Unit 8: PROTESTS OF THE BETA ISRAEL

MY FAMILY
THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM

PROTESTS OF THE BETA ISRAEL

Students should now read the following:

 As we learned in Unit 7, Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef affirmed the Beta Israel’s Jewish status in 1973. However, this ruling was made when most Beta Israel were still in Ethiopia. By 1985, a significant number of Ethiopian Jews had arrived in Israel, and questions arose again. At this point, writes Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, “the immigration and absorption of the Jews brought to Israel before and in Operation Moses led to a renewed examination of the halakhic (Jewish legal) status of the Beta Israel, [and while] the Chief Rabbinic Council of Israel decide[d] that “the Ethiopian Jews are Jews from the [biblical] Tribe of Dan …[and] due to doubts in the wake of their disconnection from the rest of the Jewish people for hundreds of years, the chief rabbinate rule[d] that the Ethiopians must undergo giyyur le- humrah [meaning] precautionary conversions, requiring circumcision, immersion in a mikveh (i.e. ritual bath), and acceptance of the mitzvot (commandments), in order to remove all doubts about the status of the Ethiopian Jews.”¹⁴³

 The Israeli rabbinate’s demand for “precautionary” conversions enraged members of the Beta Israel, who had already suffered so much to reach Israel; now they were being forced to prove their Jewish status yet again. On September 5, 1985, the Beta Israel initiated what was to become a month-long demonstration in front of Hechal Shlomo, the seat of the Chief Rabbinate, to protest this policy.¹⁴⁴

 Students should be asked how they might feel if told that they were not actually fully-fledged members of the faith and tradition which they and their ancestors preserved for centuries even under great duress. How would they feel if they were told that they were not actually Jewish, despite growing up as a Jew?

 Teachers should then explain:

 Between 1985-1991, the Mossad “carried out additional secret operations, bringing the total number of Ethiopian Jews brought to Israel to 17,000.”¹⁴⁵ Still, many thousands of Beta Israel remained in Ethiopia. In 1989, diplomatic relations were renewed between Ethiopia and Israel, opening doors for immigration. This made it possible for Israel to begin bringing the Beta Israel from Ethiopia, legally, in small but steady numbers. Monthly stipends and education allowances were centered at the embassy compound, and both the AAEJ and NACOEJ established compounds to help both children and adults.