The Ethiopian-Israeli organization Tebeka has called on the government to teach Ethiopian Jewish history in public schools. The call came Thursday as Israel held a ceremony to commemorate Aliyah (immigration) from Ethiopia and to pay tribute to those who died en route to the Jewish homeland.
Tebeka director Yitzchak Desse said he was “disappointed” at the failure to teach the history of Ethiopian Jewry or the Ethiopian Aliyah in Israeli public schools as part of the formal curriculum. Jews have been making Aliyah from Ethiopia for decades, but Israeli students remain ignorant of their story, he said.
His call was echoed by Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver, who wrote a letter to Education Minister Gidon Saar calling to add the story of Ethiopia's Jews to Israeli textbooks.
A group of Ethiopian-Israelis sent a letter to Saar as well, saying, “The Jews of Ethiopia paid a heavy price in the name of Zionism. They were murdered, robbed, and sat in prison camps on the way to Israel. Yet even after 30 years of Aliyah, their story is not included in the curriculum.”
Many Ethiopian Jews died on the way to Israel, the group said, falling victim to murderers, wild animals, and contagious disease. Officials estimate that over 4,000 of the roughly 110,000 Ethiopian Jews of the time died while attempting to reach the Jewish state.
Almost every Ethiopian Jew in Israel lost a relative who died in an attempt to make Aliyah, Desse said.
Desse expressed hope that teaching the history of Ethiopian Jewry would change negative perceptions of Ethiopian immigrants. Native-born Israelis often view Ethiopian Jews as poor or weak, he said, but through learning of their dedication and sacrifice non-Ethiopian Israelis may realize how much these immigrants have to offer.