Ethiopian Jews in Israel

Ethiopian Jews in Israel
Total population
168,800 [1] (2022)
About 2.3% of the Israeli Jewish population, about 1.75% of the total Israeli population
Languages
Hebrew · Amharic · Tigrinya ·
Religion
Haymanot and Rabbinic Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Falash Mura · Beta Abraham

Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel.[2][3][4] To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Falash Mura, a community of Beta Israel which had converted to Christianity over the course of the past two centuries, but were permitted to immigrate to Israel upon returning to Israelite religion—this time largely to Rabbinic Judaism.[5][6]

Most of the community made aliyah from Ethiopia to Israel in two waves of mass immigration assisted by the Israeli government: Operation Moses (1984), and Operation Solomon (1991).[7][8] Today, Israel is home to the largest Beta Israel community in the world, with about 168,800 citizens of Ethiopian descent in 2022, who mainly reside in southern and central Israel.[9]

  1. ^ "The Population of Ethiopian Origin in Israel". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Ethiopian Jews of Israel - Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land - by Len Lyons, PHD; - Photographs by Ilan Ossendryver - Foreword by Alan Dershowitz". Archived from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "Ethiopian Jews in Israel still await the promised land". Telegraph.co.uk. November 20, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "ynet – 20 שנה לעליית יהודי אתיופיה - חדשות". Ynet.co.il. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  5. ^ Nahshoni, Kobi (November 15, 2010). "Rabbis: Falash Mura must convert". Ynetnews.
  6. ^ Weil, S. 2016b “The Complexities of Conversion among the ‘Felesmura’”. In: Eloi Ficquet, Ahmed Hassen and Thomas Osmond (eds.), Movements in Ethiopia, Ethiopia in Movement: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Addis Ababa: French Center for Ethiopian Studies, Institute of Ethiopian Studies of Addis Ababa University; Los Angeles: Tsehai Publishers, Vol. 1 pp.435-445.
  7. ^ Weil, Shalva (2011). "Operation Solomon 20 Years On". International Relations and Security Network (ISN). Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  8. ^ Weil, Shalva (2007). "Operation Solomon by Stephen Spector". Studies in Contemporary Jewry, an Annual. Vol. 22. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 341–343.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).