10 OPINIONS SEPTEMBER 25, 2009 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE Rescuing Ethiopian Israelis Founded in 1902 By Barbara Gaffin significant improvement. Consid- high school dropout rate has fall- This year marked the Chai er these efforts and their impact: en to zero. (18th) anniversary of one of the • Overall in Israel, only 40 per- • Many recent Ethiopian Israeli most historic rescue operations cent of Ethiopian children college graduates are underem- Faith places first in recent memory, when the achieve at or above grade level. ployed. The Israel Association for State of Israel, in 36 hours, spir- In the North American confer- Ethiopian Jews, the main Ethiopi- The Newton North girls who chose to be in synagogue ited away more than 14,000 ence’s after-school program in Is- an Israeli advocacy group, also Saturday rather than at a track meet in Franklin Park can Jews from Addis Ababa in rael (Limudiah), 81 percent of supported by FEJ, works with 50 consider themselves winners on a much higher field. Ethiopia to the home of their children achieve at or above companies across Israel, and last grade level. In Limudiah’s year helped place 470 graduates They put observing a nearly 4,000-year old tradition millennium-old dream – the land of Israel. in jobs in their fields. ahead of a day of sports. They put Judaism first. • Tech-Career, another That is part of what it means to belong to a religion. How has the communi- ty fared nearly a gener- Ethiopian Israeli group, You make sacrifices for what you believe in. The track ation after this extraor- provides computer pro- meet forced the girls to think about the importance of dinary achievement? gramming training to Rosh Hashanah. And, because of the publicity their story Since Operation Ethiopian Israelis, as generated, they prompted a lot of other people to think Solomon in 1991, Amer- well as job placement and follow-up support. about the holiday as well. ican organizations that focus on support for Tech-Career has a suc- The Newton North athletes put themselves in good cess rate of 92 percent. company. You don’t have to be a sports fan to remember Ethiopian Israelis, such as the North American • The Ethiopian Israeli Sandy Koufax. For a five-year stretch in the mid-1960s, Conference on Ethiopi- legal aid non-profit, Koufax was perhaps the most dominating pitcher in the an Jewry and Friends of Tebeka, provided pro history of baseball. But it was not his blazing fastball and Ethiopian Jews, have re- bono support for 1,200 mystifying curve that many Jews remember most, but ported on the dire situa- families last year. Of these, 850 cases were rather a decision he made on Oct. 6, 1965. That day the tion in Israel facing that community: discrimina- successfully resolved Los Angeles Dodgers wanted him to pitch the first game through Tebeka’s efforts. in the World Series against the Minnesota Twins. But as it tion and high rates of ju- venile delinquency, Another 83 cases went was Yom Kippur, Koufax refused to take the mound. As it poverty, and unemploy- to court for a hearing or would turn out, Koufax won two games in that series, in- ment. Even some Israeli trial and were success- cluding the seventh and deciding one, despite having had officials voiced deep fully concluded. just two days rest. concern: Nine ministers While poverty, of immigrant absorption racism, and failed gov- The Massachusetts Coaches Association came under An Ethiopian serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. ernment policies contin- fire last week for scheduling a track meet on Rosh co-signed a public decla- ration deploring acts of racism longest program in Ramla, 91 ue to plague the Ethiopian Israeli Hashanah – unfairly so. As the association notes, finding and discrimination against percent of children achieve at or community, activists are managing a place and time when thousands of students can gather Ethiopian immigrants above grade level. to reverse the downward spiral of is a logistical nightmare. For example, some students will As of three years ago, more • In the town of Gedera, the high this historic immigration. We, as miss another meet because PSATs are held the same day. than 90 percent of the Ethiopian school dropout rate for Ethiopi- American Jews, have the ability to Israeli community was living an Israeli teens was 50 percent participate in their achievements We give the association director credit for acknowledg- – we need only the will. ing that he should have taken Rosh Hashanah more seri- below the official poverty