Jews before Colman contacted them.
Penny Blumenstein of Bloomfield
Hills, past JDC board chair, told the
JN the same thing.
Colman’
s goal to help LOZA
gained traction when she persuaded
her rabbi, Joshua Bennett of Temple
Israel in West Bloomfield, to join
the effort. Then she connected with
David Goldberg of Cleveland, a
global Jewish leader very familiar
with Ethiopia who was on the JDC
board for 20-plus years, and Tomer
Malchi, founder of CultivAid, an
Israeli NGO working in Ethiopia
since 2013, who knows the culture
and is well-connected there. Together,
they formed the Friends of the Beta
Israel Community of North Shewa,
Ethiopia. Temple Israel established
the Hidden Jews of Ethiopia Fund
under its nonprofit status.
To see the community firsthand,
the Friends core four traveled to
Ethiopia in November 2019.
Their delegation also included
Robert Goldberg (David’
s brother, a
past chair of the Jewish Federations
of North America and a Jewish
Agency for Israel board member), Jon
Colman (Suzi’
s husband), Rabbi Gila
Ruskin of Philadelphia (Jon’
s sister),
Yair Keinan of CultivAid and Mark
Gelfand of Boston, whose STEM
Synergy NGO has built numerous
high schools and STEM centers in
LEFT: The core team of the Friends of the Beta Israel of North Shewa at the hidden Jambaria
gedam: Suzi Colman, Rabbi Joshua Bennett, gedam leader Aba Minas, Tomer Malchi and David
Goldberg. ABOVE: After the Shabbat service in the Lovers of Zion Association synagogue in
Kechene, Ethiopian-style challah (injera) is brought out for a blessing.
Meeting
Community Needs
The Friends of the Beta Israel of North Shewa team
returned from its mission to Ethiopia last November
with community priorities for aid.
RELIGIOUS/CULTURAL
The community’
s highest priority is for a Jewish
cemetery.
“My greatest fear is I will have no place to be bur-
ied when I die,” Merede Tegegne of Kechene tearfully
told the visitors. “Our people know they are not
Christians. They know very well they are Beta Israel
. . . When we get a burial place, 5,000-10,000 people
will come out [of hiding].”
Community leaders agree a cemetery will encour-
age more Jews to come out of hiding in Kechene.
U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Michael Raynor and
Israeli Ambassador Raphael Morav promised to talk
with Addis Ababa’
s mayor about land. An attorney
has been retained to assist the community, funded by
the Friends.
Other actions:
• The Friends have paid 18 months rent on a
Kechene synagogue, also to function as a community
center with lodging for Ethiopian Israeli volunteers
and for visiting abas (teachers) from the hidden
gedams (small religious communities) outside the
city. A center also is planned in Debra Brehan in
North Shewa.
• 100 Hebrew/Amharic prayer books were deliv-
ered; funds have been raised for a Torah.
VOCATIONAL/OCCUPATIONAL
The Hidden Jews produce crafts using primitive
tools and outdated designs. Goals are for better
working conditions, technology and marketing,
bringing self-sustainability.
The Israeli NGO CultivAid is under contract,
with founder Tomer Malchi serving as the Friends’
coordinator/strategic planner in Ethiopia for efforts
relating to vocational, educational and agricultural
needs to uplift the Hidden Jews. Malchi has made a
grant request of $250,000 to the Jewish Federation
of Cleveland to train Ethiopian craftsman with fac-
ulty from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
in Jerusalem. The grant also seeks to bring young
Jewish Clevelanders to Ethiopia. Because of COVID-
19, this is on hold.
AGRICULTURAL
At Jambaria gedam in North Shewa, CultivAid
worked with the community to install a pepper
spice mill and to plant fruit trees and vegetables. A
gas-powered plow is coming, as well as assistance
from CultivAid experts in growing crops, improving
nutrition and self-sustainability. Some training of
locals is under way and more is expected.
continued on page 18
The Jambaria gedam is
nestled in a river valley in
the North Shewa.
JUNE 25 • 2020 | 17