The Crisis of Religious Identity Among Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel

Abstract

We the Ethiopian Jews have secluded ourselves from gentiles and gentile customs far more than any other Jewish community to avoid dilution of our Jewishness. We have struggled against all odds to preserve our faith and carry out the Torah to the extent of sacrificing our lives. And until reunification with world Jewry, we thought we were the only remaining Jews in the world, yet we continued to be diligent in our observance of the Torah. We demand fairness and equality: one is either a Jew or not a Jew. This humiliation must stop once and for all. Ethiopian Jews deserve to be respected as Jews returning to their homeland like any other Jewish community. —An Ethiopian immigrant, as quoted by Parfitt, 1985, p. 130

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