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So all Israel
will be saved…
either rumored or claiming to be descend- ed from the Northern Kingdom. Then in the 1980s many people were surprised to learn that Israel had secretly airlifted thousands of Ethiopian Jews out of Ethiopia in Operations Moses, Joshua, and Solomon. Who were these people, and how did they get to Africa? The presence of a large group of peo- ple in Ethiopia who were following ancient Jewish customs was an open secret. It did not receive much attention in the Western press, but it had been the subject of much discussion among vari- ous Jewish rabbis and leaders. In the 1800s, representatives of the Beta Israel (House of Israel) met with key rabbis in dozens of countries to press their claim to being Jews. In 1908, the chief rabbis of forty-five
different countries issued a statement rec- ognizing the legitimacy of the claim. And in 1975, the government of Israel recog- nized the Beta Israel as Jews, opening the way for them to come to Israel under the Law of Return. But the government of Ethiopia was in turmoil. Emperor Haile Selassie (1892- 1975) was overthrown in a military coup whose leader instituted a Marxist govern- ment that was extremely hostile to the Jewish People. Leaders of the Beta Israel were jailed and persecuted, and the pub- lic teaching of Judaism was forbidden. A massive famine in the early 1980s made the Ethiopian government desper- ate for Western aid. The United States lev- eraged the aid to get the government to agree to allow members of the Beta Israel to leave the country, and fly to Israel from neighboring Sudan. In a six-week period between Decem- ber 1984 and January 1985, some 8,000 people were airlifted to Israel. When news of the airlift broke, Arab governments pressured Sudan to halt the process. For the thousands left behind in Ethiopia, life was grim. They had left their homes to go to Israel, and were not allowed to return. Thousands still live today in squalor and abject poverty as a result. It is to these precious Jews that Jew-
ish Voice brings humanitarian aid in the form of food, clothing, medical, dental, and optical care in our free clinics several times each year. We will return to Ethiopia yet again in late September of this year to proclaim
18 | Jewish Voice Today JULY/AUGUST 2010
Israel’s Messiah and host a medical out- reach. Won’t you join us? I can guarantee that you will never be the same once you meet these wonderful people!
Dreams and Visions in India Other Jewish People are scattered throughout parts of India, Myanmar (for- merly Burma), and Bangladesh’s Chit- tagong District. These tribes had com- pletely lost touch with their Jewish roots during centuries of exile in Asia. Yet, they continued in certain traditions that traced back to their Jewish heritage without understanding the connection. Then, about 25 years ago, some of their leaders began having dreams and rev- elations regarding who they were as a peo- ple. Initially, they returned to the worship of one God, and although they had no copies of the Bible to read, many members of this tribe, particularly those living in the state of Mizoram, became Christians. They lived as Christians until the dreams revealed that they were in fact Jewish. They reached out to members of the traditional Jewish Community and syna- gogues began to sprout up all over this area, including in the state of Manipur to the north.
Today, this prophecy is being fulfilled at an extraordinary rate. I see this aliyah, or return of Jews to their biblical homeland, as an important sign that our Messiah’s coming is approaching.
The Bnei Menashe live in the moun- tainous region along the border between India and Myanmar. They believe they descended from the tribe of Manasseh. Some Jewish authorities recognize their claim, and several thousand have moved to Israel under the Law of Return. According to the oral histories passed
down through the tribe, they were cap- tured by Assyria when the Nation of Isra- el was conquered. They were sent (or escaped, depending on the legend) to central Asia, eventually living for a time in China. About one hundred years after the birth of Yeshua, they came under per- secution there and migrated to India, retaining their traditions and keeping the elements of their culture alive.
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