A Journey to Remember

The 28 of Iyar (in the Hebrew calendar) is always a special day, known as the day of remembrance of Ethiopian Immigrants. This year's anniversary held even more significance as the ‘Journey to Ethiopia’ delegation returned to Israel. The delegation––which included the participation of IDF officers––followed the journey and story of the emigration of Ethiopian Jews. 

Among other things, the journey dealt with the personal stories of IDF officers who were born and raised in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel, some on an arduous and dangerous journey on foot through Sudan and others in the major Aliya Operations Moses, Joshua and Solomon from Addis Ababa.

During the delegation, a first salute ceremony was held for the heroes of the Ethiopian Aliyah and the martyrs that lost their lives on their way to Israel, on a mountain in the northern Gondar—a region overlooking the paths that Ethiopian Jews took on their way to Israel.

The ‘Journey to Ethiopia’ is part of a broad plan to maximize the potential of Israelis of Ethiopian origin in the IDF, formulated in the Manpower Directorate. Officers from the entire IDF participated in the journey, including sons and daughters of the Ethiopian community.

The participants of the delegation—under the guidance of the Derech Kfar institute led by Dotan Levy and Morit Avraham—visited the villages where the Beta Israel community lived and learned about the longing and prayers of return to Jerusalem.

The delegation was led by the head of the Manpower Directorate, MG Yaniv Asor, and with the participation of the Chief Education and Youth Officer, BG Ofir Livios, the commander of the Border Protection Corps, BG Amit Yamin, and the head of the Air Force's Detail Department, Col. Sarit Harari Binyamin.