4 Israeli’s Ethiopian Jews

This chapter focused on the minority population of Beta Israel- the Ethiopian Jews, in the context of the Ethnic Divide in Israel.

We suggest this citation for this chapter:

Bugee, Jack (2024). “Israeli’s Ethiopian Jews.” In Zeedan, Rami (ed.), Israel’s Divides Explained. The University of Kansas. https://opentext.ku.edu/israelsdivides/

1. General Introduction:

Welcome to the podcast series “Israel’s Divides Explained.”

This series discusses the multiple current divides in Israel that separate its population. These divides have contemporary significance and are rooted in decades of history.

This episode, “Israeli’s Ethiopian Jews: The Ethnic Divide of Israel,” focuses on the minority population of Beta Israel, a group of ethnically Ethiopian Jews. The past, present, and future of this ethnic group tell a story about a generational struggle and an enlightening commentary about Israel itself.

This episode of the podcast series was produced in the spring of 2023 as part of the course Israel: From Idea to Statehood with Prof. Zeedan at the University of Kansas.

I’m your host Jack Bugée.

I’m pursuing a Bachelor of History at the University of Kansas. Although I have no particular connection to Israel, I’ve always been fascinated by the interplay between religion and broader society. Faith can sway culture and communities in ways that sometimes go unseen, and this topic is no exception.

2. Topic introduction:

To analyze the ethnic divide in Israel, I would like to focus on one group, the Ethiopian Jews. Currently, there is a population of Jewish citizens in Israel with an Ethiopian background. Unfortunately, they primarily occupy a lower economic and social status than their Ashkenazi or Mizrahi counterparts.

In this episode, I will attempt to answer some questions surrounding the Ethiopian Jews of Israel. What was the origin of this group? How did they arrive in Israel? What was it like when they got there?

I will explain the chronology of Ethiopian immigration to Israel and the struggles along the way.

This question is important for learning more about Israel and its citizens. Although Ethiopian and Ashkenazi Jews are united through their shared religion of a Jewish state, they are not on an even playing field. This topic illustrates how religion interacts with race, ethnicity and socioeconomics in a broader sense. Israel’s religion, size, and history tell a lot about how different ethnicities can coexist in a particular region.

The information here is based on a selection of primary and secondary sources; however, this survey is not exhaustive.

A major source for this project is the scholarly article Uri Ben-Eliezer’s (2008) Multicultural Society and everyday cultural racism: The Second Generation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel’s ‘Crisis of Modernization.’ I will post my sources online. More details will be included at the end of this episode.

In our episode today, we will discuss six major items: a short introduction to Israel, an introduction to the Ethnic/Socioeconomic divide there, the reasoning behind Ethiopian immigration, the challenges they faced along the way, and the challenges they faced upon arriving in Israel. We will also look toward the future of Ethiopian Jews.

Did you know that in 2020, there were 160,500 people in Israel of Ethiopian origin, representing 2.3% of Israel’s Jewish Population?

3. Central Section

3.1 Introduction to Israel

The “Israel” as we know it in the modern day was, in short, born from a desire to create a land that Jews could call home. Leon Pinsker wrote in his work Auto-Emancipation (1882) that Jews ought to “return to the ranks of the nations by the acquisition of a Jewish homeland.”

This desire for a national homeland gave rise to the Zionist movement, which was an organized effort to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people. Later, its focus turned towards the historic land of Palestine.

As Anita Shapira (2012) describes in Israel: A History, Zionism was the actionable route to this desire for a homeland. Zionism was the idea that “the Jewish people would take their fate into their own hands and transform their situation through their own action.” Over the next few decades, waves of Jews migrated to Palestine from all over the world, forming a state out of a former diaspora.

One of these waves of immigration into Israel was that of the Ethiopian Jews, otherwise commonly known as the “Beta Israel.” This is a group of ethnic Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel primarily in the late 20th century. They are the primary group of dark-skinned Jews in Israel, a trait that accelerates discrimination against them. Their origin, immigration, and current life in Israel epitomize, in many ways, the textured ethnic makeup of the state and how minorities live in Israel.
To learn more about the origins of Israel and Zionism, read Leon Pinsker’s Auto-Emancipation (1882) or Theodor Herzl’s The Jewish State (1896).

3.2 Introduction to the Six Divides and the Ethnic Divide

Contemporary Israel is a diverse and multifaceted society. A helpful way to think about Israel’s current strife is by dividing it into six major divides. These are as follows (Zeedan, 2024):

1. The political divide which observes Israel’s divided political system with various parties,
and ideas.

2. The national divide which mainly focuses on the status of Israeli Arab citizens vs. Jewish Citizens.

3. The socio-economic divide covers Israel’s regional and economic disparities.

4. The religious divide concerns the different religions in Israel and the various sects of Judaism.

5. The gender divide, which discusses the differences between men and women in Israel.

6. Finally, the Ethnic Divide. This divide concerns the varied ethnic populations in Israel and will be the one we focus on today.

