JDC - Ethiopia, "This Is a Soul"

View Trailer - Dr. Hodes lifesaving work in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is considered a low-income country-less than half of the country can read and write and almost a quarter of the population lives on less than $1/day.

The 1984 Operation Moses and 1991 Operation Solomon massive airlifts transported Ethiopia’s Jews to Israel. Following Operation Solomon, JDC started to take care of approximately 2,800 Felas Mora left behind in Addis Ababa. Some years later, JDC developed an emergency assistance program using medical clinics in Addis Ababa and Gondar, implementing a nutrition program for malnourished children as well as other health-related initiatives. As of December 2009, JDC’s clinic in Gondar is tending to the medical needs of the more than 9,000 Felas Mora awaiting emigration from Gondar to Israel.

Need
Poor sanitation and a lack of access to modern medical treatments and education are among the crippling challenges facing Ethiopia.

Response
JDC—through its global non-sectarian arm, JDC-IDP—lends its expertise in public health and education. Efforts include:

- Raising sanitation standards by building water wells, latrines, and irrigation systems.
- Life-saving medical programs, including heart and spinal surgeries as well as treatment for Hodgkin’s disease.
- Construction of 6 schools in rural Ethiopia and launching of a university scholarship program for young women.

Impact
JDC’s humanitarian initiatives have reached many people in the communities of Addis Ababa and Gondar with critical help:

- Thousands of individuals are receiving medical care through JDC’s newly opened clinic in Gondar.
- Dozens of children have successfully undergone spinal surgeries or cancer treatment through JDC’s partnership with the Mother Teresa Care Center
- Nine wells have been built and are providing clean drinking water for villages in the Gondar region.
- Hundreds of children now study in comfortable conditions in the rural schools recently built by JDC.
- 30 needy students have received scholarships to complete their university studies; 24 for completion of their nursing studies.

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Check Out New Book: This Is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes, by Marilyn Berger.

Operation Promise

Our Jewish story begins with a promise, passed from generation to generation like a golden chain, etched in our collective memories and recorded in our books. This promise represents our hope to be a free people, to return to our historic homeland and to create a better future; it represents our dream to be a compassionate people, whose purpose it is to make the world a better place.

The Jewish Agency for Israel along with the federations of North America accept this promise as our legacy and our opportunity. We are responsible for one another’s safety, health and quality of life. And Operation Promise reminds us of our commitment to a rich tradition of generosity and justice that are the hallmark of the Jewish people.

$160 Million in New Funding Over Three Years

Operation Promise has been launched to continue and expand the already extraordinary achievements of the federation movement: Caring for hundreds of thousands of needy elderly and building and supporting the next generation of Jewish life in the FSU; and bringing the Ethiopian Jewish community home to Israel and helping them to take their rightful place in Israeli society. The programs are in place; the urgent needs have been well documented. Now is the time to implement the plan: $160 million in new funding over the next three years.

- $23 million for the Falas Mura in Ethiopia: for maintaining the compounds, providing assistance with food, rent and healthcare, and operating several feeding programs; Hebrew-language education and other vital aliyah preparation to help ensure a smoother absorption; and airfare to Israel.

- $40 million for the initial absorption of the Falas Mura as the rate they arrive in Israel doubles from 300 to 600 each month; the absorption centers and the programs and services provided must be expanded.

- $37 million towards critical initiatives to improve the educational opportunities for all Ethiopians, who, without these opportunities, are in danger of becoming part of a permanent underclass.

- $30 million for needy elderly Jews in the FSU who live in poverty, with virtually no government safety net.

- $30 million for programs to connect to a generation of young Jews in the FSU, with no roots in Jewish life. Falling short means that we may lose them forever.

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The Jews of Ethiopia - Operation Solomon

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For nearly 3,000 years, the black Jews of Ethiopia, known as Falashas and call themselves Beta Israel maintained their faith and identity struggle against hunger, drought and tribal wars. It is believed that they were part of one of the ten lost tribes, their ancestors dating back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Saba).

In May 1991, the Falash staged a miraculous exodus. With Ethiopia involved in deep and brutal civil war, 14,200 members of this community were flown to Jerusalem for the Defense Forces Israel. The operation lasted 25 hours.

The hero who conceived and organized the incredible rescue was then Israel's ambassador to Ethiopia, Asher Naim. The epic has been narrated in the book Saving the Lost Tribe, in which Naim relates with humor and knowledge of the action that became known as Operation Solomon.
In the fall of 1990, when he was appointed by the Israeli government for the post of ambassador in Addis Ababa, its identification with the Ethiopian Jews was immediate. He wanted to continue "Operation Moses, established in 1985 by the Israeli secret service, Mossad, in conjunction with the American agency CIA for three years, tried to take the country 14 thousand Falashas through the Sudan, bringing them boat to Israel. The success of that operation was on, because at the time, only eight thousand people managed to escape and the rest fell ill on the trip and many returned to Ethiopia. Many families were thus separated. - To be continued ....