line. Ac- between grades 11 and 12. Barbara Gaffin is vice presi- ously. “Personally, I’ve become a lot more aware of how cording to the latest statistics Friends by Nature, a grassroots (Brookdale Institute, 2007), organization supported by the dent of the Friends of Ethiopian holy a day it is,” Frank Mooney said. We believe him, but about 50 percent are still living Friends of Ethiopian Jews, start- Jews (www.friendsofethiopi- we can’t expect that he will always be able to avoid such below the poverty line, compared ed community groups and a anjews.org) and a board mem- conflicts in the future. to 14.5 percent of the general Is- hands-on “Homework at Home” ber of the North American Con- It’s interesting that so many Jews get upset when raeli population. While the situa- program for the 1,800 Ethiopian ference of Ethiopian Jewry secular events are scheduled on the High Holidays. tion is far from satisfactory, it is a families in Gedera. Today, the (www.nacoej.org). Where are they on the only holiday specified in the Ten Commandments? In case you forgot, it’s the one noted in Command- ment No. 4: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Letters to the Editor Write to: The Editor, The Jewish Advocate, 15 School St., Boston, MA 02108 Sun stroke E-mail: [email protected] • Fax: 617-367-9310 We’ve been thinking about President Mahmoud Ah- up in which so-called religious ported in opinion polls by a madinejad and his concern that Iran will run out of electrici- Hiding behind men hid behind a wall of attor- significant majority of both Is- ty if it doesn’t build nuclear power plants. religion? neys, eventually the truth raelis and Palestinians – estab- Last week we reported on Yosef Abramowitz, the Boston- came out. I suspect that Tem- lishing a viable Palestinian area native who hopes his solar energy company makes Israel Religious institutions seem ple Emanuel, too, is hiding be- state beside Israel. As Prime to be able to operate outside hind a wall of attorneys and a worldwide model for harnessing the sun’s rays. What if Ministers Ariel Sharon and of civil law, with little to no re- that the truth will come out Ehud Olmert have stated, this Abramowitz were to offer Iran his solar technology? Perhaps, gard for G-d’s laws. here as well. is the only solution that will then, Ahmadinejad could mothball his nuclear program. Suffolk Superior Court STEPHEN ASHCRAFT ensure Israel’s future as a dem- With the sun not scheduled to burn out for another four Judge Nancy S. Holtz’s ruling ocratic Jewish state. to five billion years, the president would never have to worry Boston that Newton’s Temple The writer is a member of the Coun- The “gun pointed to Israel’s about the plug being pulled on his overheated mike. Emanuel does not have to ex- head” is actually the settle- Yes, we know, the cynics among you will say: It’s nuclear cil of Parishes, which formed to fight plain why it decided not to re- the closing of Catholic parishes. ments project, whose aim, ac- weapons to strike Israel, not electricity, that Iran wants to hire a Hebrew school teacher cording to the settlers, is to produce. is a moral travesty. This opens prevent any possibility of a vi- OK, let’s assume Iran does manage to hit Israel and not ac- up a Pandora’s box for many Saving Israel able Palestinian state, thereby cidentally obliterate Beirut, wouldn’t thousands of Arabs die, older employees in religious eventually forcing Israel to too? The very Palestinians for whom Ahmadinejad professes institutions. I believe that any from settlers choose between being a democracy and being a Jewish to care so much? religious institution that dis- We agree with Michael Shain But, then again, he could just deny that they – like the 6 criminates should lose its tax- (Sept. 16) that Israelis do not state. We can’t let a minority, million Jews killed in the Holocaust – ever existed. exempt status. If I were a need to be “saved from them- no matter how devoted it is, member of Temple Emanuel, I selves.” Brit Tzedek is not dictate the future of Israel. would vote with my feet. about that, but rather about PUBLISHERS OF THE JEWISH ADVOCATE As in the decades-long promoting the one solution SARIT AND MICKEY ROSIN 1902-1917 JACOB De HAAS 1917-1952 JOSEPH G. BRIN Catholic church abuse cover- that has been consistently sup- Brookline 1917-1980 ALEXANDER BRIN 1980-1984 JOSEPH G. WEISBERG 1984-1990 BERNARD M. HYATT 1990- GRAND RABBI Y. A. KORFF Please include your name, address and telephone number. 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