International Conference Beta Israel – A History of Coping and Struggle - Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center
International Conference “Beta Israel – A History of Coping and Struggle

International Conference Beta Israel – A History of Coping and Struggle

24.05.2023 09:00 - 19:50
Ze’evi Auditorium, ANU Museum, Tel Aviv University Campus

The third conference of the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center, in collaboration with the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University; the Africa Unit, S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies, Tel Aviv University; the Azrieli Center for Israel Studies (MALI), Ben Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben Gurion University of the Negev; ANU Museum of the Jewish People; the Baron De Hirsch Fund; and the Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University

 

Wednesday, 24.5.2023

 

9:00 – Gathering and refreshments

 

9:30 – 10:00 – Greetings

Moderator: Ziona Desta Nega

Dr. Simcha Getahune, former chairwoman of the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center and lecturer at the Kibbutzim College

Prof. Avi Bareli, director of the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben Gurion University

Prof. Roni Stauber, head of the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University

Representative of the Baron De Hirsch Fund

Dan Tadmor, CEO of ANU – the Museum of the Jewish People

 

10:00 – 10:30 Keynote lecture

Danny Admasu, MALI, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

A Narrative of Glorification and Exclusion in the Aliyah of the Ethiopian Jews in the 80s: ‘Operation Moses’ as a Test Case

 

First Session: Coping with Challenges in Ethiopia 10:30-11:30 

Chair: Prof. Esther Meir, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Dr. Wovite Worku-Mengisto, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and David Yellin College and Dr. Bar Kribus, Tel Aviv University

The Impact of the Ethos of the Struggles in the Sǝmen Mountains in the Days of the Gideonite Dynasty on the Life of the Betä Ǝsraʾel Community in this Region in Later Times

Mauricio Lapchik Minski, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Jews and Judaism in Ethiopia in the Eyes of the Jesuits – Resistance and Struggles

 

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee break

 

12:00 – 13:00 Second Session: The Struggle for Aliyah

Chair: Dr. Anbessa Teferra, Tel Aviv University

Mordechai Baruch, Ariel University

The Ways in Which the Religious Leader Qes Berhan Baruch Coped in His Twofold Struggle: Vis-à-vis the Christian Mission in Ethiopia and the Zionist and Rabbinical Institutions in Israel

Dr. Louise Fischer and Michal Saft, Israel State Archives

‘If the Rescue Activities Will Not Increase in Momentum… There Will Be No One To Save’: The Israeli Government and the Beta Israel Activists in the Struggle for Aliyah from Ethiopia.

 

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break

 

14:30 – 16:00 Third Session: Social and Political Struggles in Israel

Chair: Dr. Simcha Getahune, Kibbutzim College

Dr. Elad Wexler, Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center

The Struggle of the Ethiopian Jews Against the Chief Rabbinate and Against the Giyur le-Chumra

Uri Perednik, Bar Ilan University

Israel Even Though He Has Sinned? A Critical View on the Media Coverage of the Struggle for the Aliyah of the Ethiopian Jews between the Years 2015-2020

Dr. Ravit Talmi-Cohn, Ruppin Academic Center

A Vague Aliyah Policy – Its Expressions and Consequences

 

16:00 – 17:30 - Conference participants are invited to a tour at the ANU Museum of the Jewish People, and to experience the new tour on the topic of the Beta Israel community.

 

17:30 – 18:30 Round table, activists in the struggle for aliyah

Moderator: Ziva Mekonen-Degu

Participants: Abraham Yerday, Addisu Masala, Belaynesh Ayeh, Rahamim Elazar, Babu Yakov

 

18:30 – 19:30 Round table, activists in social struggles

Moderator: Danny Admasu

Participants: Avi Yalou, Ziva Mekonen-Degu, Itzhak Tayem, Banchi Meshesha

 

19:30 – 19:40 Concluding Remarks

Prof. Galia Sabar, Tel Aviv University

 

19:40 – 19:50 Thanks

Naphtali Avraham, CEO, Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center

 

The conference will be broadcast live on the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center's website.