Rabbi Sharon – IDF Mandel Conference

Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, the Director of the International Center for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry at Ono Academic College, presented a lecture on Ethiopian Jewry as part of the Mandel IDF Educational Leadership Program sponsored by the Mandel Leadership Institute.

The Mandel IDF Educational Leadership Program, launched in 2005 in collaboration with the IDF Education and Youth Corps, aims to develop IDF officers as “educators in uniform” and to broaden their knowledge, concepts and practice of education. Participants in the program are specially selected IDF officers from a variety of positions and corps within the IDF, including: Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy, Intelligence, Education Corps and the Technological and Logistics and Human Resources directorates. The admissions process begins within the IDF and concludes at the Mandel Foundation.

In his presentation, Rabbi Dr. Sharon combined biblical exegesis regarding Joseph and his brothers, the psychological theories of Melanie Klein, the rate of native Israeli intermarriage with Ethiopian Jews, and the corruption of the Sigd Holiday, and that was just in the first few minutes.  The presentation focused on the refinement of the concepts of identification and identity in the Ethiopian context. Click to watch the full lecture (Hebrew).

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