THE ETHIOPIAN ABSORPTION
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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1987
a religious way of life.
But the religious life of the Ethiopians
in Israel has developed some unexpected
and ironic twists and turns, in which the
authorities may be repeating some of the
mistakes of an earlier era, or making new
ones.
The deputy director-general of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ze'ev
Rosenberg, who is responsible for policy
concerning Ethiopians in his ministry,
notes that these immigrants faced a dou-
ble shock when they came to Israel:
"In the first place, since their religion in
Ethiopia was based only on the Bible, they
were not familiar with the type of Judaism
practiced here, which is based largely on
the later rabbinical law. And second, they
had not encountered non-religious Jews.
The absorption centers where they were
placed were secular institutions: there was
no religious atmosphere or organized
prayers, and there was television on Shab-
bat. The men were given a talit (prayer
shawl) and tefilin, but for the most part
weren't taught how to use them. The chil-
dren are sent to religious schools and learn
normative Judaism, but their parents are
left at home in ignorance.
"I think that because of the failure of
other agencies to attend properly to the
religious needs of the Ethiopians, they will
be soon facing a religious crisis."
Another source of problems has been the
Chief Rabbinate itself. While the rabbinate
recognized the Ethiopians as Jews, the
chief rabbis insisted that they undergo a
symbolic conversion by immersion in a
mikvah. This was sought in order to
remove any doubts about their personal
status stemming from the fact that the
Ethiopians did not observe the same rab-
binical laws of marriage and divorce fol-
lowed by other Jewish communities.
Even though the early wave of Ethio-
pians accepted this procedure, opposition
started to build in 1984, and by 1985 there
was a full-scale protest movement against
the rabbinate's requirement of symbolic
conversion. The leaders of the protest felt
that this demand denied the Ethiopians'
very claim to being Jewish and was an
insult to the suffering that they had
endured to preserve their heritage.
The protest ended in something of a
stand-off. A special rabbinical court was
set up to deal with the Ethiopians' prob-
lems of personal status, but the rabbinate
has not dropped its demand for symbolic
conversion. Those who have worked with
the Ethiopians say that this experience
has turned some of them against religion
in general and has spurred them to look for
role models among the non-Orthodox
population.
Another source of alienation may be the
way normative Judaism is being taught to
Ethiopian youngsters in the schools. The
Education Ministry has done little to
devise ways of teaching normative Judaism
that incorporate elements of the Ethiopian
Jewish tradition and which can avoid giv-
ing needless offense to the immigrants'
previous way of life. The ministry official
in charge of programs for Ethiopians, Meir
BenYashar, said that the ministry has
been preoccupied with the learning prob-
ems of the Ethiopian children and has not
really dealt with these other issues.
Without such sensitivity and foresight,
however, an ethnocentric approach can
take over that simply imposes the new
customs as "the right way to practice
Judaism," and does not help cushion this
difficult transition. For children this can
produce what one expert has called a "dual
alienation, both from the new customs and
from their parents who represent the old
way of life."
The Jewish Agency Aliya Department
has also been faulted by several absorption
officials and other observers for neglecting
religious training. Stephen Donshik studied
the department's work in the absorption
of the Ethiopians while on the staff of the
United Israel Appeal, which monitors
Agency expenditure of funds raised by the
UJA. He said that there was no planning
or sensitivity in this area, and little money
for it in the department's budget.
"For the most part, the Ethiopians were
treated as if the religion that they had
known in Ethiopia was dead, and that if
they wanted to be observant, they had to
adopt what was practiced here," he said.
"For example, a batch of newcomers ar-
rived during Chanukah, which was not
part of their tradition in Ethiopia. No one
explained the meaning of the holiday to
them. The staff just lit candles and that
was that."
Donshik said that this situation did not
result from an anti-religious bias in the
department, but from its inability to plan
properly and to utilize the available infor-
mation about the Ethiopians' background.
The broader complexities of adapting
Ethiopian religious traditions to conch-
tions in Israel are outlined by Shoshana
Ben-Dor, who has worked with Ethiopian
immigrants since 1977 and has conducted
research on their religious customs:
"Two of the pillars of Ethiopian Jewish
practice have been abandoned in Israel: the
separate quarters used by women during
their menstrual period or following child-
birth, and the communal observances of
Shabbat and holidays. Ethiopian Judaism
is based much less on rituals performed in
the family circle than Judaism as we know
it. Celebrations were largely communal af-
fairs for the entire village and centered on
the local kes, the priest.
"Here in Israel, the kesim have lost their
official position as authoritative religious
leaders and there is no framework for com-
munal celebrations. The religious author-
ities don't encourage the establishment of
Ethiopian synagogues, for fear that this
will create a separate sect. A major excep-