2 — THE BULLETIN - Thursday, June 7, 1979
Dr. Maurice is associate professor, department of psychiatry, UBC |
OTHERS CALL them Falashas (meaning exiles or strangers), but they call themselves Beta-Israel (House of Israel).
Their origins are uncertain. Some believe that they separated from the mainstream of Judaism at the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Their traditions, on the other hand, are not a subject of speculation.
They believe in one G-d, the G-d of Israel, the G-d that will send a Messiah and return them to the Holy Land. They observe Shabbat, read theTorah, fast on the Day of Atonement, celebrate Passover and eat unleavened bread for seven days. They circumcise their sons eight days after birth and their marriages are monogamous. A family mourns for seven days following the death of a member.
Scholars have, nevertheless, argued Falasha Jewishness and politicians have debated their right to live in Israel. They are, indeed, different in some ways. They certainly look different but that may be more in the eye of the beholder.
When the French Jewish scholar, Halevy, visited the Falashas in 1867, he was only reluctantly accepted as Jewish. They had never seen a * white Falasha.' He did not *'look Jewish.**
The current chief Sephardic and Ashkenazi
rabbis in Israel have affirmed Falasha Jewishness and linkage. The late President of Israel, Zalman Shazar, apparently impatient with the debates, offered his own conclusion: **If the Falashas observe as Jews, believe as Jews, and suffer as Jews, then, in my mind, they are Jews.*
THE FALASHAS ARE, indeed, no strangers to suffering. Four hundred years ago there were one-half million Jews in Ethiopia. They were involved in an abortive revolt in the 17th century and as punishment for participation, were given the familiar choice of religious conversion or death. Their king and leader, Gideon, chose the latter.
They were eventually allowed to practise their religion but were reduced to the status of outcasts, forbidden to own land, and persecuted by the largely Christian population of Ethiopia. War,
conversion, poverty, and disease, decimated, the community over the centuries.
Today, 28,000 remain, living in poverty as sharecroppers and craftsmen — occupations reserved for the lowliest. They are caught in the midst of conflicts between warring factions within Ethiopia. Recent reports indicate that 7,000 Jews have been forced to flee their homes and have become wandering refugees. Two thousand have either died or been sold into slavery. Anti-Zionist attitudes on the part of one group in Ethiopia have resulted in Falashas receiving special punishment.
The remnant 28,000 have also suffered from **benign neglect** on the part of both the Diaspora and the Israeli government. It was only in 1975 that they were officially recognized as Jews and given full benefits under the Israeli Law of Return.
However^ aliyah has hardly been encouraged. No Shaliach has ever gone from Israel to Ethiopia. In spite of internal and external obstacles, three hundred have made their way to Israel over the past two years. Information froni their relatives still in Ethiopia, reflects an increasingly desperate situation.
. Their future is not difficult to predict. We have seen it before. Their only hope for individual and collective survival is massive immigration to IsraeL
Their chief Kohen, Rabbi Ben Baruch, pleaded: **My people in Ethiopia are facing extinction. I don't care if they have to sleep on the floor, but I want them in Israel. You American Jews are our only friends; we will not survive without your help.**
AN :|SRA£LI RABBI explained to an American the Diaspora*s special responsibility: ^Israel is a small country besieged with problems. We cannot do it klone. We need people like you to rescue the Falashas. That -is the way it began with the Soviet Jewry movement, and that is the way it has to be with the Falashas.**
Editor*s Note: The Canadian Friends of Ethiopian Jewry are now in the process of establishing a Vancouver Chapter. Interested individuals may contact Dr. Maurice at 261-1654.
Sy HENRY LEONARD
Requests separate Centre swim times
Dear Mr. Kaplan:
I wrote a letter to the Jewish Community Centre before Pesach and have received no reply as yet. The correspondence, requested separate swim times for both men and women, in accordance with
Halacha, in contrast to the present system of mixed adult swim sessions.
A few names were also included for support of this lovely* idea. What about it JCC?
LEAH SINGER
Suggestion referred to Centre committee
By DAVID PELA
PARIS — When Algeria achieved independence 16 years ago, the overwhelming majority of Jews, numbering about 130,000, cleared out rapidly. For even before the evacuation of French troops, their position had become intolerable, with boycott, blackmail and kidnappings by Moslems the order-of-the-day. So the big exodus began.
Unlike their Moroccan co-religionists, few Algerians went to Israel, as most Algerian Jewish city dwellers were fully assimilated and had little interest in Zionism. Furthermore, they received regular payments, at least in the early days, from the French authorities.
