Many of you are familiar with the plight of Ethiopian Jewry. Their situation as they await Aliyah in Addis Ababa, is terrible. For many, their only hope of survival is immigration to Israel. The Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry (SSEJ) is an organization that has been working both in Ethiopia and Israel to help support the Ethiopian community.
Upon arrival in Israel, many of these Jews begin to learn Torah and observe Mitzvot – some for the first time. Most change their names to Hebrew, have halachik weddings (even if they were already married in Ethiopia) and Bar mitzvot. It is on the Bar-Mitzvah boys that I would like to focus. Although these boys are becoming a “Bar Mitzvah” like every Jewish male 13 year old, these Ethiopian boys do not have Tefillin to put on.
Is there something we can do to gather extra pairs of tefillin from our communities? It is my understanding that sometimes boys have a pair that they never use, or schools and yeshivot can have unclaimed tefillin left there year after year. How can we proceed?
If you have any ideas, please contact eimatai@yu.edu
For more information, check out www.ssej.org
