MY FAMILY
THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM

SOCIOECONOMIC CHALLENGES

 Teachers should now explain:

 Religion was not the only area of life that was difficult for the Beta Israel as newly arrived immigrants. On a practical level, everything in daily life was a challenge. The younger generation managed to learn Hebrew quickly, but this was much harder for the older immigrants. Many adults in the Beta Israel community struggled to find employment. The socioeconomic disparities facing the community grew.

 Reflecting on this journey, Howard Lenhoff explains: “The heroic mega-rescues of the Ethiopian Jews via Operation Moses and Operation Solomon have been credited with rekindling the pioneering spirit in Israel. As they knelt and kissed the earth at Lod Airport, the Beta Yisrael were warmly welcomed. After Operation Moses, the New York Times wrote: ‘For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought into a country not in chains but as citizens.’

 “…The end of the dramatic rescues, however, marked the beginning of a new, challenging Israeli chapter in the sage of the Ethiopian Jews. Long time activists were looking forward to the weaving of the Beta Yisrael into the multicultural social fabric of Israel. [However], Professor Tartakower had cautioned in the early 1970s that success would require more than bread and homes and a decent standard of living. Certainly, bread and homes, but equally important would be preserving their own cultural strengths as valuable assets in the life of Israel. Tartakower’s vision has not materialized… [and] too large a percentage of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel live below the poverty line and suffer disproportionate unemployment.”157 

As Lenhoff explains, among the contributory factors to these challenges is the fact that the cultural heritage of the Beta Israel was not sufficiently valued and validated upon their arrival in Israel.

 At this point, students should be asked to consider how the Beta Israel’s absorption into Israeli society was complicated by religious and socioeconomic factors. Specifically, did one factor influence the other?

 

 

157 It should be noted that although these comments were made in 2006, they remain relevant almost two decades later.