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Chris C
"Four words, never backwards."

Posted - 02/20/2008 : 22:35:47

I'll ask my father if he remembers snow in that part of the world when he was a boy (he spent his early years in Haifa).

duh
"catpurrs"

Posted - 02/21/2008 : 06:44:47

quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady

Now come on, people in Ethiopia aren't starving. Their land is fertile and only when there is drought or flooding do they have problems with hunger.

Mind you, a vast majority of them aren't living in the 21st century, but as long as they don't know that, what difference does it make? Some would even say that's a good thing, actually. For instance, since they aren't used to taking medications for every twinge or slight discomfort, then when something serious comes up and they get medical care that includes medication, their bodies react far quicker and more effectively than they do for us. That also means that a course of treatment for them is shorter than it is for us.

The most amazing thing was on the night we left, we got to witness a group making Aliyah (that's immigrating to Israel). You stand on a partially lit road that's blocked off by the police and over the ridge come 60-70 people, most of the women in traditional dress, carrying their Injera makers (that's their traditional bread) and the little kids on their backs while the men carry their suitcases on their shoulders. An amazing site to see, and mind boggling to think how they're going to cope with all the complexities of living in Israel - but somehow they do (not without problems, however).

I'm trying to recall what I read some time ago, that many Ethiopians are Jewish? That their's is a flavor that evolved in isolation? What tribe are they descended from?

My husband's cousin is Eritrean. He was exiled from Ethiopia when they met and is Christian and last I heard, was running an Eritrean restaurant somewhere in Arizona.
---
A little googling and I find an article about my husband's cousin's husband: http://www.azjewishpost.com/page.html?ArticleID=72812

I am amused to read that Amanuel honors his Jewish heritage, because all I really know of him is what his wife's grandmother (my husband's grandmother also) had told me. She made much of Cindy and Amanuel getting married in the Episcopalian church because the pope rejected their application for special dispensation to be married as Catholics, the religion Cindy was reared in. Reading of his family's travails as Jews, it is heartwarming to read that he is enjoying a return to that heritage.

Edited by - duh on 02/21/2008 08:35:48

ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"

Posted - 02/21/2008 : 09:50:06

To this day, all Ethiopians believe with total conviction that they are the direct descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. They put the Lion of Judah as a symbol on practically everything. They say that theirs is a nation that is 3000 years old - the first 1000 years of which they were all Jewish. This is why they are just now celebrating their 2nd millennium as a Christian nation. So, if you go back far enough, technically every single Ethiopian could claim they are Jewish and no one can argue that.

However, times change. The Beta Israel of Ethiopia is a group that lived mostly in the Quara area of the country (north, between Gondar and the boarder with Sudan) who were always Jewish. Their traditions and holidays don't include those that evolved post-King Solomon, but the story is that Solomon offered to make Menelik - his son by Sheba -his heir to the crown, but he refused and decided to move back to Ethiopia.

True or not, there is no doubt that there have always been Jews living there and we believe that almost all these Jews now reside in Israel - with a few exceptions (those being people who decided not to leave for one reason or another) mostly through the big pushes of Operation Moses and Operation Solomon which brought them here in planeloads.

However, many of those who converted - who are referred to as the Falas Mora - say that they were forced to convert and want to go back to being Jewish. Of those that we can prove have close enough Jewish ancestors (up to as far back as their great-grandparents, but no further), there are about 700 still living in Ethiopia who wish to come to Israel. These will all come to Israel by the end of this summer - through organized group immigration (about 60-70 leave Addis every Thursday morning). Once this mass immigration ends, any others who are eligible but don't want to come just yet, will still be able to apply and come, but as individuals and families, and not with a large group.

Of course, there is far more to this story than meets the eye, and don't even get me started on some really, really stupid things that a group calling themselves the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) is doing with the gullible support from a few of the Jewish Federations in the USA. OY VEY!

ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"

Posted - 02/21/2008 : 09:53:08

quote:
Originally posted by Chris C

I'll ask my father if he remembers snow in that part of the world when he was a boy (he spent his early years in Haifa).

Cool!

(I love Haifa, and if I couldn't live in Jerusalem, that's where I'd move to.)

Beanmimo
"August review site"

Posted - 02/27/2008 : 17:00:47

Closest place to Ethiopia I've been is Tunisia..dusty...and not a Imperial trooper or Jawa in sight.

ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"

Posted - 02/28/2008 : 06:25:41

quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo

Closest place to Ethiopia I've been is Tunisia..dusty...and not a Imperial trooper or Jawa in sight.

Sorry to hear that.

I won't be getting to Tunisia for a while, but it is one of the countries we are responsible for, so...

(I think this is a new thread record - I was the winner for over 6 days!)