THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
20 Friday, November 5, 1976
HARRY ABRAM
SELLS MORE
Happy in Homeland, Falasha
Yearns for Family in Ethiopia
By DR. MILTON
MUTCHNICK
Because He Gives
on your trade in
MORE al• discount
(Editor's Note: This is
the final article in a series
by Dr. Milton Mutchnick,
assistant professor of
internal medicine at the
University of Michigan.
His annual visits to Israel
take him throughout the
country.)
Menachem came to Is-
rael just over one year
ago and within three
months of declaring him-
self a citizen of his new
country, he was inducted
into the army. The period
of adjustment to Israel's
society has been eased by
the regimentation of the
service
Give me a try
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.
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_ SALE $46.90
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.
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.
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$76.75
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DIAMOND
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1 Ct. Total Wt.-Reg. $362 47
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3 Ct. Total Wt •Reg $1147.47
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1 SOLITAIRE DIAMOND-
1
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€1kri 1k€€SC
101/2 at GREENFIELD
LINCOLN CENTER, OAK PARK 48237 968-0303
MON., TUES.. WED., SAT. 10-5 • THURS. & FRI. 10-8:30
military service. The
army has also served to
substitute for the family
Menachem left behind in
Ethiopia.
Menachem
is
a
Falasha, a black African
Jew, who has claimed the
right of repatriation to
his homeland. The
Falashim claim to be de-
scended from the Queen
of Sheba and King Sol-
omon. Their ancestors re-
turned to Sheba, the pre-
sent Ethiopia, and
brought with them the re-
ligion of the ancient Is-
raelis.
The Falashim have
perpetuated their reli-
gion which is basically
unchanged from that
practiced in Solomon's
day and is devoid of all the
subsequent commen-
taries and oral laws of the
later Jewish writings.
It is estimated that
around 100,000 Falashim
live in Ethiopia, many of
whom would prefer to
emigrate to Israel. The
Ethiopian government is
not kindly disposed to this
movement, particularly
when prodded by their
Arab neighbors. Thus, the
Falashim remain an iso-
lated group of persecuted
Jews unable to control
their destiny.
Menachem arrived in
Israel under the guise of
requesting a travel visa
to come as a tourist. He
did not indicate to the au-
thorities that he was
Jewish. Upon arriving in
Israel he declared his in-
tention of attaining Is-
raeli citizenship.
Menachem has at-
tempted to aid his family
in reaching Israel but has
failed to obtain exit visas
from Ethiopia. He finds
life lonely on occasion and
has associated with other
Falashim who have suc-
ceeded in coming to Is-
rael.
When asked if he was
accepted by Israelis,
Menachem replied, "Al-
though I am black, I have
no difficulty because of
skin color. I am most sur-
prised that this is so, for
when I lived in Ethiopia, I
always thought that
whites and blacks were at
odds with each other.
"I have not encountered
any prejudice and, in fact,
most Israelis want to hear
about the situation of
other Falashim in
Ethiopia. I feel very- com-
fortable here and am de-
pressed that I cannot see
my family."
Menachem has four
brothers and two sisters,
each of whom is married
with children. When
asked why he doesn't re-
turn to Ethiopia, he re-
plied, "This (Israel) is my
country; I am a Jew and I
have returned home."
Menachem has become
a political activist along
with other Falashim in an
effort to expatriate his
family and the many
thousands of other black
Jews remaining in
Ethiopia.
He expressed anger to-
wards the religious au-
thorities in Israel for hav-
ing dallied so long before
making the religious de-
cision that the Falashim
were indeed Jews. By
that time, the opportu-
nity to openly arrange for
the immigration of the
Falashim had passed.
"Quite frankly," he said,
"almost all Falashim
would come to Israel in
order to live as Jews and
follow the Torah. My ex-
perience as a black Israeli
has been good, but thus far
we Falashim number only
100. I would think that if
we came by the thousands,
some disruption would
occur and some Israelis
would react negatively."
Menachem smiled as he
concluded, "But this
experience was endured
by the Iraqi Jews, the
Yemen ; . Jews, many of
whom are black, and
presently by the Russian
Jews. Israel is our home-
land and the Israelis are
our kin."
400-600 Jews
Left in Lebanon
PARIS - Reports from
recent Jewish refugees
escaping the fighting in
Lebanon put the number
of Jews left in that coun-
try as between 400 and
600, as reported by the
Paris office of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee.
