NACOEJ Selected Resource List
A. General Information About Ethiopia
1. Holcomb, Bonnie K. & Klay, Jason W. 1986. Politics and the Ethiopian Famine, 1984-1985. Cambridge, MA: Cultural Survival, Inc.
2. Kaplan, Robert D. 1988. Surrender or Starve: The Wars Behind the Famine. Boulder: Westview Press.
3. Kapuscinski, Ryszard. 1989. The Emperor. Washington, DC: Vintage American Press.
4. Moorehead, Allen. 2000. The Blue Nile. New York: Viking Press.
B. Books About Ethiopian- Jews
1. Ashkenazi, Michael & Weingrod, Alex. 1987. Ethiopian Jews and Israel. New Brunswick: Transactions Publishing.
2. Avraham, Shmuel & Kushner, Arlene. 1986. Treacherous Journey: My Escape from Ethiopia. New York: Steimatzky/Shapolsky Books.
3. Bard, Mitchell. 2002. From Tragedy to Triumph: The Politics Behind the Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry. Westport: Praeger Pubs.
4. Becker, David I. 1989. Beta Israel: A House Divided. Binghamton: University Art Museum, SUNY Binghamton. (A full-color exhibition catalogue is available on the NACOEJ website).
5. BenEzer, Gadi. 2007. The Ethiopian Jewish Exodus: Narratives of the Migration Journey to Israel 1977-1985. Routledge.
6. BenEzer, Gadi. 2002. The Migration Journey: The Ethiopian Jewish Exodus. New Brunswick: Transaction Pub.
7. Berger, Graenum. 1996. Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! A Memoir, 1955-1995
8. Berman, Colette. 1996. The Beautiful People of the Book: A Tribute to Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Los Angeles: Millhouse Publishing.
9. Feldman, Micha. 2012. On Wings of Eagles: The Secret Operation of the Ethiopian Exodus. Jerusalem: Gefen Pub. House.
10. Gruber, Ruth. 1987. Rescue: The Exodus of the Ethiopian Jews. New York: Atheneum.
11. Kessler, David. 1996. (3rd Ed.) The Falashas: A Short History of the Ethiopian Jews. London: Frank Cass.
12. Kessler, David. The Falashas: The Forgotten Jews of Ethiopia.. Schocken Books: New York, NY; 1985(2nd revised edition).
13. Lenhoff, Howard M. 2007. Black Jews, Jews, and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, Ltd.
14. Leslau, Wolf, and Colette Berman. The Jews of Ethiopia - A Pictorial Journey Back to their Past. Amitai Design & Production, Jerusalem, 2001.
15. Lyons, Leonard. 2007. The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Pub.
16. Nagel, Gerald S. 2006. Operation Exodus: the Inside Story of American Jews in the Greatest Rescues of Our Time. New York: Contemporary History Press.
17. Parfitt, Tudor. 1985. Operation Moses: The Untold Story of the Secret Exodus of the Falasha Jews from Ethiopia. New York: Stein & Day.
18. Rapoport, L. 1986. Redemption Song: the Story of Operation Moses. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Pubs.
19. Safran, Claire. 1987. Secret Exodus. Englewood: Prentice Hall Press.
20. Seeman, Don. 2009. One People, One Blood: Ethiopian-Israelis and the Return to Judaism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
21. Shimron, Gad. 2007. Mossad Exodus; The Daring Undercover Rescue of the Lost Jewish Tribe. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, Ltd.
22. Spector, Stephen. 2005. Operation Solomon: the Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews. New York: Oxford University Press.
23. Tegegne, Baruch. 2009. Baruch's Odyssey: An Ethiopian Jew's Struggle to Save His People. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, Ltd.
24. The Koren Ethiopian Haggada: The Journey to Freedom. (Hebrew/English Edition). 2012. Jerusalem: Koren Pub.
24. Transformations from Ethiopia to Israel. 2006. Photos by Rosen, Ricki. Reality Check Productions.
25. Wagaw, Teshome. 1993. For Our Soul: Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
26. Yilma, Shmuel. 1996. From Falasha to Freedom: An Ethiopian Jew's Journey to Jerusalem. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, Ltd.
