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January 5, 2001/Tevet 17, 5761, Vol. 53, No.14
Feldman labors for kin beyond the river
BARRY COHEN
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 Immigrant Ethiopian children kindle friendships with native-born Israelis through music. Photo courtesy of UJA Press Service/Debbi Cooper |
"As a child, I was very much attracted to the story," says Micha Feldman.
In 1970, Feldman went to work with the Jewish Agency as director of absorption centers and kibbutz ulpanim; starting in 1982, he became responsible for the aliyah and absorption of Ethiopian Jews.
"They caught me. I fell in love with them," says Feldman of the Ethiopian Jews. He was drawn to "their naivetŽ, their sense of something maybe we have lost - that they know right away who likes them and who doesn't."
The Ethiopian Jewish community claims roots back to the time of King Solomon, in the10th century BCE. Despite centuries of separation from mainstream Jewish communities, they continued to develop their own brand of Judaism, heavily based on Torah traditions.
By the 1980s, approximately 25,000 Ethiopian Jews remained. In response to persecution, Israel initiated Operation Moses, Nov. 18, 1984 through Jan. 5, 1985, transporting 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel; two-thirds of the community remained behind.
Later in 1985, Operation Joshua airlifted 800 more to Israel. And in May 1991, with Operation Solomon, 36 straight hours of El Al jumbo jet and Hercules C-130 transports brought an additional 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to their ancestral home.
Feldman has dedicated nearly 20 years to the settlement and absorption of the Ethiopian Jews.
"We first take care of their medical needs," he explains. They have various diseases difficult to treat in Africa, but easy to treat in Israel.
"Then they start learning, from age 6 months to age 120," he says. To learn the language, the children go to school, and the adults go to ulpan.
They spend their first year or two in Israel in an absorption center. Then, according to Feldman, they begin the arduous search for an apartment, a process that means waiting as long as three years for a second-hand home.
Along with housing grants, Ethiopians receive seven years tuition-free education. A quality education leads to better employment, which improves their quality of life, Feldman says.
He has worked with the Ethiopian community every step along their journey, from isolation to integration. He has captured his story and the story of 14 immigrants in his book, "The Ethiopian Exodus." He says fellow Israelis have called him to say "how much they cried while reading it; how it drew them back to their own memories."
He explains that although Israelis generally welcome all immigrants, most do not know Ethiopians personally. Over two-thirds of Israelis, according to Feldman, have never spoken to an Ethiopian, and only 18 percent have Ethiopian friends.
Feldman will not be satisfied until the relative newcomers are 100 percent acclimated and fully welcomed into Israeli society.
Changes are occurring slowly. Most younger Ethiopian Israelis are proficient in modern Hebrew, and older adults are weaning themselves from Ge'ez, their native tongue. Through army service and university classes, Ethiopians are integrating, and already 300 have entered into "mixed marriages" with non-Ethiopian Israelis.
But obtaining a marriage license has forced many Ethiopians to struggle for their religious identity. Israel's civil-law rabbinic authorities often do not accept their Jewish descent and require symbolic conversion. Feldman says this frustrates Ethiopians, who for generations in the Diaspora had nurtured and protected their religious identity.
Complicating the religious identity issue for many is having family members still in Africa who converted to Christianity.
They have been taking advantage of the law of return - which qualifies an individual to return to Israel "no questions asked" if at least one grandparent was Jewish - and to bring their family along. According to Feldman, several thousand Ethiopian Christians have used the law of return to gain entry to the Jewish state.
"Most of them convert to Judaism, and by doing that, they make their children and grandchildren eligible to come to Israel," says Feldman.
He expects an additional 12,000-18,000 more Ethiopians to make aliyah in the future.
Feldman shared his story Nov. 29 when he spoke at the Lion of Judah event for the women's division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. The attendees made a minimum $5,000 annual donation to the annual United Jewish Campaign.
Feldman was born in Palestine in 1944. After his bar mitzvah, he accompanied his parents, who were of German origin, when they returned to Germany. After completing high school there, he returned to Israel for army service and remained there.
A father of four, Feldman lives with his wife in the town of Maccabim.