Idan Raichel and the Ethiopian Jews

Quick! Think of Jewish people! What do you see? Black hats? Black coats? Curly cues on the side of their heads? Wrong. There are many different kinds of Jews found all over the world. In Israel, there over 120,000 Jews that emigrated from Ethiopia. The Jews in Ethiopia had practiced Judaism and practiced the laws of the religion, thinking they were the only ones in the world to do this. They had no idea that others in the world practiced Judaism. At the same time, no one knew that there were these Jews in Ethiopia. Scottish explorer James Bruce mentioned these Ethiopian Jews in a book that he wrote in 1790. Even this knowledge of the Jews in Ethiopia did not convince people to bring them to Israel. After seventy seven years, Christian missionaries were attempting to convert the Ethiopian Jews, and the Alliance Israelite Universelle decided to make their move. Since they suspected that these Jews were from the tribe of Dan, and there was the Law of Return, these Ethiopian Jews needed to be brought to Israel. At first, the Ethiopians were hesitant. They had grown up around Christians who were always trying to convert them, but after they realized the Semitic scholar and linguist Joseph Halevy was from Jerusalem, they agreed to go to Israel.



Solomon Ezra, an Ethiopian Jew was given a scholarship in 1975 and went to Israel. After moving to Israel and being in the Israeli army, he wanted to help the rest of the Ethiopian Jews to Israel. On May 23, 1991, unmarked planes came to Ethiopia to transport Jews to Israel. The Ethiopians fled into these planes and after crowded planes travelled about 1,600 miles, 14,324 Ethiopians were brought to Israel over the course of thirty six hours. This operation was called Operation Solomon after King Solomon and Solomon Ezra. These Ethiopians were given resources to start their lives in Israel. They were taught about Mishnah and the newer ways of Judaism like lighting Shabbat candles and wearing t’fillin.



Eleven years down the road, The Idan Raichel Project came into Israel’s music scene. It was to bring a message of hope and love to an area that was surrounded in conflict. The creator of this project, Idan Raichel was quoted saying, “I think the fact that I didn’t have strong family musical roots is what made me be very open to music from all over the world.” After completing his time in the army as an Israeli, he worked as a counselor for troubled youth and become familiar with Ethiopian children. This is when he began to learn about the Ethiopian culture and music. Idan took this culture and music and combined it with his Israeli music to produce a CD, which was an automatic pop hit. The album sold over 150,000 copies and was a huge success. The Idan Raichel Project traveled to Ethiopia in 2006 and performed at the Fifth Ethiopian Music Festival in Addis Abada and tried to give back to those who originally influenced the success of the group. The Idan Raichel project combines the culture and music of Ethiopia and brings it to Israel, where there are already emigrated Ethiopian Jews.



The Web information I discovered was the Idan Raichel website. I gives music videos and backround information on the project and gives information of how some Israelis are not happy about his music, even if his first CD went triple platinum. The viewpoint of this page is to inspire people to listen to his music and emphasize love, peace, and hope in a time of fighting and war. It wants people to care for each other and to create peace not only in Israel, but everywhere.


This is a music video of Idan Raichel performing Mima'amakim, one of their well known songs.