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The third meeting of the UJA Sponsored Program “The Returning Home to Israel Project According to the Tradition of Beta Israel” to identify and reduce tensions within the Ethiopian-Israeli Community, focused on the legacy of conversions of Beta Israel to Christianity beginning in the 19th century. Intensive missionary activity was carried out among the Jews of Ethiopia, which took advantage of their economic difficulties and their kind hearts. This activity, as reported in Europe by the missionary bodies themselves, met with some success and some significant number of Jews converted to Christianity. Ironically, this activity stimulated European Jews to act on behalf of their Ethiopian Jewish brethren.
Since then, great resentment and tensions have arisen between those who converted to Christianity and those who remained Jewish – the Christianized Jews versus the traditional Beta Israel. From the beginnings of the massive Ethiopian Jewish aliyah to Israel, many things have changed. The immigration to Israel brought new challenges to the community and the power relationships between the two groups changed. Among other things, new conflicts arose between many different groups: e.g. Amharic and the Tigric speakers, between the Rabbis ordained in the Rabbinic tradition and the traditional Beta Israel leadership of the Keisim, and between the first generation and the second generation of immigrants.
The participants were given an assignment before the meeting to list and explain the conflicts between the different groups that they are familiar with and think about what were the factors and circumstances that led to them. They were instructed to distinguish between circumstances inside the community and circumstances outside the community that contribute to these conflicts.
In the meeting, the participants described a variety of conflicts in their communities, including those between: parents and children; the first and second generations of immigrants; Tigrim and Amharim; those who have kept the religious tradition and those who have left it; Religious Zionists, traditional Beta Israel and ultra Orthodox; Keisim and Rabbis and more. A debate emerged about whether these conflicts are superficial and/or will evaporate with time or if they are deeply ingrained and getting worse.
