Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
ETHIOPIAN YOUTH IN ISRAEL
Adopted at the 106th Annual Convention of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Jerusalem, Israel
March, 1995 / Adar II, 5755
Background
Israel’s ability to integrate and absorb Jewish immigrants and refugees from
all over the world is a source of immense pride to all Jews. Israel, in fact,
does more to assist refugees than any other country in the world.
Had it not been for the swift response of both the Jewish Agency and the
Israeli government, 15,000 Ethiopian Jews now building new lives in Israel
might well still languish in Gondar, Addis Ababa, or the Sudan. We praise
those government and Jewish Agency leaders who seized a rare and fleeting
opportunity to perform a truly great mitzvah.
While Israel has made enormous strides in the housing and employment areas of
absorption, there are growing problems in the area of education. A high
percentage of children have been tracked into non-college matriculation
programs, many students have been sent to Youth Aliyah villages with high
concentrations of Ethiopian students. Away from their families many have had
difficulties in making the adjustment. The result of this is that only 2% of
Ethiopian Israeli high school students go on to college, as opposed to over
30% of the average Israeli youth (including new immigrants). The vocational
training programs are having increasing problems in placing graduates, and a
growing number are simply dropping out.
Like every previous wave of olim, Ethiopians promise to strengthen and enrich
the state of Israel, and the Jewish people, in ways we can only begin to
imagine. But, also like every other previous wave of olim, they will reach
their full potential only if we, as fellow Jews, are willing to do whatever is
necessary fully to integrate them into Israeli society.
We now hope that, three years later, those who responded so swiftly and
effectively to a crisis before will feel compelled to do so again. We hope,
too, that neither the Jewish Agency nor the Israeli government will allow
inertia to prevent the swift resolution of a problem that daily grows larger.
For a variety of reasons — none intentional or malicious — hundreds of
Ethiopian youths are beginning to be shunted into the margins of Israeli
society, with the result that they are beginning to form an excluded and
frustrated underclass that will only grow in years to come.
Elem, a non-profit organization for children at risk which operates out of the
Tel Aviv University School of Social Work, reports that at least 500 Ethiopian
young people, mainly dropouts from Youth Aliyah boarding schools and public
junior high schools, now live on the streets. They are isolated and alienated
from other Israelis and from their own families. According to the report,
this group of disaffected Ethiopian youth threatens to grow by several hundred
more if fundamental changes in the education of Ethiopian youth are not made.
In an article in the Israeli newspaper Ha-Aretz, Minister of Absorption Yair
Tzaban called for change, reporting that, “The Education Department and Aliyat
HaNoar are working under the most difficult conditions, because of the
existing heavy concentration of Ethiopian students in the youth villages, and
the request of the majority of the Ethiopian parents for religious education
for their children. Despite difficult conditions, we have to make a change.”
The Ministries of Education and Absorption have recognized the extent of this
problem and propose to resolve it by: reducing the number of Ethiopian youth
going to Youth Aliyah boarding schools; providing students with supplemental
education as well as the funds necessary for attendant fees and supplies that
will allow them to study while living at home; more thoroughly integrating
Ethiopian students with their non-Ethiopian counterparts; and providing more
opportunities for Ethiopian students to follow bagrut (college matriculation)
tracks. The Jewish Agency, an obviously key and essential player in any
solution to this problem, is currently considering this plan.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Central Conference of American Rabbis: 1)
recognize and applaud both the Jewish Agency and the Government of Israel for
their deep commitment to, and hard work on behalf of, the full absorption of
all refugees including, over the past three years, the absorption of the
Ethiopian olim; 2) call upon the Jewish Agency to agree to the proposals set
forth by the Ministries of Education and Absorption, and to assist immediately
and swiftly in implementation, and 3) call upon the entire American Jewish
community to follow this issue, monitor its progress, and continue its strong
support of Ethiopian Jewish absorption, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the CCAR call upon its members to support
organizations in North America working for the absorption of Ethiopian Jewry,
such as the Reform Movement’s Project Reap, that supports Ethiopian Jewry
advocacy and service efforts, the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews, the
Israel Religious Action Center, and the Leo Baeck School, as well as the North
American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry.