption programs
in Israel. Also in the U.S., the National Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council in 1980 formed a Committee on
Ethiopian Jewry.
In 1977, the ORT World Union established a nonsecular
training program in Addis Ababa and in the province of Gondar
that affected a number of Ethiopian Jews.
ETHIOPIAN JEWS IN ISRAEL. In Israel, the Ethiopian Jews
demonstrated against the government, the Jewish Agency
and world Jewish leadership on January 1, 1979, and again on
October 30, 1979, for not doing enough to bring their people
to Israel. Following these demonstrations, Prime Minister
Begin met with the leaders of the Ethiopian Jews of Israel
and pledged his full support to save their people and to bring
them to Israel. Renewed demonstrations took place in December
1981. At the end of the 1970s there were about 1,000
Ethiopian Jewish residents of Israel, whereas estimates of the
number of Beta Israel remaining in war-torn Ethiopia ranged
from 20,000 to 25,000.
[Howard M. Lenhoff]
1982–1992
In a decade of dramatic changes for World Jewry, the Beta
Israel stood out as the Jewish community that had undergone
the most dramatic transformation. At the end of 1982
the number of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel stood at about
beta israel
2,300 and the vast majority of community members were still
in Ethiopia. Ten years later the Beta Israel as a diaspora community
had ceased to exist. By the end of 1992 over 45,000
Ethiopian immigrants had settled in Israel. When those born
in Israel are included and those who have died subtracted, the
total number of Ethiopian Jews in Israel exceeds 50,000. (See
Table: Ethiopian Jews in Israel).
Despite the relatively short period within which the Beta
Israel were brought to Israel, each period in their immigration
had different characteristics. Most of those who came prior to
1984 were from the Tigre and Walqayit regions of northern
Ethiopia. They arrived in small numbers through the Sudan
and were gradually settled throughout Israel. In 1984 over ten
thousand Jews from the Gondar region of Ethiopia flooded
into Sudanese refugee camps. Initially they were brought out
a few hundred at a time, but deteriorating conditions necessitated
a more dramatic approach. During a period of less than
two months starting in mid-November 1984, more than 6,500
Beta Israel were airlifted to Israel in what became known as
“Operation Moses.” Premature publicity brought the operation
to a halt, but in March 1985 a further 650 Jews were rescued
in “Operation Joshua.” During the period from March
1985 to October 1989 only a relatively small number of Jews
managed to leave Ethiopia. The renewal of diplomatic relations
between lsrael and Ethiopia, however, paved the way for legal
emigration on the basis of family reunification. By the summer
of 1990 over twenty thousand Ethiopian Jews had migrated
to Addis Ababa in the hope of being taken to Israel. During
36 hours between May 24 and 25 as rebel troops threatened
to conquer the capital, over 14,000 Beta Israel were airlifted
to Israel in “Operation Solomon.” In the succeeding year
and a half, several thousand more Beta Israel were brought
to Israel. By the end of 1992 only a handful of Beta Israel remained
in Ethiopia. A large number (estimates vary between
30–250,000) of falas moura (Christians of Beta Israel descent)
remained in Ethiopia.
Although all the Beta Israel have left Ethiopia, their resettlement
in Israel is far from complete. Virtually every aspect
of their absorption process remains fraught with difficulties,
and a clear danger exists that Ethiopian Jews in Israel
will find themselves marginalized geographically, socially,
and religiously.
Despite clearly stated criteria for dispersing Ethiopian
immigrants around the country, settling them in permanent
apartments has always proven difficult. Housing in the designated
sites has not always been available, while local authorities
and residents have not necessarily welcomed the influx
of a dependent population. For their part the Ethiopians have
been reluctant to abandon the protection of immigrant housing
and have often refused to do so unless provided with housing
that meets all of their criteria regarding cost, proximity to
relatives, climate, and employment opportunities. Only after
immigrants have been settled in permanent apartments can
issues such as children’s education and long-term employment
be seriously confronted.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 507