The Remarkable and Unfinished Exodus of the Ethiopian Jews

In 1977 there were about one hundred Ethiopian Jews in Israel; now there are more than one hundred thousand. Their courageous exodus from their native land and their mass immigration to Israel is a unique historical event. But their journey to feel at home in the Promised Land is not yet complete. How can they become accepted and integrated into Israeli culture without losing their own character, identity and values? How will their experience as a part of Israel's most impoverished and culturally distinct minority enrich Judaism and Israeli society?

Insightful and touching, THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS OF ISRAEL: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land (Jewish Lights / April 2007 / Hardcover / $34.99) is the first book to recount in captivating photographs and candid interviews the profound challenges and inspiring accomplishments of Ethiopian Jews struggling to become Ethiopian Israelis. Featuring more than fifty men and women-religious leaders, soldiers, lawyers, students, actors, musicians, a member of the Knesset, and more-it reveals their fascinating personal stories and traces their hazardous journeys to Israel and how they fight to survive and thrive in an environment they could never have imagined. Using dramatic and evocative full-color photographs, it tells an unforgettable story of contemporary relevance, as the Jewish State continues to bring more Jews from Ethiopia.

"That the Ethiopian Jews have persevered over the centuries and made aliyah almost in their entirety is a miracle of our own time," writes Len Lyons in THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS OF ISRAEL. "Even with substantial help from Jews around the world, the cost of completing the aliyah and the absorption of the Ethiopian Jews is daunting.… Their collective saga is one of dedication to living as Jews and commitment to living in Israel. Their individual stories show them to be a treasure that once fully claimed will enrich Judaism and Israeli society."