Page Fourteen
THI SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, September 9, 1966
...... THINKING
of Travel?
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tult* 413,11 Pryor it., i. W. 514 - Mil
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S.pt. li—Oct. 9
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C"antor Ungar’s
Voice of Israel
PROGRAM ON
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at 12:00 Noon
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RALPH L. SACKS
135 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.
Decatur, Ga. 377-5577
Don 7 Forsake Us!
Back From Ethiopia Visit He Makes Urgenl Flea
For Black Jews I lere and the Falasha Community
By WLLIAM COHEN
SPECIAL to Member Newspapers of the American Jewish Press Association
Black Jewish Leader, Hailu Paris, says Both Groups desperate
ly need funds, teachers, more opportunity for Higher Educa
tion. He reports that Ethiopian Jews who claim descent from
King Solomon are besieged by Proselyting Missionaries.
cob, Pensions Minister, hold high
government posts.
Rabbi Paris, who taught Eng
lish at a private school in Addis
Ababa during his Ethiopian stay,
was amazed and excited to find
a wide use of the Jewish symbol,
the Afogen David, throughout the
country. It is the insignia of the
imperial household and is also
used by the Ethiopian Army,
many of whose units are now
being trained by American in
structors. The Israelis are help
ing to develop some Ethiopian
police forces and are also aiding
to direct the vast construction
program in the cities, in parti-
NEW YORK N. Y.—“The Fal
asha Jews of Ethiopia and the
Black Jewish community of the
United States have one thing in
common—both desperately need
financial aid, teachers, more op
portunities for higher education,
and above all, encouragement
and recognition of their exis
tence.”
The speaker was tall wiry, 32-
year old Hailu Paris, associate
rabbi to the venerable Rabbi Al
bert Moses of the Mt. Horeb
Congregation in the Bronx, a
leader of New York’s Black or
Ethiopian Jewish community,
who has just returned from a
nine-month visit to his native
Ethiopia, which is 10,000 miles
away in Northeast Africa, on the
Red Sea.
Rabbi Paris, resident in the
U. S. for the past 29 years, has
not been “home” since he was
brought here from Africa, a child
of three, in the company of his
mother and aunt who settled
with him in the Bronx. “The
time of my arrival was 1937.
“You will recall,” he told this
reporter in a special interview,
“that Ethiopia had been invaded
by Mussolini’s Fascist legions,
who were wont to boast they
were impressing some of my fel
low-countrymen by throwing
others out of airplanes.”
“What did I see of real Italian
influence in Ethiopia?” The be
spectacled and yarmalke-wearing
rabbi smiled and sat back in his
chair. “I credit the Italian Army
with introducing pork into the
country. Neither the Coptic
Christians, the Jews or the Mos
lems there ever raised pigs or
ate pork. The Fascists introduced
it and the custom has remained,
bolstered by the eating habits of
the numerous European and
American tourists who flock to
Ethiopia to sec the changes made
under Emperor Haile Selassie.”
Rabbi Paris pointed out that
the dwindling number of Fal-
ashas who claim direct descent
from King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba, today comprise
some 2!) to 30,000 individuals.
They are besieged by the prosely,
tizing of the local Christian sec*;
and the beguiling tactics of the
hard-hitting missionaries of Can
ada and Europe, recently ousted
from the Sudan, and now center
ing their conversion activities in
Ethiopia.
His compatriots in the U. S.,
whether they are considered
Ethiopians or Black Jews stem
ming from other areas, number
about seven to ten thousand in
dividuals, who belong to 12-15
congregations centered mainly in
the greater New York metropol
itan area, Rabbi Paris eonfirm-
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LADIES’ and MEN’S HATS
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He related that the Falashas
who first came to the attention of
the Western world in modern
times through the pioneer en
deavors of the late French-Jew-
ish savant, Dr. Jacques Faitlov-
ich, their patron and champion
on the Jewish scene, were tagged
as Falashas or “strangers,” by
their fellow-Ethiopians. The Fal
ashas who speak Amharic, none
theless look like other Ethiopians.
They still sacrifice a lamb for
Passover; strictly observe the
Sabbath, follow certain tenets of
the dietary laws although they
mix meat and dairy foods; mark
the Biblical holidays except
Hanuka and Purim; and em
phasize the rite of purification.
Through Dr. Faitlovich’s good
offices, when Israel was estab
lished in 1948, a group of young
Falashas was flown to Israel to
learn Hebrew, Jewish lore, about
festivals, modern techniques of
economics, agriculture and in
dustry, and to read the Torah.
Back in their native land, they
have maintained a keen interest
in, and communication with, Is
rael. The returnees have been
received in friendly fashion by
the Emperor, who is known as
“The Lion of Judah.” A number
of Falashas, notably Tadessa Ya-
cular are supervising the erection
THE
POWERS
formerly Juliette Boutique
• McMullen
• Lanz
• normals And Cocktails
• Imported Kni*t
1966 MASTER’S GOLF
Not Accepted in Israel
Israel’s people have been cool
to the total recognition of the
Falashas as Jews, Rabbi Paris
pointed out, for reasons that they
do not quite conform to Halacha
or Rabbinic Law and never knew
the Talmud, which was written
after the dispersion of Palestine
Jewry. The Falashas, long iso
lated from other Jews have been
less explicit than Rabbinic Laws
decrees on matters of marriage
and divorce, the Israel rabbinate
maintains. “We Black Jews have
a similar problem here,” Rabbi
Paris emphasized, “Our status as
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