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While the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and its partner agencies help Ukrainian refugees find new homes around the world, there’s also an effort underway to help Ethiopian Jews relocate to Israel.
Melissa Arden, the vice president of community, strategy and planning for the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, recently went to Ethiopia to help 180 people find new homes in Israel.
She spent time in Ethiopia, learning about the 40-plus-year effort to bring about 3,000 Jewish people in the country to Israel.
In the 1980s, many Ethiopian Jewish people walked from Ethiopia to Sudan in order to gain entry into Israel. The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and its partner agencies were involved in that effort.
About ten years ago, a leader with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County went to Ethiopia to continue this effort. Arden went to Ethiopia in late May and arrived back in South Florida in early June.
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“There’s a phrase among Jewish people and what it essentially means is that we’re responsible for one another and this week in Ethiopia I was able to see that in action,” said Arden. “It was a moment that has forever changed me and one that I will never forget.”
During her trip, Arden was on a flight from Ethiopia to Israel, helping welcome those Jewish people to their new home.
“The entire flight, it was this raucous cheering and singing and just being so grateful for the moment as we landed in Israel and to know that these children have an opportunity that they’ve only dreamed of and that their parents have dreamt of for ages, it was just, it was an incredible thing to be a part of,” said Arden.
Currently, a severe drought and conflict are making the situation in Ethiopia direr every day.
“For centuries, this community has dreamt of what they call ‘Yerusalem,’ which is Jerusalem in Israel and for centuries they have dreamt and thought, ‘One day we’ll get there,’” said Arden.
This effort has only continued to pick up momentum, reuniting more and more people in Ethiopia with their families in Israel, who some haven’t seen for decades.
“We really do live this phrase which is, ‘We are responsible for one another,’ and to be able to see our federation help make these dreams a reality, it was just something that was extraordinary,” said Arden.
Along with helping families relocate to Israel, the federation is involved with a number of humanitarian efforts in Ethiopia, Israel and other countries around the world.
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