Ethiopian Outreach
Newsflash: LAST OF ETHIOPIAN
JEWRY TO RETURN TO ISRAEL
Israel has decided to bring the last 20,000 members
of the Ethiopian Falash Mura tribe to the Jewish state by the end
of 2007. "We're talking about 600 people a month, over 7,000
people a year, for this year and the next two years after that,"
said Michael Rosenberg of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency,
which is responsible for immigration.
The Falash Mura will join the 90,000
Ethiopian Jews already in Israel. The so-called "Black Jews"
were brought here in secret airlifts in 1984 and 1991. But the fate
of the Falash Mura has sparked heated debate for years. The tribe
claims it was forced to convert to Christianity in the 19th century,
but secretly remained faithful to Judaism.
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 There
are about 80,000 Ethiopian Falasha Jews that live in Israel today, with
about 15,000 still in Ethiopia. They trace their lineage back 3,000 years
to the reign of King Solomon, and the famous Queen of Sheba who marveled
at his wisdom (1 Kings 10). Many Ethiopians in Israel feel like second-class
citizens due to lack of education, and doubts that have arisen regarding
the “Jewishness” of large numbers within their community.
A staggering 72% of Ethiopian Israelis live below the poverty line, and
many of the older Ethiopian Jews have packed up what little they had and
have returned to Ethiopia.
Culturally, Ethiopians are reserved and timid, and often find themselves
at the end of the line when it comes to social assistance programs in
Israel. For Zion’s Sake Ministries reaches
out to this often forgotten segment of Israeli society with the distribution
of food coupons and humanitarian aid.
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