A recent article from our newsletter

Operation Sheba

For centuries, Jews who called themselves "Beitah Israel" (The House of Israel), were isolated in the mountain highlands of Ethiopia. According to legend, Beitah Israel was descended from Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Another legend says they were the lost Tribe of Dan. Yet another says they are descendants of Jews who fled to Egypt after the fall of the First Temple in 586 BCE and eventually made their way to Ethiopia. Some people reject all these theories and hold that they are really descendents of Ethiopian Christians and pagans who converted to Judaism.

Throughout most of modern history, the outside world did not know of their existence. Beitah Israel maintained their isolation in part to protect themselves from persecution and forced conversion to Christianity or Islam. Living in thatched huts in small villages, surviving as subsistence farmers, these Jews practiced a form of Judaism based on the Torah, untouched by rabbinic teaching of later ages codified in the Talmud or Mishnah. Although their religious practices reflect their lack of contact with other Jewish communities, the Beitah Israel have kept the Sabbath and Holy Days and maintained dietary and other laws. The people preserved their traditions, faithfully transmitting them from generation to generation, largely through oral teaching of myths, stories and songs. Ethiopian Jews were known and accepted as Jews in the 16th century.

In 1972, Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi argued for their immigration to Israel as, once again, due to the political situation in Ethiopia, the people (also known as "Falashas," strangers) were facing a dire threat to their existence. The Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi agreed, telling the Ethiopian Jewish communities "You are our brothers, you are our blood and flesh. You are true Jews." Thus, under Israel's Law of Return, the Beitah Israel were entitled to make aliyah.

"Operation Moses" in the 1980s brought 8000 Ethiopian immigrants who arrived at a time of low immigration and whose entry into Israeli society, though difficult, was not as thorny as that of the 14,000 who came in 1991 as part of "Operation Solomon." Due to the threat to the community from war in Ethiopia, the Israelis authorized a special permit for El Al to fly on Shabbat. Over the period of a weekend, flying non-stop for 36 hours, jumbo jets with seats removed transferred over 14,000 Jews to safety in Israel.

If you can imagine yourself being transported to life in a mountain village
without running water or electricity, if you can imagine your lack of basic survival skills, lack of knowledge for finding food, making shelter, creating sanitary conditions, educating your children, coping with unknown dangers to yourself and your loved ones "some of whom may still be back home" then you can begin to imagine what these new immigrants faced coming to such a strange land as modern Israel a reverse situation just as alien in its modernity as what we would face transported to the mountains of Ethiopia.

"Operation Sheba" is a journey Kehillath Shalom will take with some Ethiopian Jews from Neve Yaacov in Israel. In partnership with our Ki Va Moed friend, Meira Partem, we are going to engage in a year of study with the Ethiopian community.  By pairing children here with children in Israel and adults with adults, we will be able to study Ethiopian Jewish history and culture and teach American Jewish history and culture on a very personal level. We will be following a curriculum that will be developed by our educators, Dalia and Vicki, who will be working with educators in Israel. The Israel Committee will work with them, with Meira and with Merav Baruch, an educator of Ethiopian descent, to create a parallel program for adults. We envision lots of emails, video conferences, exchange of arts and artifacts, questions and answers, all aimed at getting to know one another in depth. We expect this to be a very special stimulating educational opportunity for our synagogue. We hope every single member of Kehillath Shalom will participate.

As we outline our project, we will be sharing information with you.

Judy Davis