The Secret History of Ethiopian Jewry
The Secret History of Ethiopian Jewry
Your daily dose of the top videos, articles, and podcasts from the wide world of Judaism and Israel ✡️ 🇮🇱
Also in today’s dispatch:
Comedy Special: Wild Jewish rituals on Yom Kippur (video)
Will Mexico soon have its first female and Jewish president? (article)
Ein Gedi and King David (video)
Confusing Satan (podcast)
Artwork returned to heirs of Jewish cabaret star murdered in Holocaust (article)
The Yom Kippur prayer that changed everything (video)
Rare Hebrew manuscripts published online (article)
🔝 Today’s Featured Story
The rescue of Ethiopian Jews is a story that has taken on the status of myth. It is the stuff of a Hollywood thriller - literally, movies have been made about it. We know how the Mossad smuggled Ethiopian Jews to Israel using a holiday resort as a cover, and how Israel eventually airlifted more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in a stunning feat known as Operation Moses.
But what about the contributions of the Beta Israel (literally the ‘house of Israel’) themselves? The story of the Ethiopian Jews’ return to the Land of Israel is really one of broken promises, secret agreements, and the tenacity of an ancient community in the face of unimaginable danger.
Ethiopian Jews organized and protested, with activists like Ferede Aklum tirelessly raising awareness for his communities’ plight. They trekked through the desert for days, and endured watching family and friends succumb to disease, starvation and violence along the way. They sacrificed everything to make it to the Holy Land.