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