World Jewry: Quara Jews

The Quara Jews

The community of Quara Jews, from a remote part of Ethiopia that becomes completely inaccessible during the rainy season, have gradually been making aliya to Israel. The Quara Jews are a group of Beta Yisrael (by definition this means Ethiopian Jews whose lineage is not in question) who were involved in an internal dispute in their community many years ago and moved to a different part of Quara. Quara is in a remote part of Ethiopia, near the border with Eritrea, and is completely inaccessible during the rainy season. By a series of mishaps, the Quara Jews were not brought to Israel with the earlier air lifts of Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991).

Since June 1999, the Israeli government brought the last 2,500 Jews from the Quara region of Ethiopia. This exodus, contrary to the past operations, has been kept low-key in an effort to maintain positive relations with the Ethiopian government. While this mass immigration has not been the focus of media attention, it is just as important as past immigrations. These historic events provide an opportunity for Jews around the world to engage in the important mitzvah(commandment) of pidyon sh'vuyim (redemption of captives) and strengthen our connection to Klal Yisrael (the community of Israel).

No one, including the Israel government, doubts the Quara Jews' claims as Jews. The main obstacle that held up their making aliya was the Israeli government not acting quickly. Israeli officials cite staff and budget limitations as the primary reasons for the delay in processing the Quara Jews' immigration application. In addition, the Israeli government explained the delay on the basis of a fear that the Felash Mura will attempt to infiltrate this group. (See section entitled The Felash Mura.)

Since there was no controversy over their Jewish status and conditions in Quara are poor, the URJ/RAC actively advocated that the Israeli government bring the Quara Jews to Israel as quickly as possible. The Quara Jews are pleased with the process, even though it was a very slow start.

The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland has taken an active role in supporting this and other resettlement projects. The Curriculum Resources Department of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland (JECC) has developed a Response Curriculum as a resource for K-12 teachers to help place this honorable humanitarian effort into a Jewish context.