FRIDAY NIGHT VIRTUAL
End your week by experiencing the magic of Shabbat with fascinating guests. Whether Temple Emanu-El is your regular Friday night destination or you are a first-timer, please join our community.
About this Service:
30th Anniversary of Operation Solomon
Performance by Idan Raichel with Yahalom David and Avi Wogderas Wassa
Special remarks by David Harris, American Jewish Committee (AJC) Chief Executive Officer, Edward and Sandra Meyer Office of the CEO
Theirs was the world’s most spectacular homecoming: In 1991, 14,500 Ethiopian Jews flown in wave after wave of flights to the land of their prayers.
An ancient community - believed to be descended from King Solomon and Queen Sheba - welcomed in Tel Aviv by President Chaim Herzog, who called their arrival “the realization of the loftiest mission of Zionism and of the sacred goal for which the Jewish State was established.”
Long isolated from World Jewry, Ethiopian Jews had been trickling back to Israel for decades. In 1975, when Israel declared them eligible for immigration under the Law of Return, more than 8,000 trekked across the desert to end their exile. Even after the Ethiopian government outlawed the practice of Judaism and forbade the remainder to leave, hundreds walked to Sudan - and Israel covertly flew 7,000 home in Operation Moses.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Operation Solomon and the ingathering of the Ethiopians Jews, Temple Emanu-El is proud to welcome Pnina Tamano-Shata, Israel’s Minister for Aliyah and Integration, who herself arrived in Israel from Ethiopia in Operation Moses, and musician Idan Raichel, whose collaboration with young Ethiopians on the Idan Raichel Project propelled the sound of Ethiopian music into the heart of the Israeli music. He will be joined by Project veterans Yahalom David and Avi Wogderas Wassa, showcasing the unique fusion that created a new soundtrack for Israel.
This program is sponsored by the Tisch family.