ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Nine groups of rabbinical students have set up shop in various Sub-Saharan locations for the High Holidays to host services and provide for the spiritual needs of Jews living in the remotest corners of the African continent.
Celebrating Rosh Hashanah on the Ethiopian New Year
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Nine groups of rabbinical students have set up shop in various Sub-Saharan locations for the High Holidays to host services and provide for the spiritual needs of Jews living in the remotest corners of the African continent.
Yaacov Berman and Shmuli Bendet will be conducting Rosh Hashanah services starting tonight in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Interestingly enough, their visit coincides with the Ethiopian New Year of Enkutatash, which began on Tuesday and marks the year 2,000 on the Ethiopian calendar. According to the students, the streets have been packed with singing, dancing and bonfires, all while the city’s Jewish residents, a mixture of native Ethiopians, Israeli expatriates and businesspeople, get ready for their own New Year celebrations.
Berman and Bendet’s trip, as are those of the eight other teams stretching from Nigeria to the Ivory Coast, is under the aegis of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch. They traveled from New York at the invitation of Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, the Congo-based director of Chabad-Lubavitch activities in Central Africa.
Bentolila said that the Ethiopian holiday is just one of many occurrences that can make reaching out to the Jewish community difficult.
“We’ve seen it all. From the first revolution to the democracy we enjoy today, thank G?d,” said Bentolila, who lives with his family in Kinshasa. “The problem is that in Africa you’ve got to expect the unexpected. Within an hour, without prior notice, airports can close and rain can flood the streets, and in such a case, you can’t travel and the Sukkah we built won’t be used.”
COMMON SENSE
THE REBBE SAID WE CANT ACCEPT THE ETHIOPIANS AS JEWS UNTIL THEY GO THROUGH GEIROS IM SURE THEY ARE AWARE OF THAT THEY ARE PROBALY DEALING WITH ISREALIES ETC THE ARTICLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN WITH THE SENSITIVITY THAT THE REBBE GAVE TO THE MI-YEHOUDI PROBLEM
me
good work. keep it up.
For the Record
TO Common Sense.
FYI:
The Rebbe sent shailos of gairus to rabbonim and did not pasken.
Resident
Like common sense wrote, there is a halachic uncertainty about Ethiopian Jews that needs to be resolved before we Chabadnicks simply go on shluchis to Ethiopia. If you look at their traditions and history it DOES NOT include the Talmud….AT ALL, as well as other Yom Tovim that apparently apply just to them.
If the concept of the trip was to reach out to Israelis in Ethiopia, then the writer should have stressed that.