March 31 2009
Wherever we go these days someone will come up to us and start speaking Hebrew. It is interesting how the news of the two English women teaching in the Jewish school has spread through the town. So much so, that when we returned from a weekend away, a completely unknown official at the airport said to us:
‘You are too late. The Israeli embassy car left twenty minutes ago.’
The Israeli embassy reopened in Gondar this Sunday and this morning we witnessed queues of people waiting patiently in line while their I.D. was checked before being allowed in to the building. I felt rather excited by this, but the community seem to be taking it stoically – they have been here before.
There are 1,500 males currently on the list to be checked for aliyah. With their dependants it makes a total of 8,700 individuals – you can tell the birth rate is very high. These are the last Ethiopian Jews that Israel has agreed to take. They are the members of the community that are halachically Jewish meeting current Israeli Rabbinic law- in that their mothers and grandmothers were Jewish going back allegedly seven generations. It is not straightforward as there are no written documents and no ketubot. It is a matter of finding an acceptable and responsible leader of the Ethiopian community in Israel who knows the family and can vouch for their history.
If a family is thus approved; they go on to have a medical examination. If they are suffering from TB or similar illnesses, their aliyah is held up till they have been treated and are cured If they pass the medical; they are put onto another list to await their visa for Israel. They are then moved to Addis Abbaba and stay there until the plane arrives to transport them to Israel. It is a long process which can take several months.
Originally; the Israeli government promised to take 300 a month of these last remaining Jews, then it was reduced to 60 a month. Tsippi Livni stopped the process altogether. Benjamin Netanyahu has always been in favour of Ethiopian immigration and has declared his intention to start up the aliyah again. It is in anticipation of his forming the next government that the embassy has reopened its office here. But who knows? At the time of writing Netanyahu has not yet succeeded. No doubt there are still many deals and compromises to be made, and Ethiopian aliyah could still be negotiable.
Ethiopian immigrants are extremely unpopular in Israel. There is a great deal of racism in some parts of its society; - notably among the recent Russian immigrants – and the absorption and integration of a community that is still largely illiterate takes a great amount of time and expense. Here the Beta Yisrael are at the bottom of the heap with rates of HIV and of mental health issues well in excess of the rest of the population. In Israel, to these problems are added drug abuse, alcoholism and crime. The result is a predictable pressure on the Israeli government to keep them out.
There is a noticeable difference in the attitude to the recent Russian olim. There patrilineality was acceptable – even a Jewish grandfather was enough. It meant the country benefited with a large number of doctors, scientists and other highly qualified individuals making Israel their home.
The Beta Yisrael however, have been told that only those who are Jewish through matrilineal descent are acceptable for aliyah. This is a devastating blow to a community who have traditionally followed the patrilineal line since Biblical times. Indeed one could argue they have got it right.
All Jews were patrilineally Jewish until around the second century C.E. when the maxim ’It is a wise man who knows his father;’ became the norm, and mainstream Judaism switched over to descent through the mother.
The change in Israeli policy has resulted in much heartbreak. Families who ten years ago where accepted for aliyah – but who were not processed in time - now have no chance of making it to Israel. The policy - in a society that had a great number of intermarried couples - has meant the splitting up of families. Fathers have often gone with their older children; while younger children have stayed behind with their non- Jewish mother. There are mothers who have taken their children to Israel leaving their non-Jewish husbands behind. In addition; any child who reaches the age of eighteen is deemed independent and has to make his own application. We have met so many young men here; whose parents are in Israel, and they live here in limbo – not wanting to marry and start a new family unit for fear of jeopardising their chances of joining their relatives.
On our travels we met a shoeshine boy. Instead of the usual patter ‘clean your shoes missis’ he said ‘shalom.’ He told us he was Jewish, that his father was in Israel and that he would be joining him one day. To that end he was teaching himself Hebrew and as much about Judaism as he could. Could we send him some books on Judaism in Amharic please?’ As his mother is a Christian, this young boy will never make it to Israel.
Then there is one of the chazzanim of the community. The family; father, mother, and six children were accepted for aliyah. However it took four years for the papers to come through. In that time; the oldest boy turned eighteen and was no longer able to go with the rest of the family to Israel. The father was disgusted. ‘Either we all go or no one goes,’ he declared. But life was hard and two years on he gave in and decided that they should go and hope the oldest boy could join them later. By that time; our chazzan had also turned eighteen…. The family did go and are now living in Jerusalem. The two brothers live together in Gondar, just waiting for the day their family can be reunited. .
The headmaster at the school is not Jewish. However, he married a Jewish woman and they had three children. They were all accepted for aliyah received their visas and moved to Addis. In the last minute his visa was rescinded and the rest of the family went without him. Years later, it is clear he will never be able to join them. He has married again – a non Jew this time- and made his life here in Gondar. He is one of the luckier ones in that he is educated and can work. For many others the situation is far worse. They are not native to the town, but came from the many ‘Jewish’ villages in the province. They were farmers, or skilled craftsmen; weavers and blacksmiths. They gave up their land in the hope of moving to Israel and their secure livelihoods. Now, living in a town, they are completely deskilled, confused, lost and depressed. They find temporary work on construction sites which pay pitiably. Many are supported by relatives now living in Israel but this is a mixed blessing. It keeps families from starving; but on the other hand it does not encourage them to go out and look for work. This is a lost generation. Barely adapting to life in Gondar, they will find it even more difficult if they ever make it to Israel.
The hope lies with their children. Exceedingly adaptable, quick and eager to learn; the school is educating a new generation literate in Hebrew; Amharic and English. Let us pray they manage to get to Israel before the despondency and apathy of their parents affects them too.