3.3 The answer to my question: What was the origin of this group? How did they arrive in Israel? What was it like when they got there?

The history of Ethiopian Jews is debated.

Many scholars have agreed that the presence of a lasting Jewish community in Ethiopia was related to contact with an ancient Jewish group. Scholarship claims that the Beta Israel are descendants of some ancient Jewish groupings.

Theories range from Solomonic Israel to a Jewish military colony in Upper Egypt. In “Indigenous Categories and the Study of World Religions in Ethiopia,” Steven Kaplan cites that some think that Judaism in Ethiopia is a “fossilized survival from pre-Christian Aksum” (Kaplan, 1992).

In Israel, the Ethnic divide has been present for years. Within the Jewish community, there have been rifts based on ethnicity. For example, the Mizrahi Jewish population in Israel, hailing from the Middle East and Northern Africa, has had unequal access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and education. There was even a Black Panther Party, styled after the movement in the United States of the same name in the 1970s.

When it comes specifically to the migration of Ethiopian Jews, some in Israel do not see them as “real Jews.” In the eyes of the Israeli government, their background is not enough to qualify them for the Law of Return, which allows Jews to immigrate to Israel and become citizens.

An example of the Ethiopian experience migrating to Israel comes from Titi Aynaw, an ethnically Ethiopian Jew who moved to Israel when she was 12 and eventually became the first Ethiopian-born “Miss Israel” in 2013. She lost her father when she was two and her mother when she was 9, and her migration to Israel and her difficult assimilation have inspired many. In an interview with the Jewish Broadcasting Service (2019), she stated, “Some girls dreamed to be princesses, I dreamed to move to Israel”. I will link to more about her and her story below.

Ethiopian Jews often faced hardships, not only during their Aliyahs to Israel but also before and after. In Ethiopia, many of these Jews had, and continue to, face persecution from local threats from specific non-Jewish communities. Their journeys to Israel sometimes do not solve all their issues, as they often face unequal access to basic needs such as water, education, and infrastructure upon arriving.

Let’s begin with the life of the Beta Israel in their homeland of Ethiopia. Ethnically, Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia have faced persistent struggles that have made many wish to immigrate to Israel.

For example, in the 1980s, under the dictatorship of the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia, local Jews were prosecuted. Under the reign of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, anti-semitism rose, and Ethiopia became a more inhospitable place for the Beta Israel. According to Judith Antonelli and Cultural Survival (2010), Between 1975 and 1987, the government “confiscated religious books, closed the synagogues and schools, imprisoned and tortured Hebrew teachers and religious leaders for teaching ‘Zionist propaganda’”. This regime was the primary reason for the first significant wave of Ethiopian Immigration in the early to mid-1980s.

Even though the Jews of Ethiopia are mainly free of persecution by the government today, they still face several hardships that fuel their desire to immigrate.

A Deutsche Welle article posted in 2019 profiles one of these Ethiopian Jews, Workinesh Akalu. Like many other Jews, she moved from rural areas to Gondar, a town in northern Ethiopia with the largest population of Ethiopian Jews and the country’s only synagogue. In this interview, she says, “They burned the crops that we had collected. When this happened, we decided that it’s better to leave than to die”.

Another major, more current reason for the migration of Beta Israel is the separation of families. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews have immigrated to Israel over the past 30 years. Yet, Israel’s stringent barrier of entry for this population has created situations where entire families cannot make the journey at once. Today, many Ethiopian Jews wait in Gondar to be with their family once again one day.

However, those who managed to leave Ethiopia did not have the easiest time getting to Israel. Before 1975, Ethiopian Jews were not allowed to immigrate to Israel. Before then, Jews would often disguise themselves as Christian Pilgrims or travel to learn Hebrew to be taught back in Ethiopia, then stay in Israel illegally.

But in 1975, under the leadership of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli government allowed the immigration of Ethiopian Jews under the Law of Return. Unfortunately, this was shortlived, as the aforementioned dictatorial regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam made it very difficult for Beta Israel to immigrate, eventually banning their exodus outright in the early 1980s.

This did not stop the flow of Beta Israel out of Ethiopia as many would enter Sudan, where they would attempt to cross into Israel through Egypt all on foot illegally. As one would imagine, this strenuous journey exacted a heavy toll on the Beta Israel as thousands died of exhaustion and starvation along the way.

