Return To Gondar

Exactly a year after my teaching experience at the Beta Yisrael - Jewish school in Gondar, Ethiopia, I returned with a small group of congregants and friends, and was stunned by the transformation.

What had been the school – a set of classrooms erected on two different sites made of corrugated iron on stony ground with no light or ventilation had disappeared.  What had been an empty field was now full of new buildings – brightly coloured blocks of classrooms with windows and proper floors.  The new school was buzzing. The children, clearly delighted with their new environment have in the past months achieved the top place in the region’s SATS.

The transformation was in no small measure due to you. Those of you, who though the Kol Nidrei Appeal and other donations, gave so generously, have been responsible, in part, for the creation of this school. It is far from finished – there are still corrugated shacks that need replacing with proper classrooms; there is need for a science lab, a dining room, a synagogue – and the appeal for funds goes on.  But what has been achieved in a year is little short of miraculous.

But there was another reason for celebration while we were there.  The Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, after several years of stalemate had restarted.  Every Sunday morning since the beginning of the year, two coach loads of Beta Yisrael left Gondar for Addis. Every month, some 300 plus Jews left Addis for Israel. Between January and March over a thousand finally saw their dream come true as they kissed the ground of Eretz Yisrael. 

You might think there is a contradiction in building a school for a community who are leaving.  Not so.  There are 3,000 Patrilineal Jews living in Gondar who are not eligible to come to Israel under their current law of entry.  They identify strongly as Jews since Ethiopian tradition has always followed the biblical law of descent through the father.  It is likely therefore that there will always be a Jewish presence in the town, and always be children for the school.  Moreover, the Aliyah seems to have stopped again, no one knows why. Officially as of last June the Israeli government agreed to one hundred people a month entering Israel.  The Ethiopian government offered no objection, so why did none come in the months from June to December and why are none coming now?  While political negotiations clearly are complex, the reality for the Jews living in Gondar is awful.   Their hopes of leaving have been raised and dashed, raised and dashed for over a decade. They are patient people, waiting quietly for direction from the powers that be, but the psychological damage is huge.

There is little we can do to move the political process, but our impact as individuals and as a community can still be significant. We can continue to build the school, we can provide for teachers to ensure that the knowledge and identity of the next generation is assured, we can build connections with the individuals who live there.  There are plans for a big fundraising event – the details are to be found in the May 2010 edition of Kehillah (click here to go to the download option) – there will be further visits to Ethiopia in November and March. If you are interested in any of this, just let me know.  Click here to contact me.

Rabbi Sybil Sheridan.