Out of Hiding

A group of Ethiopia’
s Hidden Jews fi
 nds aid and 
support to improve their lives and practice Judaism. 

KERI GUTEN COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

A

fter spending a week with a remote 
tribe in southern Ethiopia in June 
2018, Suzi Colman of Commerce 
Township had two days left in the country 
when she asked her guide, “Is there a syna-
gogue in Addis Ababa?”
A typical question for a Jewish tourist 
anywhere in the world. But the answer led 
Colman to a three-hour visit that ignited 
her quest to help sustain and uplift the 
self-described Hidden Jews of Ethiopia. 
From that trip, she helped start an organi-
zation that already is making a difference.
During those three hours in Kechene — 
essentially a Jewish ghetto on the outskirts 
of Addis Ababa where poverty reigns, 
food is scarce and homes are brimming 
with extended family members — she met 
with young leaders of a group of about 200 
Ethiopian Jews. 
After centuries of hiding their religion, 

much like the converso Jews in Spain and 
Portugal forced to convert to Catholicism 
during the Middle Ages, this group now is 
ending the assimilation and proclaiming 
their Judaism proudly. 
It’
s a bold stand in this Coptic Christian 
country where most Jews had converted 
to Christianity centuries ago to survive 
mistreatment and even death from their 
Christian and Muslim neighbors. 
“I was entirely unprepared for what I 
discovered,
” Colman said. “It was simulta-
neously astonishing and deeply disturbing.
”
She met with Belayneh Tazebku, 42, a 
leader of the group of emerging Jews, and 
Michael “Miki” Moges, 30, who aspires to 
become a rabbi. Tazebku serves as director 
of the Lovers of Zion Association (LOZA), 
which runs a synagogue and is working 
to improve conditions for the community. 
Moges is hazzan of the synagogue and a 
LOZA leader. 
They told her of the Hidden Jews, a 
group of about 150,000 living in Kechene 
and in North Shewa, a mountainous region 
50 miles from the capital. Collectively, 
they are known as the Beta Israel of North 
Shewa: ancestral Jews whose history dates 
back 2,000 years. (See sidebar history.) 
They have purposefully lived under the 
radar in modern times, known mainly to a 
few academics, some travelers and Kulanu, 
a Jewish organization working with emerg-
ing Jewish communities globally. 
Many American Jews know of the Beta 
Israel of Gondar, a region in far north 
Ethiopia, who were airlifted to Israel 
during Operations Moses in the mid-
1980s and Solomon in 1991 (and smaller 

TOP: Aba Minas is 
leader of the Jambaria 
gedam, one of 15 
hidden Jewish religious 
centers in Ethiopia’
s 
North Shewa region.

14 | JUNE 25 • 2020 

on the cover