Their casualties were so significant that the Israeli government came to the aid of those in transit during Operation Moses in 1984. Israel went against the Mariam regime in Ethiopia and airlifted about seven thousand Jews out of Sudan back to Israel, where they were then naturalized. These operations continued under different names until Operation Solomon in 1991, when upwards of a staggering fourteen thousand Beta Israel were lifted out of Ethiopia after rebels seized the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and threatened the country with political collapse.

While the Israeli government was a huge aid to the migrating Beta Israel in the 1980s and 1990s, their policy of admission towards the ethnic group is quite strict.

In 2015, Israel pledged to unite all Jewish Ethiopians with their families who had immigrated to Israel without them for any reason. Ethiopians need to have a first-degree relative in Israel to immigrate. This is different than the typical law of return for most of the world, where Israel allows all Jews and up to second-degree relatives of Jews to immigrate and become citizens of the state.

This admission policy is based on a list of 8000 names drafted in the 1990s. These are the names of people separated from their families during their previous migration. This process’s bureaucratic and slow-moving nature has left many waiting in Gondar for years. Israel does not make it fully clear who has priority or when these Jews can make their aliyah, but to this day, many remain hopeful that their turn will come soon.

We’ve discussed how Ethiopian Jews struggled in their homelands and on their journeys to Israel. But what of those who arrived successfully? How did they fare in their new lives as Israeli citizens? Unfortunately, the short answer is not as good as one would hope.

Upon arriving in Israel, the Beta Israelis were not treated equally. Tensions between Ethiopian Jews and the rest of Israel have been explained in several different ways. One of those is that some Israelis consider them to be “not real Jews” and that they are discrediting the Jewry in Israel or taking advantage of their title to immigrate.

Ashenafi Asefa, a prayer leader of the Beta Israel in Ethiopia, was quoted in the Deutsche (2019) above Welle article as saying “Some say we are not Jewish. They say we are lying, that we are pretending just to come [to Israel] and that we will make their religion impure”.

Others cite a lack of empathy and understanding for the hardships of the Ethiopian Jews coming to Israel and their different culture coming from an African nation. Their arrival in Israel was not met with the openness they expected but rather a skepticism of their own religion. In Uri Ben-Eliezer’s (2008) article, he remarks on the Ethiopian arrival in Israel: “The Ethiopians saw reality in a different way. From the moment of their arrival, they were subjected by the religious establishment to practices of semi-inclusion which humiliated them and ranked them low in the Jewish status hierarchy”.

These practices of “semi-inclusion” include things like a conversion to Judaism, many found belittling as longtime Jews, and their loss of certain forms of autonomy, such as marriage rights, which had been community-based in Ethiopia.

Beyond societal ostracization towards Ethiopian Jews in Israel, they also face disproportionate socioeconomic issues.

The same study states that only 5% of Ethiopian Israelis hold quality, high-paying, stable jobs compared to 33% of Israelis in general.

Education remains a problem for Ethiopian Israelis. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “only 20 percent of Ethiopians have a university education compared to 40 percent of the general population, a reflection of the fact that only 53 percent pass their matriculation exams compared to 73 percent of the general population.”

Many see these hardships as Israel’s failure to absorb the Beta Israel into its country. The persistent issues of living conditions and discrimination have proven to be a problem for Ethiopian Jews, yet many in Ethiopia are not discouraged in their mission to migrate.

3.4 Looking to the future:

Despite these challenges, the future for those in Gondar seems bright as they are optimistic about seeing their family and living in Israel. Ashenafi Asefa, the rabbi in Gondar mentioned earlier, said in the DW article (2008), “God said he will disperse and reassemble us, So [we] will go, although it might take long. eventually we will go.” He and many in Gondar cling to hope for their immigration and a better life.

Though this better life may not be the reality in Israel currently, there is hope for the living conditions of Ethiopian Jews. According to the Jewish Virtual Library (n.d.), the number of Ethiopian Jews in Israel attending higher education has increased by 59% in the last decade. Employment is also rising among Beta Israel, increasing from 50% to 72% between 2003 and 2015. The employment rate of Ethiopian Women specifically rose from 35% to 65% in a decade.

The passage of Ethiopian Jews into Israel may be loosening as a current operation is underway to bring thousands more. In November 2021, the Israeli government approved the proposal to bring thousands of Ethiopians to Israel as part of Operation Zur Israel. This operation is ongoing; 95 Ethiopian Jews just arrived in Israel in February 2023, with more on the way.

Personally, I think there is a brighter future ahead for the Beta Israel. Their growing status in Israel has led me to be optimistic about their place in their new homes, which isn’t to say that Israel couldn’t be doing better to welcome them. Israel must acknowledge the divide better and allocate more welfare to those communities.

As for the social othering against the Beta Israel in Israel, I think this fits into a broader global problem. Most of it stems from ignorance of their lives in Ethiopia or fear that they will cause unrest in Israel. This rising trend of xenophobia in first world countries has become a systemic issue in places like Israel and the US and may only be quelled though a better understanding of people.