Many resisted Government pressures to move north from, the Mediterranean towns and ports where they found the climate and way of life, if not job opportunities, to their liking. They injected much-needed new blood to existing communities in the south, particularly in Marseilles (Jewish population of 85,000) and in Nice.
So how have they fared? Visiting Nice recently, I found that the local community had increased six-fold to about 30,000 since the flight from Algeria in 1962. No fewer than 90 percent are Sephardim from North Africa, the majority Algerians.
GAZA — Tens of thousands of Gaza Strip residents flocked to beaches here to celebrate Egyptian spring festival — Id Sham el-Nasim — and eat the traditional festive fish meal. El Arish beach boasted a number of Egyptian flags.
Despite the growth of the community. Chief Rabbi Jean Kling, whose religious jurisdiction runs from Toulon in the west to Menton near the Italian border, and includes also the island of Corsica, is far from happy. '*We have mixed marriages in every family," he told me. "With this drift from Judaism we are worried about the future.**
He is concerned, too, about the activities of what are regarded as fascist elements who have plastered synagogues and Jewish homes with Nazi-type slogans: This is the work of local anti-Semites, not of the many North African Moslems living along the coastal strip. And Rabbi , Kling is critical of the French media, television and press for their hostility towards Israel.
The tall, energetic outspoken, Strasbourg-born Chief Rabbi is something of an oddity as Chief Rabbis go. For he is the only Ashkenazi among the rabbis who serve the largely Sephardi communities in his "parish** which takes in such well-known holiday centres as Cannes, Antibes, Grasse, Draguignan, Fre-jus-St. Raphael, Hyeres, Menton, Monte Carlo, and, of course, Nice.
Chief Rabbi Kling is proud of the community*s yeshiva and Talmud Torah and the fact that 200 children attend the Jewish school. But he complains of a shortage of rabbis. "We have only 10, and there are eight synagogues in Nice aione,**he said.
The Riviera communities support many organizations, from youth to Zionist. And Israel has a special appeal, not least to the young people, about eight percent of whom emigrate to Israel.
There is a kosher butcher in
Cannes and Monaco and no fewer than 13 in Nice, which also has two kosher restaurants and Jewish bakeries.
Arab-watchers will be interested to know that the Arabs have moved into the Riviera property market in a big way, and they are very much in evidence at the casinos. They are not popular with the locals but, as in some other areas, their money talks and has bought them a certain amount of influence.
Indeed, one plush Riviera hotel is 'said to have declined to take a booking for a WiZO gathering for fear of offending its wealthy Arab clientele. JCNS.
- DEATHS -
BERNARD LEHRER May 31
AS another Bulletin community service feature, Deaths will be published weekly as they are registered. ~ THE PUBLISHER.
'Dear Mr. Kaplan:
The letter from Ms. Singer was written in the form of a suggestion. The Centre receives maUy such letters, however, they cannot all be acknowledged due to a limited secretarial staff.
Ms. Singer*s suggestion of separate swim times for men and women has been referred to the appropriate staff and committee, and her letter is in our active suggestion flie.
The Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, like every other JCC in North America, tries to serve both its ' membership and the community according to the many and varied intejests and needs of those groups.
Renieniber the Sabbath
Friday, June 8, 8:55 p.m.
Sedra Naso, Numbers Shabbat ends, Havdallah June 9, 9:55 p.m.
Friday, June 15,8:59 p.m.
Sedra Beha*alotecha, Numbers Shabbat ends, Havdallah June 16, 9:59 p.m.
Though suggestions arc; 'always welcome, it is difficult to implement many' of them due to the large numbers served, and the limited time and facilities available.
MARILYN dAERBER, JCC PresSdent.
Endorsed Appeals
JNF Blue Box
Appeal P.W. Adoption
Luncheon.
June 10 June 24
Social Calendar
Weizmann Society
Lecture June 7
JCC Shalom
Cabaret June 10
JCC International Folksong
Concert June 10
Hadassah Esther
Awards Event June 13
JFSA Annual
Meeting June 14
Hatikvah Hadassah
Social June 16
ORT Scholarship June 21
Tea
Hebrew Free Loan
Association Men*s June 26
Dinner
JEWISH CALENDAR LUACH 5739 - 1979
Rosh Chodesh
Tammuz Shiva Asar
BTammtiz Rosh Chodesh Av Tisha B'Av Tu B'Av Rosh Chodesh
Elul
Rosh Hashanah
5740 Fast of Gedaliah Yom Kippur Sukkot
June 25-26
July 12 July 25 Aug. 2 Aug. 8
Aug. 23-24
Sept. 22-23 Sept. 24 Oct. 1 Oct. 6-14
THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
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Thursday, June 7,1979
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