We could not believe what we had heard from our Ethiopian friends in Neve Carmel, a large absorption center just south of Haifa. An Italian Catholic non-Amharic-speaking social worker employed by the Joint Distribution Committee to care for the problems of the 4,000 Ethiopian Jews waiting in Addis Ababa? This had to be a joke. No, we were assured, these Jews, some of whom have been waiting for up to six years to make aliyah, would turn to this woman in emergencies.
For example, there was the Ethiopian mother who felt her husband was not giving her enough money to feed her children, and her husband who felt their lives were so insecure in Addis, they had to put some money away. The social worker's action: to give the Joint's meager allotment to the mother. The result: the husband stabbed his wife because among Ethiopians, as among many cultures, the man had to be in control of finances. The children are now orphans, and do not have the "right" to make aliyah because their mother cannot be in Israel.
And we were told of many other cases of this genre. We were told of the plight of the Ethiopian Jews waiting in Addis Ababa who were not receiving any regular allowance from the Joint Distribution Committee. The men in these cases would work for 2 burr a day, compared with 5 paid to non-Jewish workers. The result: Ethiopian Jews beaten and murdered for competing "unfairly" in the labor market.
We were told that living conditions for the Ethiopian Jews in Addis Ababa were abominable. Up to 10 or more in a room that was once -- or still is -- a latrine, a chicken coop, or a store room. We were told that the Joint vaccinated the late- arriving (1991) Ethiopian Jews only when the TV cameras were conveniently present to record the event.
How, we wondered, could this happen to members of our Jewish community?
Despite these conditions, these Jews (Beta Yisrael) follow an observant Jewish life -- praying three times a day, keeping kosher, observing Shabbat and all the Jewish holidays, wearing kippot and tallitot, thanks to the interest of the Chief Rabbinate and the presence of a large North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) compound. These Jews were once pejoratively named Falashmura because, externally, they had to profess to and pretend Christianity for reasons of economics, education, and survival. Rabbi Menachem Waldman, Representative of the Chief Rabbinate for Ethiopian Jews and a scholar of Ethiopian Jews, has written:
These people, who are of the seed of Israel by virtue of their mothers and their environment, have totally left their past; in no way is it possible to label them as members of another faith or as people who follow any tradition other than that of the Jewish religion. They believe in the God of Israel and its laws... The return to Judaism is in essence the way of the Torah as the Chief Rabbinical Council of Israel has decided on the basis of the ancient principle of our tradition: "Though Israel may sin, he nonetheless remains Israel."
Why, then, are only a trickle being allowed to make aliyah? Why do so many Ethiopian Jewish families remain divided between Ethiopia and Israel? The reasons are deep-rooted and not pleasant to discuss. The elitist secular Jewish community in Israel has long championed the idea that Ethiopian Jews are not really Jewish or are lesser or very questionable Jews, to be put down much the way the many Sephardic communities were once humiliated. After Operations Moses and Solomon, this position became less tenable, and a new method was adopted to retard their aliyah.
One way was to call them something pejorative. Thus the term "Falashmura" was coined, de novo, by the secularists. The words are Amharic, implying that this term was selected by the continuously observant Ethiopian community. But that is not the case at all. The "Falashmura" are close relatives of the continuously observant community and never heard the term until it came from the tongues of the same Israeli secularists who ignored the pleas of the Chief Rabbinate to bring all Ethiopian Jews, including the so-called "Falashmura," to Israel in Operation Solomon.
The term "Falashmura" is a code word for something more nasty. As simply stated by many, including Peter Gilboa, director of Neve Carmel absorption center, "I am starting to suspect that there is a problem of black and white, of who you bring to Israel."
Many people, including Rabbi Waldman, advised us: "Only the influence of the American Jewish Community can bring this abuse to a quick cessation. Please act urgently."
We suggest appealing to the following people:
1) Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich, Embassy of the State of Israel, 3514 International Dr., NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel 202-364-5500).
2) Michael Schneider, Executive Vice President, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4014 (tel 212-687-6200).
3) Your local Federation. In the greater Washington area, write or phone, Ted Farber, Executive Director, United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Washington, 6101 Montrose Rd., Rockville, MD 20852 (tel 301-230-7200).
4) Marty Kraar, Council of Jewish Federations, Washington Action Office, 1640 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036 (tel 202-785-5900).
5) Norman Rosenberg, President, New Israel Fund, 1625 K St., NW, Washington, DC 20006 (tel 202-223-3333).
6) Your Rabbi and the Social Action Committee (or equivalent) of your synagogue. Ask them to bring this abused Jewish community to the attention of their national leadership.
7) President Barbara Gordon Ribakove, North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry, 165 East 65th St. New York, NY 10022 (tel 212-752-6340).
The motto of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of the United Jewish Appeal is "We are one." Help make it so.