Israel in Their Eyes

Ethiopian aliyah effort: A Philadelphia priority
May 01, 2008 - Lynn B. Edelman, Jewish Federation Feature

Looking out at their new home from a bus on the way to an absorption center

The Exodus story retold each year in the Passover Haggadah took on new meaning for Kenneth Kaiserman in the mid-1980s. That's when he first learned about the plight of a tribe of Ethiopian Jews willing to leave behind homes, businesses and, in many instances, friends and family for the opportunity to begin new lives in Israel.

Kaiserman recalled being mesmerized by Barbara Ribakove Gordon's presentation to members of the American Jewish Committee about the work that the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry -- an organization that she founded and now serves as executive director -- was doing to assist Ethiopian Jews resettling in Israel during Operation Moses.

"These people put their lives at risk for the chance to make aliyah," said Kaiserman.

Gordon invited those in attendance to come with her to Ethiopia to meet with members of the Jewish community there and try to make connections with local government officials.

"We traveled with doctors and dentists who set up temporary medical facilities," Kaiserman explained, adding that he and other members of the group -- which included local residents Connie Smukler, David Hyman, Joe and Peggy Carver, and George Burrell -- joined Belgian bird-watchers on their itinerary as a smoke screen, enabling others to talk secretly with residents about their plans to make aliyah.

Disembarking at Ben-Gurion Airport

The Ethiopian Jews whom Kaiserman and others met with were gratified by the official recognition by both the chief Ashkenazi and Sephardi rabbis of Israel of their Jewish identity. This 1976 decision gave them the green light to emigrate. During covert operations conducted by Israelis, hundreds of Ethiopian Jews were smuggled through Kenya to Israel. By the end of 1982, there were 2,500 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel. Throughout 1983, another 1,800 left Sudan on foot.

It became clear to Israeli officials that the large numbers of Jews crossing into Sudan made conditions in the already overcrowded camps there deplorable. Therefore, Operation Moses was officially launched on Nov. 21, 1984. It bused refugees directly from the Sudanese camps to a military airport near Khartoum. There, under the radar screen created by a total news blackout, the Ethiopians were airlifted directly to Israel. During this operation, which ended on Jan. 5, 1985, after word was leaked to the media, approximately 8,000 Ethiopian Jews came home to Israel.

In the wake of Operation Moses, some 1,000 Jews were left behind in the Sudan and thousands more in Ethiopia. So former Vice President George H.W. Bush authorized Operation Joshua, a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored follow-up mission that brought an additional 800 Jews from Sudan to Israel.

'Orphans of Circumstance'
In the wake of these resettlement operations, some 1,600 Ethiopian children became "orphans of circumstance." They were separated from their parents, brothers, sisters and extended family members left behind in Ethiopia.

In 1990, after five frustrating years spent trying to persuade former Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam to increase the numbers of Jews allowed to leave Ethiopia, he reached an agreement with Israel that allowed family reunification.

An Ethiopian family gets situated in their new homeland, Israel. Many wait for other extended-family members to arrive from East Africa, where they have been held up due to various restrictions.

The news spread like wildfire through the Ethiopian Jewish community that they would soon be able to leave, and so they made their way en masse from Gondar to Addis Ababa. More than 2,500 Jews were cared for by Federation's global partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency, which helped prepare them for aliyah. Children learned Hebrew at a school that served as many as 5,000 students over time. Heads of families were offered work, and each family received a monthly subsidy for living expenses. Medical facilities were established.

By the end of 1990, Addis Ababa became a dangerous place, as fighting intensified between the Mariam government, and Eritrean and Tigrean rebels. JDC and Jewish Agency workers were concerned for the safety of the prospective olim under their care, and worked to coordinate plans for an emergency airlift and the absorption of more than 14,000 Jews with ministries of the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Force.

Kenneth Kaiserman

Kaiserman said there were many behind-the-scenes meetings with representatives of the Israeli and Ethiopian governments as the stage was set for Operation Solomon, a historic rescue and relief operation.

In May, as the rebels seized control of Addis Ababa and forced Mariam to flee, the plan was put into action. On Friday, May 24, 34 El Al planes flew nonstop from Ethiopia to Israel. Their seats were removed to maximize passenger capacity. Over the course of 36 hours, 14,325 Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel -- twice the number of Ethiopian Jews in Operations Moses and Joshua put together. They were welcomed home by thousands of Israelis, who gathered at temporary absorption centers, hotels and hostels.

"I think that Israel has probably done more for Ethiopian Jews than for any other immigrant group in its 60-year history," said Kaiserman, who acknowledged the tremendous financial burden that the Jewish state has incurred in trying to absorb these olim -- many of whom were semi-literate farmers who lived in villages without electricity or other modern conveniences -- into Israel's modern, high-tech society.

Religious Status Still Controversial
In Netivot, one of two Israeli communities linked with Philadelphia's Jewish community through Project Renewal, Kaiserman has had ample opportunity to see the amazing transformation these new Israeli citizens have made with the support of people like Netivot Mayor Yechiel Zohar.

"Yechiel is truly an extraordinary man with an active interest in improving the status of his Ethiopian Jewish residents," declared Kaiserman, adding that Zohar inspired him to become Philadelphia's first Project Renewal chairman in 1997 and to found the Kaiserman Family Ethiopian Cultural Center.

The center, which was also generously supported by gifts from such philanthropic Philadelphia-area families as Annabel and Philip Lindy, provides a showcase for Ethiopian arts-and-crafts, a computer center, and a synagogue and social center, with ample space for weddings, baby ceremonies, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and other Jewish life-cycle celebrations.

At the "enthusiastic encouragement" of Zohar, Kaiserman also helped to establish a collaborative college scholarship program for Netivot's most talented Ethiopian students.

"I am proud," said Kaiserman, "that 10 young people are now enrolled in colleges throughout Israel."

Yet this pride in the great work that Israel, in partnership with Diaspora Jewry, has achieved in assisting Ethiopian Jewish aliyah, is tempered by his frustration with the Israeli government over what he perceives as insensitivity to the status of the large numbers of Falash Mura who also wish to begin new lives in Israel.

They are members of the Beta Israel tribe of Jews who converted to Christianity -- ostensibly under pressure -- and wish to return to their Jewish roots. In early 2001, nearly 20,000 Falash Mura remained in camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa. Approximately 8,000 live in villages near the camps.

The Israelis accelerated their consideration of applications. The first priority was being given to divided families, then those eligible under the Law of Return, and finally humanitarian or rare special cases. About one of three applicants was found to be eligible.

Despite the fact that Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef stated publicly back in 1973 that the Falash Mura had converted out of fear and persecution -- and therefore should be considered Jews -- their religious status remains controversial.

Kaiserman believes that this controversy should not thwart Israel from meeting its obligations to those who seek reunification with their loved ones.

"During the period of Soviet Jewish aliyah in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we brought over many refugees of questionable Jewish status," he noted.

Author and historian Mitchell Bard, reporting on Virtual Jewish Library in August 2007, cites an unnamed senior Jewish Agency official in Ethiopia as stating that the Israeli government plans to bring all the remaining Ethiopians eligible to make aliyah to Israel before the end of 2008. The official continued by saying that 1,816 Falash Mura had received permission to emigrate, and that approximately 4,000 would ultimately be accepted. Another 4,000, however, would be refused entry because they apparently do not meet government criteria.

Kaiserman is pushing to get discussion of the status of Falash Mura aliyah on the agenda for the national meeting of United Jewish Communities, which takes place next month in New York.