Micha Feldmann draws on his extensive knowledge of Ethiopian Jewish culture and language for this journalized account of his experience with the Ethiopian immigration to Israel. Feldman, who is the director of Selah, an Israeli organization that assists immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, worked on the immigration project from its start in the late 1970s until its culmination in 1991.
The culture of the Ethiopian Jews is a mystery to many, as most mainstream Jewish history texts make little mention of it. In a text that is appropriate for both the novice as well as the expert, Feldman explains with sensitivity such distinctive religious customs as the holiday of Sigd and the separation hut to the unknowing reader.
The customs and culture of the Ethiopian Jews, or Beta Israel as they are often called, may seem foreign to many readers, but they are an integral part of Jewish history. Feldman seems to feel the same way based on the awe and reverence with which he describes his African-Jewish brethren. This attitude is inspiring and long past due, as the Ethiopian Jews struggled to be recognized as legitimate Jews according to Jewish law for quite some time both in Israel and abroad.
Readers will become more familiar with an ancient Jewish tribe that survived for thousands of years in isolation and never lost its desire to immigrate to their ancestral homeland.
Nonfiction
On Wings of Eagles: The Secret Operation of the Ethiopian Exodus
- Review
By
– July 30, 2012
Brandon Stern is currently pursuing his MBA at Rutgers Business School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Muhlenberg College with a focus ion Israeli and Middle Eastern History. Brandon also received a minor in Jewish Studies and studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
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