The ancient hymns brought tears to the eyes of Solomon Ayeli, as well as memories of his native Ethiopia which he left two decades ago for Israel — a country he loves, but where he often feels rejected.
“There should be no differences between black Jews and white Jews,” said Ayeli, 29, who was among 15,000 people who last week celebrated the Ethiopian-Jewish Sigd — prostration — festival in Jerusalem.
“We want to be fully fledged Israelis,” he said, as priests intoned prayers in Ethiopia’s ancient scriptural language Geez. “We want to fully belong to Israeli society which often rejects us.”
PHOTO: AFP
In spite of everything, Ayeli, like many members of the Ethiopian Jewish community — known as Beta Israel — says his journey to the Holy Land was the fulfilment of a dream. “Living here is an exceptional opportunity,” he said.
But the cost was high.
“I lost 10 family members in the desert, on the way to Israel,” says Ayeli, who had to walk for days through Sudan on his way to Israel when he was 10.
Separated during centuries from other Jewish communities, the Beta Israel were only recognized as Jews by Israel’s chief rabbis in 1975.
The recognition was crucial, as Aliyah — the Israeli law of return — allows any Jew to settle in Israel and get citizenship. Israel airlifted in 35,000 Ethiopian Jews under Operation Moses in 1984, at the height of a killer famine in the Horn of Africa, and during the 1991 Operation Solomon.
Today, there are more than 120,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, 80,000 of whom were born in Africa.
Many feel they are still treated like second-class citizens.
A recent study showed that 53 percent of employers preferred not to hire Ethiopians, who nevertheless still fared better than Arabs with an 83 percent rejection rate.
The study also found that 70 percent of employers tended not to promote Ethiopians.
Israel’s Association for Civil Rights says employment rates within the Ethiopian community were 10 percent lower than for the rest of the population last year.
Official figures show that last year high school completion was only 36 percent among students of Ethiopian origin as compared with 55 percent for other Israelis.
In September, ultra-Orthodox schools in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, caused a public uproar when they initially refused to accept children of Ethiopian descent, although they eventually accepted some of the applicants.
But there are some success stories.
Last year, the Israeli parliament passed legislation making it mandatory for schools to teach the traditions of Ethiopian Jews. And for the first time, the state this year financed the Jerusalem celebrations of Sigd.
“We are at the beginning of a path that will lead us towards full integration into Israeli society,” said Shlomo Mola, a member of parliament of Ethiopian origin.
The Sigd celebration brought together a large sample of the Beta Israel community — youths sporting scarves in Ethiopian colors, women in traditional white outfits and Israeli soldiers chatting in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main official language.
“We want to present a different image of our community, which has produced doctors, scientists and deputies,” said Mola, one of only three Israelis of Ethiopian origin to have won election to parliament.
Nigist Mengesha, who heads the Ethiopian National Project community group, admits it is not easy to merge into Israeli society while keeping Ethiopian traditions.
“But after 25 years, it’s time we should be integral part of the state of Israel,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in