Preserving ancient Jewish traditions

Jewish Ethiopians claim a few different origins stories. Some believe they are descendants of the lost tribe of Dan, which the Assyrians exiled before the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians. Others think they come from Yemenite or Egyptian Jews. Others say they descend from the Israelites who accompanied King Solomon's son and the Queen of Sheba back to Ethiopia. While the origin story of Ethiopian Jews remains unclear, their courage, faith, and love for the Jewish homeland, along with the daring of the Mossad and the activism of North American Jews, resulted in the return of thousands of Jews to Israel.

The Beta Israel, as they call themselves, are proud of their rich heritage, which they have preserved for over a thousand years in the mountains of East Africa. Isolated from other Jewish communities, they believed they were the only Jews in the world, continuing to observe Shabbat, Kosher, and Jewish holidays, even unaware that the First Temple had been destroyed.

Persecution and resistance

When Christianity swept through Ethiopia, Beta Israel's newly Christian neighbors tried everything to destroy the Jewish community, from massacres and forced conversions to enslavement and isolation. They were labeled "Falasha," meaning invader or stranger, despite their ancient roots that predated the advent of Christianity. The Beta Israel fought back, with legends of Jewish power like the story of the mighty Queen Judith, who sacked Christian kingdoms. However, they ultimately lost a major battle, and many chose death over slavery or forced baptism.

The struggle for recognition

Despite Beta Israel's efforts to return to Zion, they faced resistance from some in the Israeli government who doubted their Jewishness. It was only when Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef declared the Ethiopian Jews to be fully Jewish and the descendants of the lost tribe of Dan that the tides began to turn. But even then, the situation in Ethiopia was growing increasingly hostile, with the Beta Israel facing harassment, monitoring, and torture if they tried to leave.

The Mossad's daring rescue mission

Ethiopian Jewish activist Ferede Aklum spoke out against the systematic persecution his community faced. He was forced to flee to Sudan, where he made contact with Israeli Mossad agents. He hatched a plan with them to bring his community to Sudan, where they would stay in refugee camps posing as Christian Ethiopian refugees from the Ethiopian Civil War until the Mossad could secretly bring them to the Holy Land.

Using an abandoned diving resort on the Sudanese coast as a cover for their operation, Mossad agents successfully evacuated 8,000 refugees to an Israeli ship waiting off the coast. The grueling trek through the desert to the resort left many dead from dehydration, starvation, and attacks from hostile forces along the way. Parents buried children and children buried parents.

When the diving resort cover was blown, Ethiopian Jews who were waiting in the Sudanese refugee camps were stranded for months and about 5,000 died of starvation and disease. Mossad managed to smuggle some Beta Israel in boxes labeled "US diplomatic mail" and were airlifted out of Sudan.

Demonstrations and pressure

Once in Israel, they became known as "orphans of circumstance" as many had families still in Ethiopia that could not make the arduous journey through the desert. Beta Israel members in Israel and Jews in North America demonstrated for years, demanding that the Israeli government save all Jews stuck in Ethiopia.

In 1984, following the pressure of the US, the Sudanese government allowed the emigration of 7,200 Beta Israel refugees. These two immigration waves were named Operation Moses and Operation Joshua.

In 1991, for 36 hours, 34 El Al passenger planes, with their seats removed to maximize passenger capacity, brought 14,000 more refugees to Israel to reunite with their families. The heroic evacuation was dubbed Operation Solomon.

The struggle continues

The story of the Ethiopian Aliyah is often presented as a triumph, a testament to the Mossad's cleverness and the Israeli government's determination to bring every Jew home. But this version of the story leaves out the crucial contribution of the Beta Israel themselves, who organized, protested, and sacrificed everything to make it to the Holy Land. Even today, the struggle continues, as thousands of Ethiopian Jews wait in Ethiopia for their chance to come home.

The story of the Beta Israel is complex and multifaceted, full of broken promises, secret agreements, and the unwavering determination of an ancient community. It is a story of courage, endurance, and deep faith, as well as the struggle for Jewish unity and the ongoing efforts to build a society that embraces all Jews without discrimination. As the Jewish state continues to grapple with these challenges, the story of the Ethiopian Aliyah remains a powerful reminder of the resilience and perseverance of the Jewish people.

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Kes Raphael Hadane, known as the Liqa Kahenat (High Priest) of the Beta Israel community, passed away Sunday at age 97, only a day after his wife, Alemitu. The couple, who were married 77 years, were laid to rest in Beit Shemesh.

Hadane was born in a village in the Bagmadar District of Ethiopia and was orphaned while still a child. In 1954, he began studying Hebrew and rabbinical Judaism, and was then hired by the Jewish Agency to teach Hebrew and Jewish studies. In 1976, he was ordained the "liqa kahenat" (high priest for a given region) and served as a rabbinical judge. In 1985, he made aliyah.

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When he moved to Israel, he began working on behalf of the country's Ethiopian immigrant community. Among other things, he oversaw negotiations about the rabbinate's demand that Ethiopian Jews undergo conversion, which outraged the Ethiopian immigrants, who said they were Jewish and had no need to convert. Eventually, Sephardi rabbi and spiritual leader of the Shas movement Rabbi Ovadia Yosef adopted that position.

Because of Hadane's position in the controversy, he was declared a persona non grata by members of the Ethiopian community. Later, he made another controversial decision when he recognized members of Ethiopia's Falash Mura group as part of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) community and worked to bring them to Israel.

For years, Hadane presided over the memorial ceremonies honoring the Ethiopian Jews who died en route to Israel.

Hadane's children continued on the path of public service. One of his sons, Rabbi Yosef Hadane, served as chief rabbi for Ethiopian Jews in the Chief Rabbinate until 2017.

