May 24: Operation Solomon

More than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in the course of thirty-six hours on this date in 1991, including a world record 1,122 passengers on a single flight, in the course of which three babies were born. The airlift, “Operation Solomon,” was a response to the precarious status of the Marxist-Leninist Ethiopian government headed by Mengistu Haile Mariam, who agreed to allow the Beta Israel (House of Israel) to emigrate en masse only after he was paid $40 million. With his government about to fall to Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, Israel grabbed its opportunity. A total of thirty-four El Al jumbo jets and Hercules C-130s, with seats removed, brought much of the remaining Ethiopian Jewish population to Israel, where more than 120,000 of them now live, 80,000 of them born in Africa. Four main theories exist about the origins of the Beta Israel community: they may be descendants of the lost Israelite tribe of Dan; they may be descendants of Menelik I, the on of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; they may be descendants of Ethiopian Christian converts to Judaism; they may be descendants of Jewish refugees who fled for Egypt after the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. To see a video about Operation Solomon, click here.

“In 2008, the Israeli parliament passed legislation making it mandatory for schools to teach the traditions of Ethiopian Jews. And for the first time, the state this year financed the Jerusalem celebrations of Sigd [a unique Beta Israel observance]. ‘We are at the beginning of a path that will lead us towards full integration into Israeli society,’ said Shlomo Mola, a member of parliament of Ethiopian origin.” —The Telegraph