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38
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FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1991
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early 30 centuries
ago, abhoring the
very idea of exile, the
prophet Isaiah proclaimed:
"A redeemer will come to
Zion." (Isaiah 59:20). This
became a reality in the
Zionist commitment to
redemption. ,
In fewer than 30 hours, 40
Israeli planes transported
more than 14,400 of our
black fellow Jews to their
freedom in Israel. Their ex-
ile ended with citizenship
that identified them as
Israelis.
Such dramatic develop-
ments inspire poetic impres-
sions of the experiences.
Most memorable is the
depiction by a well-known
author in Hebrew. David
Grossman's impression of
Operation Solomon was in
an English translation by
Marsha Weinstein in the
New York Times entitled
"The Spark and the Flute."
It concluded with a message
not to be forgotten.
The Ethiopians passed
between those who stared
at them. A trying test of
their natural shyness,
their dignity. It seemed as
if their souls closed a bit.
Not in fear, in caution.
Even the adults among
them became children in
the face of the genial,
knowing bustle of those
who received them.
But then a boy burst
through the doorway of
the plane, a boy of 5 or 6,
shaved head, very black,
a large wooden flute in his
hand. Standing at the
head of the ramp, he
began to play. For a mo-
ment, all activity stopped,
a few photographers even
forgot their flashbulbs.
He stood and played in
earnest, with intent.
Perhaps it was a shep-
herd's tune he had played
in his village, with his
flock. Perhaps it was a
melody he had prepared
for the moment.
With his song, one live,
shimmering spark flew
out from under the anvil
of our lives. For one whole
day, from within the jarr-
ing dissonance of our in-
ner sound system, we
produced one true note,
one clear, harmonious
note; enough to evoke the
entire melody.Operation
Solomon is a continuity of
the historic hopes that were
marked by the statehood of
modern Israel.
Jacques Faitlovitch:
Explorer of Falashas.
The immediate experi-
ences of ending the exile
and calling a halt to home-
lessness is an appeal for
unity in Jewish ranks. We
suffered too "long from disuni-
ty. An old, never published oc-
currence in local Jewish
ranks is now worth men-
tioning.
It was in 1939 when Anna
Slomovitz secured the con-
sent of one of our esteemed
rabbis, Dr. Leo M. Franklin,
to have a garden of trees
planted in the Jewish na-
tional home, then Palestine,
by the Jewish National
Fund. She organized a
gardens committee.
A call for participation in
the project was written by
Anna Slomovitz as secretary
and several hundred were
printed — a copy of the
original is in my archives —
but never mailed.
The invitation for par-
ticipation said in part:
The approaching an-
niversary of Dr. Leo M.
Franklin's ministry in
Detroit is a signal for
nationwide honors to be
accorded Temple Beth
El's spiritual leader .. .
A committee has
therefore been selected to
plant the Leo M. Franklin
Gardens in Palestine, and
in this way to aid in the
land redemption and
reforestation program.
All funds derived from
this project will be used
toward the Jewish Na-
tional Fund program to
redeem land in Palestine
and to make the Jewish
settlements habitable for
refugees settling there . .
The Saturday night before
Jan. 16, 1939, the telephone
rang in our Stoepel home.
Leo Franklin called from
Cincinnati at a meeting of
Reform rabbis and friends.
They reprimanded him for
submitting to the JNF re-
quest. He asked to be reliev-
ed of his acceptance.
He asked to have the mail-
ing stopped and he said he
would pay all expenses in-
curred.
Let it be known that Dr.
Franklin, the non-Zionist,
responded in all sincerity to
a JNF appeal.
Meanwhile, we recall the
interest that was aroused in
the rescuing of Ethiopian
Jews when the American
Pro-Falasha Committee was
first organized by Professor
Faitlovitch.
In his pamphlet "The
Romantic Story of an Exotic
Jewish Group," Professor
Faitlovitch commenced his
revelation with the follow-
ing:
A band of Jewish exiles,
fleeing the shores of
Palestine about twenty-
six hundred years ago,
then under oppressive
Babylonian rule, seeking
Calling a halt to
homelessness is
an appeal for unity
in Jewish ranks.
refuge in Egypt and along
the cataracts of the Nile,
pushed on into the deserts
of the Dark Continent and
ultimately penetrated the
highlands of that distant
land, known today as
Abyssinia or Ethiopia.
For centuries they were
compelled to battle for the
survival of their group
and for the preservation
of their cherished,
ancestral culture. After
years of intermittent war-
fare they succeeded in
gaining a foothold in that
part of the world and in
founding a new home on
alien soil.
Descendants of these
hardy, intrepid warriors
constitute the group know
today as the Falashas of
Abyssinia. This name was
given by the Abyssinian
autochthons to those ear-
ly Jewish immigrants
whose descendants con-
stitute the remnant of six-
ty thousand Jews living in
Ethiopia.
That's how the historic
rescue movement commenc-
ed.
It is Israel as the product of
Zionism that corrected the
sins of centuries. Therefore,
those of us who share in the
rescue movement earn a role
in having made it possible
for a redeemer coming from
Zion. ❑