OUT OF AFRICA: When the Ethiopians were brought to Israel during Operations Moses and Solomon, the flight from, "Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv took illiterate villagers from one of the world's poorest countries to an urbanized, high-tech center" (The Israelis, 159). The Israelis took great pride in helping the exodus of it's long lost bretheran. In a country of varying consensus, "almost all agreed that the rescue of Ethiopia's Jews was one of the country's finest moments" (The Israelis, 159). During Operation Solomon, the amount of Ethiopian passengers on board set a Guinness book of World Record for most passengers on a plane! The numbers are staggering, "In thirty-six hours, Israelis smuggled 14,324 Ethiopian Jews abourd thirty-three jets" (The Israelis, 158).
Upon arrival into Israel, the Ethiopians seemed very backward in their new state. Israel at this time (1984-1991) was becoming one of the high-tech countries of the world. The Ethiopians called the planes, "big birds with metal wings," the first planes they've ever seen. Ethiopians were placed in converted hotels among other living arrangements. With newly arrived Soviets living in the same buildings, the Soviets thought it was quite odd that, "their new neighbors didn't turn off lights or faucets because they feared the miraculous electricity and water wouldn't reappear" (The Israelis, 159). No other immigrant group in Israel was as un-modern as the Ethiopians were.
Ethiopian Jews, "preserved Judaism for centuries after being cut off" (The Israelis, 160). They ate kosher food according to strict Jewish guidelines, prayed, and celebrated Jewish holidays just as their Israeli Jewish bretheran did. In Israeli society, they were still a bit skeptical of the Ethiopian Jew. According to Rosenthal, "no group has arrived with more handicaps: blacks in a white society, preindustrial villagers in an urbanized postindustrial country" (The Israelis, 166). Because of this, "Ethiopians are the poorest Jewish group in Israel" (The Israelis, 168). In the boarding schools that Ethiopian children attended in Israel, one boy tells a story where, "the boarding schools made the same mistakes they did with the Mizrahim, he says, "making us ashamed of our culture, and our religious traditions" (The Israelis, 169). The Ahkanazi are the "dominant" culture in Israel. They believe that any Jewish traditions must be exactly the way they know it, with no exceptions.
Upon arrival into Israel, the Ethiopians seemed very backward in their new state. Israel at this time (1984-1991) was becoming one of the high-tech countries of the world. The Ethiopians called the planes, "big birds with metal wings," the first planes they've ever seen. Ethiopians were placed in converted hotels among other living arrangements. With newly arrived Soviets living in the same buildings, the Soviets thought it was quite odd that, "their new neighbors didn't turn off lights or faucets because they feared the miraculous electricity and water wouldn't reappear" (The Israelis, 159). No other immigrant group in Israel was as un-modern as the Ethiopians were.
Ethiopian Jews, "preserved Judaism for centuries after being cut off" (The Israelis, 160). They ate kosher food according to strict Jewish guidelines, prayed, and celebrated Jewish holidays just as their Israeli Jewish bretheran did. In Israeli society, they were still a bit skeptical of the Ethiopian Jew. According to Rosenthal, "no group has arrived with more handicaps: blacks in a white society, preindustrial villagers in an urbanized postindustrial country" (The Israelis, 166). Because of this, "Ethiopians are the poorest Jewish group in Israel" (The Israelis, 168). In the boarding schools that Ethiopian children attended in Israel, one boy tells a story where, "the boarding schools made the same mistakes they did with the Mizrahim, he says, "making us ashamed of our culture, and our religious traditions" (The Israelis, 169). The Ahkanazi are the "dominant" culture in Israel. They believe that any Jewish traditions must be exactly the way they know it, with no exceptions.Prejudice against Ethiopians from Israelis comes more or less from ignorance rather than overt racism. The "Big Outrage" as the Ethiopians call it, came during a blood drive. Israeli officials were throwing out blood donated by Ethiopians becuase they thought that it might contain HIV. An uproar of Ethiopian protesters, "pelted police with rocks and bottles filled with fake blood. Others held banners that read "Our blood is as red as yours" and "We are just as Jewish as you are!" (The Israelis, 174). I believe that Israelis were oblivious to the situation in Africa. Obviously they assumed that people from Africa all had the chance of having AIDS.
The Rabbinic establishment insists on rituals that Ethiopian Jews must do in order to prove their Jewishness. The Ethiopian people are outtraged by this! Nonetheless, "the Chief Rabbinate insists they go through a symbolic conversion ceremony to remove all doubts about their Jewishness" (The Israelis, 177). The Kessim, which was the religious authority of the Jews in Ethiopia, now has little to no authority. Solomon, an Ethiopian Israeli, tells a story about when his mother passed away. In the tradition of Jews in Ethiopia, the Kes handles the burial/funeral. At his mother's funeral, "fifteen learned Kessim [were] there and they all knew how to bury my mother according to our traditions, which are right out of the Five Books of Moses. Sadly, in Israel, none of them could" (The Israelis, 179).
New steps of intigrating Ethiopians into Israeli society have been slowly underway. Education programs, University scholarships, and the ENP (Ethiopian National Project) have been making strides toward furthur intigration. Ethiopians as well as Israelis know the importance of education. Most of the new programs for Ethiopians are for just that, education. Not all Ethiopian-Israelis are poor and uneducated. Sadly, the majority of them are!
BELOW IS A GOOD STORY OF AN ETHIOPIAN IN THE KNESSET.
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