Hundreds of new Ethiopian immigrants landed in Israel during the month of June on flights chartered by the Jewish Agency for Israel.
The successful immigration flights were accompanied by dozens of leaders from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) in coordination with various Israeli ministries as well as the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. The first flights were one of several set to take place in the coming months and are seen as a continuation of “Operation Tzur Israel” (“Rock of Israel”), which began in December 2020.
Ethiopian Jews are believed to be descendants of the Tribe of Dan and it has been a long and arduous process to reunite them with their ancestral cousins. From an effort that began in the 1980s, thus far tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews have immigrated to Israel.
This most recent effort hopes to reunite 3,000 new immigrants with relatives who previously immigrated to Israel. Ahead of the flight, reporters met with the Jewish community of Gondar, where the Ethiopian Jews are concentrated, awaiting further instructions from the Israeli government. Some observed that those waiting to immigrate do not bring any nostalgic belongings; they packed clothes, food, and baskets to help them make the traditional Ethiopian 'injera' bread.
The Ethiopian Jews still in Ethiopia are currently residing in one-room mud, wood, and stone huts without flooring, electricity or running water. All of the new Israeli residents will move into absorption centers when they arrive which will be a significant improvement on the conditions from which they came. Yet, despite the harsh living conditions they have endured, the community has maintained a strong Jewish identity and carried on many Jewish communal traditions.
The Jewish Agency has a staff of 20 based in Ethiopia who are there to help prepare local Jewish families and organize their flights home to Israel. The program is a joint effort in coordination with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Yael Eckstein, who is President and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, has taken part in welcoming new immigrants once they arrived in Israel since her father built the organization in 1983. However, this time she was in Ethiopia helping the effort to bring thousands of Jews home from that end. It was from there that she posted this beautiful video on Instagram. Filmed in the Jewish Center which serves as the center of Jewish life in the Ethiopian community, the video depicts children singing Israel's national anthem 'Hatikvah' which means 'The Hope' and as Ms. Eckstein put it so perfectly, "try telling me God is not smiling down." Ms. Eckstein returned to Israel on a flight that had brought 150 of the new immigrants.
When they land, the new immigrants move to absorption centers and remain there for the first two to three years. The centers allow them to focus on acclimating to their new home; with minimal costs and lots of financial support as they learn Hebrew and further integrate into Israeli society. During this time many will enter the education system as well as the workforce, while some whose lineage is hard to prove but whose faith is not will undergo a conversion process.
Addressing the importance of the absorption centers, the chairman of the World Zionist Organization and acting head of the Jewish Agency, Yaakov Hagoel said “It is our responsibility to help them as they take their first steps in Israel.” Israel is one of the few democratic countries that offer immigrants not only housing, but language classes, educational opportunities, and stipends giving the new immigrants the opportunity to not simply exist, but thrive in the homeland of their ancestors.
150 new immigrants from #Ethiopia landed at Ben-Gurion Airport as part of Operation Tzur #Israel. In the upcoming months, 3,000 family members of Israeli-Ethiopians will immigrate as part of this operation.@Jerusalem_Post @TheFellowship @JewishAgency
— Zvika Klein צביקה קליין (@ZvikaKlein) July 4, 2022
https://t.co/7Fj2YWEFGQ pic.twitter.com/sjTGJbvlu1
Israel has learned from past experiences how to best integrate new immigrants. The 1991 campaign called 'Operation Solomon' which brought over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to the holy land was a bittersweet success. While so many Jews were reunited with their ancestral homeland, the integration of many was difficult. Some were placed in villages where other Jews of Ethiopian and African descent lived, and some were placed in towns that were foreign to them culturally. Many fell between the cracks and had a difficult time adjusting and finding themselves. While there are many wonderful successes that came from Operation Solomon, there was much to be improved upon and it appears as if it has been.
A point of fact that is important to the story of the Jewish nation is that Israel is one of the only modern countries in the past few centuries that has made it a mission to bring over African immigrants not for slavery or cheap labor, but for the purpose of enriching the country's own culture while granting the immigrants a more sustainable life.
