Ethiopia
The Jewish community of Ethiopia dates back to at least the 6th century, perhaps as far back as the 1st. Living in isolation from the rest of world Jewry, the Ethiopian community, sometimes referred to as Beta Israel, developed a unique set of customs and practices. The community first made contact with other Jews when a French Jew traveling in Ethiopia came upon the Beta Israel in the mid-19th century. Throughout the centuries, the community faced numerous threats from Ethiopian rulers pressuring them to abandon Judaism to foreign missionaries touting Christianity to a famine that killed a large portion of the community during the 18th century.
During the 1970s and 80s, thousands of Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in covert operations. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews were left behind and, in 1991, another airlift operation was carried out, bringing several thousand more Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Today, there are still thousands of people in Ethiopia with some Jewish lineage who want to immigrate to Israel but are disqualified because some of their ancestors were Christians.
March 1, 2019
