Who are the Ethiopian Jews? The Ethiopian Jews consider themselves the descendants of the Queen of Sheba. They were first encountered by a Westerner, Professor Joseph Halevi, in 1877. He had heard about the “falashas”, the Ethiopian word for “stranger”, who had moved to Gondar Province to be free to practice their religion.

How did the Ethiopian Jews make Aliyah?
In 1984, having crossed into Sudan, some
8,000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel
with the aid of the US, Canada and the UK.
Since Israel could not land in the Sudan, they
had to make their way via Belgium. This Aliyah
was named “Operation Moses”.
In May 1991, on a Sabbath, the second “miracle”
airlift occurred. In “Operation Solomon”, military,
civilian and private planes – anything that could
fly the distance – took off from Israel, landed in
Ethiopia, refueled while loading up with
passengers, flew back to Israel, refueled as the
passengers disembarked and flew back again.

             For children, assimilation is easier

For teenagers, the transition was difficult. A large number had no high school education, so the Israeli government placed them in boarding schools to accelerate the learning process. However, many youths dropped out or opted not to matriculate.
Today, the situation is improving. High School is no longer such a challenge, and many more students attend colleges and universities. Progress is slow, however. Many of the students have to depend on scholarships since their parents cannot afford to pay for their children’s education.