Ono Students Begin Work on Providing Solutions to Ethiopian Israeli Community Issues
In the sixth 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, participants presented their plans for community intervention. They had previously conducted a community review and identified a communal issue that was both significant and amenable to improvement in the timeframe of the program. In this meeting, they utilized the methodological tool of a detailed outline that they had been introduced to in the previous session and dissected the communal issue they had chosen. Based on this analysis, they sharpened and focused their planned intervention.
Participants had already conducted a top to bottom analysis of the life cycle services provided in their communities to Ethiopian-Israelies. Goals that the participants have adopted include: Facilitating communication between Ethiopian Jewish Keisim and Rabbis, Encouraging Beta Israel parents to take a greater role in their children’s education, and developing locations where Beta Israel and Tze’etzaei Beta Israel can conduct prayer and life cycle events in the Jerusalem area.
Following this session, the participants will go out into their communities to implement their proposed interventions. The upcoming session will be devoted to the participants presenting an intermediate summary of their findings and receiving peer and expert review to help them overcome obstacles they encountered along the way.