A breakdown of figures
by areas shows that
about 150 Jews remain in
Hamdoun; 40 in Man-
sourieh, a village near
Hamdoun; one family in
Aley (formerly a refuge in
the hills for many Jew:
but now totally de
stroyed); another 50 live
in the Wadi Abu Jamil
section of Beirut, in the
synagogue courtyard and
surrounding area; about
60 in the Hamra; about 50
in the northern Christian
zone, and other families
scattered throughout the
country.
The chief rabbi and
another rabbi who serves
as a shohet are also in
Hamdoun.
Rabin Man of Year in Poll
TEL AVIV (ZINS) -
The Israeli leaders do not
enjoy a good measure of
popularity among the
citizens of the land re-
ports Pori, an institute
that researches and polls
public opinion.
On the question: "Who
is the most positive per-
sonality in the country -
you would consider to be
"Man of the Year?" the
institute reports the fol-
lowing results: Premier
Yitzhak Rabin was in
first place but received
only 18 percent of the re-
spondents. In second
place was Shimon Peres,
but he received only 11.7
percent of the vote. In
third place: Menahem
Begin with 6.5 percent;
Gen. Arik Sharon was in
fourth place with 5.9 per-
cent of the vote.
Others were: Gen. Dan
Shomron (commander of
the Entebbe operation)
with 2.2 percent; Golda
Meir with 2 percent;
Moshe Dayan with 1.8
percent; Prof. Yigal
Yadin with 1.5 percent;
Yonatan Netanyahu (de-
ceased hero of the
Uganda operation) with
1.2 percent; Abba Eban
with 0.7 percent. 28.1 per-
cent found no suitable
candidate.
The institute also asked
"Whom would you like to
see in the three most im-
portant positions - that of
premier, defense minister
and foreign minister?"
The following were the
responses:Premier, Yit-
zhak Rabin 34.7 percent;
Begin 14.4 percent; Peres
13.6 percent; Yadin 4.6
• percent; ,Dayan 2.8 per-
cent; Sharon 1.6 percent;
Meir 1.6 percent; Eban 1
percent; Yigal Allon 0.3
percent; Ezer Wetzman
0.2 percent; other candi-
dates - 2.9 percent. A
total of 22.3 percent
abstained from voting.
For defense minister:
Peres 43.3 percent; Sha-
ron 16.9 percent; Dayan
9.4 percent; Rabin 2.5
percent; Begin 1.1 per-
cent; Yadin 1.1 percent.
Weizman 0.8 percent.
Allon 0.4 percent; Eban
0.3 percent; Meir 0.2 per-
cent; other candidates 3.1
percent. A total of 30.3
percent abstained.
For foreign minister:
Eban 25.7 percent; Allon
24.3 percent; Yosef
Tekoah - 2.8 percent; Peres
2.5 percent; Begin• 2.3
percent; Chaim Herzog
1.7 percent; Rabin 1.6
percent; Yadin 1.0 per-
cent; Dayan 0.8 percent;
Gad Yakobi 0.2 percent;
Sharon 0.2 percent; other
candidates 6 percent. A
total of 30.3 abstained.
The poll also showed
that 45 percent of the
population are in favor of
allowing Kadum of Gush
Emunim to remain in its
place and 35.1 percent op-
posed.
Israel Budget
Figured in Billions -
JERUSALEM (ZINS)
- Moshe Zanbar, the di-
rector of Israel's Gov-
ernment Bank reported
that next year Israel's
governmental budget will
reach 125 billion Israeli
pounds ($12.5 billion). By
the end of the current
year Israel's debt will add
up to $9.5 billion. The in-
terest alone will amount
to $500 million per year.
The inflation is con-
tinually growing.
Economic researchers
report that the cost of liv-
ing will continue to rise
next year. Products that
now cost 100 Pounds will
cost 170 Pounds next
year.
Israeli Air Force
Receives Tanker
WASHINGTON - The
Israel -Air Force has
taken delivery of one
Lockheed KC-130 tanker
version of the C-130 (Her-
cules) troop transport
and is waiting delivery of
a second aircraft, says
"Aviation Week."
It adds that Israel has
also ordered a total of 24
troop-cargo versions of
the C-130.