By ERIN SHEA, HometownAnnapolis.com
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — Ethiopian Jews have long been trying to assimilate into Israeli society to little avail but now Annapolis’ Kol Ami congregation is here to help.
The Bestgate Road-area synagogue is the first in the United States to partner with the Family Education Initiative to support Ethiopian Jews.
For that help, the congregation received a fundraising visit last week from Rabbi Yafet Alemu, an Ethiopian who has overcome the difficulties of immigrating and now wants to help his countrymen.
The majority of the Ethiopian Jewish population came to Israel in the mid-1980s and early 1990s following persecution in Ethiopia, where Christianity is the most prominent religion. Since then, according to Rabbi Alemu, many have had difficulty adjusting to Israel’s more advanced society.
“There must be a bridge to help them to transfer,” Rabbi Alemu said.
This need led Rabbi Alemu, 47, to found the Equal Opportunity for Ethiopian Jews in Israel in 2004, of which FEI is a part.
FEI has tutoring programs, designed to help the struggling population that in 2004 had a high school dropout rate of 40 percent, which according to Rabbi Alemu happened because Israel’s population is generally better educated than the Ethiopian immigrant population. That inequity carries over to economics, with most Ethiopians significantly poorer than the average Israeli.
The program also has mentoring programs designed to curb the community’s domestic violence problem. Rabbi Alemu estimated that 25 percent of women killed by their spouses in Israel are Ethiopians, although Ethiopians only make up about 2 percent of Israel’s population.
There are other programs aimed at improving the lives of Ethiopians in Israel, but these programs, according to the FEI, focus on the children rather than the entire family. Adults, therefore, are left without the necessary skills to succeed in Israel.
Their inability in many cases to be good role models for their children has led to drug and alcohol abuse among the population as well as high rates of violence and crime, which Rabbi Alemu said was not typical of their community back in Ethiopia.
FEI “helps [family members to understand each other” in order to help repair strained family relations that are common among Ethiopian immigrants, Rabbi Alemu said. “The program is prepared by [Ethiopians using our culture,” Rabbi Alemu said, adding that he thinks that factors into the program’s success.
The program currently serves about 9,000 people, Rabbi Alemu said.
“We have a choice,” he said, “To leave it as it is or take responsibility.”
The Kol Ami congregation began donating to FEI this year.
Since they started donating, about 25 other Jewish congregations in the United States have decided to follow suit, he said.
Rabbi Alemu immigrated to Israel in 1983, spending 28 days crossing Ethiopia into Sudan, where he received political asylum and was transported to Israel by the International Red Cross.
He left Ethiopia because he was facing prison time for trying to go to Israel.
He felt he would certainly be killed in prison, and so he prayed, and decided he had to try to escape Ethiopia.
“I cried to God as a child cries to his father,” Rabbi Alemu said, “God covered me from being exposed [during my escape .”
After coming to Israel, Rabbi Alemu received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Tel Aviv University and then enrolled in rabbinic school, becoming the first Ethiopian to be ordained in Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, in Israel.
He also specialized in community education at the Mandel Educational Leadership School before founding EOEJ.
FEI now has partnered with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which is an organization of synagogues that practice Conservative Judaism in the United States and Canada. FEI is run on a donor matching program, which means it relies on fundraising to continue its programs.
Rabbi Alemu said he is optimistic about the new partnership.
“Together we can do something very strong,” Rabbi Alemu said.