Beit Shemesh was shocked to hear of the deaths of Kes Hadane and his wife.

"For years, the couple worked on behalf of the Ethiopian community, lending their hand to any person who needed help and kindness, expecting nothing in return, and founded the wonder Ethiopian Jewish synagogue on Bar-Ilan [street]," Beit Shemesh News reported.

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While Yevarkan told Israel Hayom that a new town for Ethiopian-Israelis would be the "fulfillment of a dream," many members of the community said it would take them "many steps backward."

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Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, also an immigrant from Ethiopia, said, "The project for an Ethiopian-only town is foolishness, and this thinking will lead to separatism and segregation for Ethiopian immigrants in Israel. It won't happen on my watch!"

Tamano-Shata said that if Yevarkan supported the idea of an Ethiopian-only community, he should not be trying to fight segregated schools.

"He is actually calling for Ethiopian-Israelis to be separated from the rest of the population," the aliyah and integration minister said.

In a Facebook post directed at Yevarkan, Tamano-Shata wrote: "You are making a mistake, a big mistake. Our forefathers' dream was never to build a separate community for Ethiopian Jews in Israel, and certainly not to live in separate communities, but rather to return to Zion and reunite with the rest of the Tribes of Israel."

"Sadly, there are already neighborhoods that have turned into 'Ethiopian communities' … this idea puts the community back years," Tamano-Shata wrote.

After coming into blistering criticism, Yevarkan told Israel Hayom that he wanted to clarify that "a community of this kind would provide a housing solution for young couples. The town would be founded based on having a majority Ethiopian-Israeli population, and on the heritage and culture of the Beta Israel people and the Jewish people, with the rich cultural life, concern for each other, love for people and the Land of Israel on which we were raised.

"The values that characterize the Beta Israel community can be a model for the rest of Israeli society. There is no better place for these values to flourish than one of empowerment. Anyone who is not Ethiopian-Israeli and wants to be part of the town will be welcome," Yevarkan said.

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At least 119 Ethiopian Jews from will make the journey to their new homeland, marking the second time members of Beta Israel will be allowed to move to Israel since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to Haaretz.

The Beta Israel are descendants of Ethiopian Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The new Israelis will depart from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on a special flight Thursday afternoon arranged by the Jewish Agency, Haaretz reported.

The development comes just days after the first Ethiopian-born Israeli lawmaker, Pnina Tamanu-Shata, was named as the country's new Minister of Aliyah and Integration for the Blue and White party.

Some 400 Beta Israel community members were allowed to make aliyah (immigration to Israel) in February and arrived just a week before the country held its third election in under a year.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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Representing thousands of their fellow Ethiopian Jews, the gathering expressed concern that Israel's proposed budget removes the funding to help them move to Israel to reunite with relatives. Many held photos of their loved ones.

Nearly 8,000 Jews remain in the East African nation, and most are said to have family members already in Israel. Some told The Associated Press they have been separated for well over a decade.

In 1991, with Ethiopia deep in civil war, Israel carried out the dramatic Operation Solomon, successfully airlifting out some 14,500 Ethiopian Jews in less than two days.

In 2015, Israel's government pledged to bring in the remaining Ethiopian Jews, and 1,300 were brought in last year, but the effort is now on hold.

"All of us here in Ethiopia are in a foreign land and suffering from acute poverty and hunger," said Meles Sidisto, the community head of Ethiopian Jews in Addis Ababa.

"We have had enough here. What have we done wrong to suffer this much?" he said, bursting into tears and prompting others to cry out.

He said Addis Ababa's Jewish community, which numbers around 800 households, will hold a hunger strike if the Israeli government does not hear its plea.

Likud MK Avraham Neguise, who chairs the Knesset's Absorption and Diaspora Committee, said the budget for the plan will be voted on in the coming weeks. He accused the government of discrimination, saying it makes it easier for other Diaspora communities to immigrate.

"You cannot find any other communities where the parent is here and children are there and children are here and parents are there and are forced to be separated," he said. "It is only the Ethiopian Jewish community, not the Americans, not the Russians, not Europeans. If this isn't discrimination, what do you call it?"

Of the Jews remaining in Ethiopia, 783 are separated from their children and more than 2,000 have parents or siblings in Israel, he said.

While Israeli law allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to immigrate, the trouble in Ethiopia centers on the community's ancestors, said Alisa Bodner, a spokeswoman for the group Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah.

Those ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity about a century ago, while their descendants have returned to a "fully Jewish lifestyle," she said.

Wednesday's gathering was described as a solidarity event. Ethiopians are prohibited from holding protests under the country's latest state of emergency, imposed this month after the most severe anti-government demonstrations in a quarter-century.

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment on the issue of the Ethiopian Jews.

Most of the community lives in the northern Amhara region, one of the areas that has experienced the sometimes deadly anti-government protests that began in November 2015 with demands for greater freedoms.

The origin of the Ethiopian Jews is unclear but a popular legend says they descended from the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Ethiopian Jews are often referred to in Ethiopia as "Falashas," a derogatory word that translates into "strangers" or "migrants."

Chekol Alemayehu said he has been waiting desperately to go to Israel and meet his relatives. He said he had completed all the immigration papers but was turned back at the airport more than a decade ago.

"I've no idea why. My daughter died in Israel a few months ago. And I've been suffering since," he said.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jews in Addis Ababa said they want, immediately and without any preconditions, to go to Israel and join family members.

"We will never lose hope in going to Israel because we are winner people," the letter says. "Dear Mr. Prime Minister, we want you to make our wish a reality. We ask you this in the name of our God, Israel's God."

The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment.

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