ABSTRACT
World Jewish solidarity, encompassing Jews living in Ethiopia, echoes back to antiquity. Ethiopian legends claim that Jews settled in Ethiopia in King Solomon’s time. According to a midrash based on the intriguing Biblical reference to Moses’ Ethiopian wife, Moses found refuge in Ethiopia after he fled from Pharaoh’s palace. During the 1920s, Ethiopian and world Jewish solidarity appeared to grow stronger with Faitlovitch’s success in recruiting spiritual and financial support from another corner of the world: the American pro-Falasha Committee. This organization became very prominent, and existed in the United States until the early 1970s. In the period following the birth of Israel, the Jewish Agency decided to aid Ethiopian Jews primarily at home. It set up a token teacher-training boarding-school in Asmara and elementary schools in the Gondar region. In America, Jewish solidarity with Ethiopian Jews and the determination to bring about their emigration to Israel led to various actions.