I can only hope that Israelis begin to see their plight and reach an understanding of their culture under a shared religion in Israel.

The Beta Israel has faced many challenges and continues to struggle to this day. Their plight in Ethiopia, as well as their hardships in and on their way to Israel, demonstrate the resilience and faith of this unique group.

Ethiopia’s broader past is shrouded in mystery, but its only severance from Judaism is geography. The Jewish communities in Gondar and Addis Ababa teem with optimism and faith.

The Beta Israel experience is inspirational but sheds light on some of the most pertinent issues within Israel. The general failure of the Israeli government to absorb the Ethiopian Jews into society despite their great lengths to get them there demonstrates what may be misplaced resources in the country. The eagerness of Israel to come to stranded Ethiopian Jews in need during Operations Moses and Solomon, yet their unwillingness to give them the resources they needed once they were there, shows the two-sided nature of Israel.

One side appeals to the rest of the world and the Jewish diaspora as Israel champions itself as a place where Jews could “return to the ranks of nations,” as Pinsker put it. But on the other hand, there are ongoing stories of non-Ashkenazi Jews in Israel having unequal access to basic needs. The plight of groups like the Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews shows that Judaism is not the uniting factor in Israel that Zionist leaders would have probably hoped.

This story shows that it is not enough to bring Jews to Israel under the law of return merely but that Israel needs to better address this ethnic divide within itself. Israel needs to consider options to alleviate this divide because the optimism of those Jews in Gondar might not be around forever.

I would like to thank you for listening to this episode. I hope you’ve learned a thing or two about the ethnic divide in Israel and the ongoing story of the Ethiopian Jews. If you’d like to learn more about the Ethnic Divide, check out Eli Tennison’s episode “The Ethnic Divide: Discrimination Against Mizrahi Jews in Israel” and other episodes from the series.

You can access my sources for this episode on the sheet in the description of wherever you are listening.

Thank you again for listening, goodbye.

5. Bibliography
5.1 Primary sources:

Antonelli, Judith. “The plight of Ethiopian Jews.” Cultural Survival, 11 February 2010. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/plight-ethiopian-jews. Accessed 11 April 2023.

Gerth-Niculescu, M. (2019, November 7). “Ethiopian Jews: Hoping to leave for Israel”. dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopian-jews-hoping-to-leave-for-israel/a-51120806 Accessed 19 April  2023.

Herzl, Theodor. The Jews’ State: A critical English translation (1997). Jason Aronson (1896).

Jewish Virtual Library. (n.d.). Ethiopian Jewry: The Situation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. The Situation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-situation-of-ethiopian-jews-in-israel. Accessed 11 April  2023.

Mekelberg, P. Y. (2015, May 25). “The plight of Ethiopian Jews in Israel”. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32813056. Accessed 11 April  2023.

Pinsker, Leon. Auto-emancipation. 1882.

Steinberg, Jessica. “Shedding image as bystanders to history, Ethiopian Jews reclaim their exodus saga”. The Times of Israel. 31 January 2023. timesofisrael.com/shedding-image-as-bystanders-to-history-ethiopian-jews-reclaim-theirexodus-saga/  Accessed 1 May 2023.

The Jewish Agency for Israel. “180 Ethiopian Immigrants to Arrive in Jewish State Tomorrow as in Continuation of Operation Zur Israel”. The Jewish Agency for Israel -U.S, 31 May 2022. https://www.jewishagency.org/180-ethiopian-immigrants-to-arrive-in-jewish-state-tomorr ow-in-continuation-of-operation-zur-israel/ Accessed 24 April  2023.

The Jewish Broadcasting Service, Interview with Titi Aynaw. YouTube. 16 May 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvKt8FaOR0M . Accessed 11 October 2024.

Zaken, Danny. “Why Not All Israelis Are Happy over Ethiopian Immigrants.” Al-Monitor, 10 Feb. 2020, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/02/israel-ethiopia-jews-falash-mura-judaism-christianity.html . Accessed 11 October 2024.

5.2 Secondary sources:

Ben-Eliezer, Uri. “Multicultural society and everyday cultural racism: Second generation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel’s ‘crisis of modernization’.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 31, no. 5 (2008): 935-961. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701568866

Kaplan, Steven. “Indigenous categories and the study of world religions in Ethiopia: the case of the Beta Israel (Falasha).” Journal of Religion in Africa (1992): 208-221. https://doi.org/10.2307/1580917

Shapira, Anita. Israel: A history. UPNE, 2012.

Zeedan, Rami. “Social Identity and Voting Behavior in a Deeply Divided Society: The Case of Israel.” Societies 14, no. 9 (2024): 177. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090177