Children's Books
Elementary School
• Greenberg, Blu & Tarry, Linda. 1997. King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Jerusalem: Pitspopany Press.
• Kendall, Jonathan P. 1987. My Name Is Rachamim. New York: URJ Press.
• Kurtz, Jane. 1998. The Storyteller's Beads. San Diego: Gulliver Books.
• Kushner, Arlene. 1986. Falasha No More: An Ethiopian Jewish Child Comes Home. New York: Steimatzky/Shapolsky Books.
• Schrier, Jeffrey. 1998. On the Wings of Eagles: An Ethiopian Boy's Story. Brookfield: Millbrook Press.
• Schur, Maxine Rose. 1994. Day of Delight: a Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
• Schur, Maxine Rose. 1996. When I Left my Village. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
• Simpson, Lesley. 2011. Yuvi's Candy Tree. Minneapolis: KAR-BEN Publishing.
• Weyl, Merin. Stork, Stork, How is Our Land?: Works by Newly Arrived Ethiopian Children, 1991. The Ruth Youth Wing. (1991). Jerusalem: The Israel Museum.
• Levitin, Sonia. 1988. The Return. New York: Fawcett Juniper Pub./Atheneum.
• Oron, Judie. 2010. Cry of the Giraffe. Toronto: Annick Press.
• Again… the Second Time. (19 min.). Ergo Media Inc. DVD can be ordered from Ergo Media, Inc.www.jewishvideo.com.
• The Jews of Ethiopia. (3-4 min.). BlueStarPR. Available on NACOEJ website. DVD can be ordered from BlueStarPR. www.bluestarpr.com.
• Photo Page available on NACOEJ website.
• El Al Video. Available on NACOEJ website.
Films
THE NAME MY MOTHER GAVE ME
Written & directed by Eli Tal-El (2008)
Hebrew and Amharic with English sub-titles
This movie features students and the Director of the Yemin Orde Mechina Leadership Program which is located in the northern development town of Hatzor. The Yemin Orde Mechina is the only pre-military mechina in Israel that has been specifically designed for immigrants. Yemin Orde's Mechina works with a unique prospective and years of experience with immigrant and at-risk youth and provides the participants with innumerable skills which will enable them to overcome their backgrounds and take on leadership roles during their service in the IDF - service that will set them in good stead for the future.
Written & directed by Shmuel Beru , 2008
"Zrubavel" is the first feature-length Israeli drama created by Ethiopian-Israeli filmmakers, and centers on a multigenerational family of Ethiopian émigrés. It portrays the younger generation trying to assimilate with Israeli culture and disregarding the customs cherished by their elders. One of its members, a young Ethiopian-Jewish boy, dreams of becoming the future Spike Lee of Israel.
Directed by Radu Mihaileanu, 2005 Hebrew, French, Amharic
The story of an Ethiopian boy who is airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel in 1984. Shlomo is plagued by two big secrets: He is neither a Jew nor an orphan, just an African boy who survived and wants, somehow, to fulfill his Ethiopian mother's parting request that he "go, live, and become." Buoyed by a profound and unfaltering motherly love – both in his memory and in the arms of his adoptive Israeli family – he ultimately finds an identity and a happiness all his own.
Directed and produced by Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen, 2012
English, Hebrew, and Amharic
http://www.fourhundredmilestofreedom.com/
THESE ARE MY NAMES
Directed by Ruth Mason
2010
Hebrew with English subtitles.
Ethiopian Jews' multiple names reflect the richness, wisdom, and beauty of their culture- and every name tells a story. In These Are My Names, young Ethiopian Israelis share their journeys toward their names: stories of love and connection, survival and loss, anger and pride.
WHEN ISRAEL WENT OUT
Directed by Meni Elias
2010
Hebrew and Amharic with English subtitles.
Eight Israelis, Ethiopian and native-born, return in late 2009 to retrace the treacherous trek that many Ethiopian Jews took to reach Israel 25 years earlier. From 1983-1985, thousands of Ethiopian Jews matched nearly 200 kilometers from Gondar, Ethiopia, to the Sudanese border, hoping to reach Israel from Sudan. A camera-crew followed the group of Israelis for eleven arduous days of walking. Three had made the trek as children 25 years ago. The film is dedicated to those who did not survive the journey.