Plans are in the works to bring thousands more Ethiopian Jews, currently suffering the ravages of famine, to Israel, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
In a meeting in Jerusalem this past month, Israeli government officials met with representatives of the Ethiopian community, Jewish humanitarian organizations and North American federation leaders who have rallied around the cause of Ethiopian Jewry - to figure out a way to assist the thousands of members of the Falash Mura still in Ethiopia.
The Falash Mura are the descendents of Jews who converted to Christianity, often under duress, and have returned to their Jewish roots in the past generation. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has recognized the Falash Mura as Jews.
Israel’s Cabinet voted, last February, to expedite the Jewish verification process of the 19,000 Falash Mura remaining in Ethiopia so they could emigrate to Israel. Since 1998, Israel has brought about 2,500 Falash Mura immigrants each year. Since February, though, little progress has been made and the process of bringing the Ethiopian Jews home has stalled, prompting representatives of Ethiopian Jewry to blame Israel’s interior minister, Shinui’s Avraham Poraz, for the impasse.
In Israel, advocates for the Ethiopians are pursuing legal action to force Poraz to accelerate the emigration process.
When 4,000 Falash Mura were brought to Israel in 1998, many thought they constituted the last group of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia, said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and a board member of the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee.
But then another 14,000 people turned up at the compounds in Addis Ababa and Gondar, and the Jewish relief operations in Ethiopia continued.
The increasing interest by American Jewish federation leaders in the fate of the Falash Mura is spurring increasing action by the Israeli government — and Minister Poraz
In a meeting in Jerusalem this past month, Israeli government officials met with representatives of the Ethiopian community, Jewish humanitarian organizations and North American federation leaders who have rallied around the cause of Ethiopian Jewry - to figure out a way to assist the thousands of members of the Falash Mura still in Ethiopia.
The Falash Mura are the descendents of Jews who converted to Christianity, often under duress, and have returned to their Jewish roots in the past generation. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has recognized the Falash Mura as Jews.
Israel’s Cabinet voted, last February, to expedite the Jewish verification process of the 19,000 Falash Mura remaining in Ethiopia so they could emigrate to Israel. Since 1998, Israel has brought about 2,500 Falash Mura immigrants each year. Since February, though, little progress has been made and the process of bringing the Ethiopian Jews home has stalled, prompting representatives of Ethiopian Jewry to blame Israel’s interior minister, Shinui’s Avraham Poraz, for the impasse.
In Israel, advocates for the Ethiopians are pursuing legal action to force Poraz to accelerate the emigration process.
When 4,000 Falash Mura were brought to Israel in 1998, many thought they constituted the last group of Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia, said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and a board member of the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee.
But then another 14,000 people turned up at the compounds in Addis Ababa and Gondar, and the Jewish relief operations in Ethiopia continued.
The increasing interest by American Jewish federation leaders in the fate of the Falash Mura is spurring increasing action by the Israeli government — and Minister Poraz