Today in Israeli history — a groundbreaking aliyah
(Photo: IDF)
Comments (9) »On this date, 27 years ago, a historic operation was conducted that brought over 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, to the place that had been the subject of their longing for so many years.
In the 1970’s, the Israeli government made the decision to authorize the use of the IDF to enable the immigration of thousands of Jews who were living in Ethiopia, a country that at the time forbade its citizens from immigrating to Israel. The operation was particularly challenging and risky and made even more so due to the fact that at the time no diplomatic relations existed between Ethiopia and Israel. The operation consisted of Ethiopia’s Jews first reaching neutral Sudan, then being transported by sea from there to Israel with help from IDF’s Navy. Between 1977 and 1984, about 5,000 Ethiopian Jews reached Israel this way, until the IDF’s generals decided that the transport posed too much of a risk for the new immigrants.
Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 3:15 PM | Stand for Israel
A Seder to remember
Last week in Mevaseret Zion, a Jerusalem suburb located along the Judean hills that connect with Jerusalem, I joined a mock Passover Seder – a reenactment of the traditional Jewish Passover meal. This mock Seder was held for recent Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel, many of whom had never held their own Seder.
The pre-Passover Seder was celebrated both to familiarize these Ethiopian Jewish immigrants with this important Jewish observance, and to mark the wondrous story of Ethiopian Jewry returning to their homeland after experiencing exile and isolation for more than two thousand years. Held at a Fellowship-funded Ethiopian Community Center, the event was attended by The Fellowship’s Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky. The Community Center serves the Mevaseret Zion Ethiopian community, many of whom live in the surrounding absorption center housing.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of The Fellowship and Natan Sharansky of the Jewish Agency for Israel (partially hidden) introduce matzah to an Ethiopian child
When I arrived at the event I met a young man named Dabbas. We spoke about his life here in Israel and his desire to see his entire family reunited in the Holy Land. Though Dabbas has been in Israel for six years, his parents finally made the journey to Israel three months ago. This will be the first Passover he will celebrate with his parents.
The plight of Dabbas and his family is similar to that of many Ethiopians who waited years in their home country for the opportunity to come to Israel. Because of strict limitations on aliyah (immigration to Israel) imposed by the Ethiopian government, families are often split in the immigration process, with some members coming to the Holy Land while the rest of the family is forced to remain behind.
Seeing the happy smiles and warm tears running down faces at the mock Seder, I realized how privileged I was to be seeing the ingathering of Jewish exiles unfold before my eyes. I was reminded of the struggles our…
Read More » Comments (3) »Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 2:36 PM | Amichai Farkas
Watch video of Yemenite Jews coming home
We told you how Jews in Yemen need to get out, and how a bunch got out last year. Watch this video about some of the Yemenite Jews who came home last year through a quiet operation run by the Jewish Agency, IFCJ’s partner organization.
If you want to learn more, read about IFCJ’s On Wings of Eagles program.
Comments (0) »Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 10:50 AM | Stand For Israel
Al Quaida and war in Yemen imperils remaining Jews, Israel working to bring them home
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the pre-eminent spiritual leader of Sephardi Jews around the world, greets a family of Yemenite immigrants in Jerusalem in November. (Courtesy of ISRANET)
Around 120 Jews remain in Yemen, the country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula that’s been in headlines lately as a hotbed of al Quaida and other anti-Western, Islamic fundamentalist activity, and Jews around the world–and their friends–are working to get them out.
Yemen’s Jewish community had been one of the world’s oldest and most interesting; the community is believed to have been established during the time of the First Temple (Solomon’s Temple, which stood from around 960 BCE until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE). The highly traditional community remained largely untouched by the forces of assimilation and other outside influences that deeply affected most other Jewish communities. In fact, scholars generally acknowledge that the modern Yemenite pronunciations of Hebrew are closest to the way that Biblical Israelites spoke. They also have a set of religious customs–minhagim, in Hebrew–that is distinct from any other community (virtually all of which fall under the broad categories of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews).
Following a series of murderous Arab riots after the establishment of the state of Israel, the majority of the community was airlifted to the Jewish state in Operation Magic Carpet, a series of secret flights that took place in 1949 and 1950. Only a few hundred Jews remained behind and later changes in the political climate prevented them from leaving, although Jewish groups continued to try to get them out.
In a quiet move last year, around 80 were granted refugee status in the United States and have been absorbed by a Jewish community outside New York City. Another 60 more were brought to Israel in a quiet operation run by the Jewish Agency, IFCJ’s partner organization.
The remainder may be “in danger and…
Read More » Comments (2) »Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 7:22 AM | Stand For Israel
Israel’s population up to 7.5 million
Mazal tov! Israel was blessed with 160,000 new babies in 2009, which were part of bringing Israel’s population numbers up to 7.5 million.
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released population data and statistics for the year, showing the population grew 1.8%, as it did last year, and the five years before that. There are now 7,509,000 Israelis.
Israel’s population has grown by 1.8% every year since 2003, with Jews making up 75%. In addition to births, the increase includes immigration. During 2009, more than 16,000 Jews arrived on aliyah from countries all over the world — the highest number in a decade.
Comments (0) »Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 3:40 PM | Stand For Israel
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