Ingathering of Exiles: From Ethiopia to Israel

Unpacking Israeli History

Unpacked

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You might have heard of the Beta Israel, the community of Israel’s Ethiopian community. In this episode, Noam Weissman tells their story - not only their rich Jewish heritage and history, but also the story of how they got to Israel, in Operation Solomon, and their integration into Israeli society over the last thirty years. It’s thrilling, inspiring, but also complicated, and difficult at times. In other words, it’s a microcosm of the entire state of Israel, and the Jewish community the world over. ~~~~ Unpacking Israeli History is generously sponsored by Alan Fisher and Barbara Sommer, and Jon and Rachie Teller. ~~~~ Learn more about Unpacked: https://jewishunpacked.com/about/ Visit Unpacked on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/unpacked Teaching about this topic? Check out our relevant educator resources here: https://unpacked.education/unpacking-operation-solomon-30-years-later/ ~~~~ Sources https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-backlash-barkan-winery-says-ethiopian-workers-to-work-as-usual/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/11/10-key-findings-about-jewish-americans/ft_2021-05-11_jewishkeyfindings_01/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32813056 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Beta-Israel https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-history-of-ethiopian-jewry/ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/timeline-of-ethiopian-jewish-history https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/who-are-the-ethiopian-jews https://minorityrights.org/minorities/beta-israel/ https://tamidnyc.org/passover-around-world/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/outcry-as-barkan-winery-shuns-ethiopian-workers-over-doubts-of-their-jewishness/ https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1996-07-29-1996211101-story.html https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/ethiopian-jewry-no-longer-a-lost-tribe/ https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/rabbi-ovadia-yosef-and-the-ethiopian-jews-328178 https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/19861990/saltzman_ethiopian.pdf https://www.aish.com/sp/so/My-Treacherous-Journey-across-the-Ethiopian-Desert.html https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-lifts-sweeping-ban-on-ethiopian-israeli-blood-donations-1.5483820 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministry-lifts-ban-on-ethiopian-blood-donations/ https://www.enp.org.il/en/background.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebra_Nagast https://www.torahmusings.com/2017/12/rav-ovadya-yosef-whether-ethiopian-jews-need-reconvert/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/11/10-key-findings-about-jewish-americans/ft_2021-05-11_jewishkeyfindings_01/ Lewin-Epstein, Noah; Cohen, Yinon (18 August 2019). "Ethnic origin and identity in the Jewish population of Israel". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 45 (11): 2118–2137. Steven Kaplan, "A Brief History of the Beta Israel", in The Jews of Ethiopia: A People in Transition ~~~~ Unpacked is a division of OpenDor Media

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, I'm Nam Weisman, and you're listening to unpacking Israeli history.
0:04.3	The podcast that takes a deep dive into some of the most intense,
0:07.6	historically fascinating and often misunderstood events and stories linked to Israeli history.
0:13.2	Unpacking Israeli history is generously sponsored by Alan Fisher and Barbara Summer
0:17.9	and John and Rachel Teller.
0:19.9	Before we start I want to tell you about one of our other podcasts from Unpacked. It's called
0:25.1	This Week Unpacked and each week my colleagues Sarah and Avi dive into an important
0:31.5	piece of news from the Jewish and Israeli world and will ask why should this matter to me and you listening?
0:36.4	It's awesome and I suspect that you'll hear a lot of echoes of the subjects we talk about in unpacking Israeli history.
0:43.2	Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Okay, Yala, let's do this.
0:48.2	I'm not a machine about God. We the people of Israel are the people of Israel.
0:54.0	We will be Israel.
0:58.0	He would be Israel.
1:00.0	We, the people of Israel, are prepared and anxious to meet the representatives of our neighbors
1:07.5	without any preconditions.
1:09.5	Our people in Israel and elsewhere.
1:13.0	So it's impossible to make peace with them.
1:16.0	They are absent Israel or the Turkish people.
1:18.0	I think they are home.
1:20.0	If I asked you to pause, close your eyes, and visualize a Jew in your head, what would you picture?
1:30.0	Some of you might be picturing a Hasidish man with Long Peiot, with Zizit hanging out.
1:35.4	Some of you are picturing a soldier of the IDF wearing her green uniform in beret,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Unpacked, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Unpacked and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.