24 CLOSE-UP The Right Road KIMBERLY LIFTON Gad-Harf and Borman are continuing JCCouncil programs and promoting Israel. 34 LIFE IN ISRAEL Intifada's Rules ABRAHAM RABINOVICH Travelers in the territories take precautions on the roads. 40 BEHIND THE HEADLINES Swing Power DOUG CHANDLER American Jewish organizations worr y about the new Orthodox clout in Israel. After The Fad Why Are The Most Distressed Jews In The World Ignored? DR. GRAENUM BERGER and SUSAN POLLACK SCHECHTMAN L ittle more than three years ago, Ethiopian Jews were front-page news in the international press, adopted openly by Israel and the global Jewish communtiy. The public was riveted by the dramatic airlifts from Sudan to Israel. Today, few people realize that 10,000 Ethiopian Jews were left behind — some to be imprisoned, some to die, all to be severe- ly affected by recurring cycles of hunger, persecution and civil war in northwestern Ethiopia. During the months of November 1984-January 1985 and in March 1985, plane loads of Ethiopian Jews — 8,000 in- dividuals — departed Sudanese refugee camps for a safe haven in Israel. In the euphoria following the airlifts and the field day by the press publicizing the newest aliyah, the fact that several thousand Ethiopian Jews were missing was largely ignored. The new immigrants, weak in health, numbers and political savvy, did not know in 1985 how to press for those left behind to be rescued. The Sudanese government was overthrown in the spring of 1985 and the airlifts were never resumed. When the dust had settled, those left behind startled Israel and world Jewish organizations with the news: There are still 10,000 Jews impatiently waiting and suf- fering in Ethiopia. The Operation Moses airlift story stimulated social studies, histories, Graenum Berger and Susan Pollack Schechtman are board members of the American Association for Ethiopian Jews. MIKE ROSENBAUM Variations may come and go, but aerobics will remain on the sce dramas, oral documents, novel s and children's books. But since 1985, the story of those still in Ethiopia gets little attention. Israel and the Jewish world seem to be overwhelmed with other interests and agonies. It is not commonly known, but Ethio- pian Jews estimate that 7,500 of their numbers have died in Ethiopia and Sudan since 1974. Furthermore, few members of the general Jewish public realize that near- ly every Ethiopian Jew in Israel has a first- degree relative remaining in Ethiopia long- ing to be rejoined with his family. Ethiopia's economy is an unrelieved disaster. Whether political or due to nature, Ethiopia persists in having one of the lowest per capita incomes, lowest life longevity, one of the highest illiteracy rates and amongst the poorest medical facilities in the world. For Jews, physical survival is com- pounded by ethnic survival. The Marxist military government pro- hibits the teaching of Hebrew, restrcits religious services, limits access to Jewish villages by foreigners and forbids emigra- tion. The government is widely reported to be transplanting hundreds of thousands of- natives, in "revillagization projects?' Ethiopian Jewish villages, which struggled for centuries to maintain ex- istence and independence, are threatened with total destruction. Young men are for- cibly drafted into the army, almost never to return to their families. There are few Kohanim left in Ethiopia, and no one is being trained to take on this leadership. The primary custodians and teachers of Jewish traditions are forever lost. The pe- ple have been left with no chance of sus- _ Continued on Page 10 46 FITNESS Ethiopian Jews sit down for their first meal in Israel: After Operation Moses, a plight forgotten. 58 EDUCATION Bootstrap 3Rs HEIDI PRESS Beth Yehudah Schools are providin g quality education despite financial vvoes. 62 BOOKS Alicia: My Story ALICIA APPLEMAN-JURMAN A Book Fair speaker describes her ordeal during the Holocaust. 69 ENTERTAINMENT Comic Relieved RITA CHARLESTON Gabe Kaplan is happy to just take it easy these days. DEPARTMENTS 32 38 50 51 86 92 94 96 98 108 110 138 Inside Washington Synagogues Business For Women Youth Seniors Ann Arbor On Campus Engagements Births Single Life Obituaries CANDLELIGHTING November 11, 1988 4:57 p.m. Sabbath ends Nov. 12: 6:01 p.m. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 7