Yerusalem, The Incredible Story of Ethiopian Jewry

Synopsis

“Yerusalem, a new feature documentary (based on the Israeli documentary series) brings to life the story of a long, dramatic and tumultuous journey as the Jewish Ethiopian community, also known as “Beta-Israel”, finally find their way back to the heart of the Jewish people after centuries – Jerusalem.
“Yerusalem” is the story of an isolated Jewish tribe who kept its faith for thousands of years even though they lived in a hostile Christian environment. This is the story of ancient Jewish traditions, of heroic actions and daring covert operations. But mainly, this is the story of a powerful religious yearning that has been passed down from father to son for countless generations. A desire for a “Yerusalem” tied with gold threads.
“Exodus of the Black Jews”‘, “Rescue of the Lost Tribe” cried out international news headlines in January 1985 when the airlift known as “Operation Moses” was revealed. In one of several clandestine operations in the Ethiopian Exodus, Israeli Mossad, the US administration and world Jewry collaborated to rescue thousands of Ethiopian Jews from the hellhole refugee camps in Sudan. The London Times wrote: “The airlift was in its way as inspiring a story as the Biblical Exodus”.
 
“Yerusalem” is the complex story of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel bringing the stories of the first and second generation of immigrants, rabbinical cases, Aliyah activists, Mossad personnel, ship commanders and pilots, decision-makers and many others who risked their lives to bring Ethiopian Jews to their ancestral land. Here they were required to prove their Jewishness and fight for their legitimate place in Israeli society.