- Israel

Thanks to Operation Atzmaut, Etana Can Proclaim that her "Family has Integrated into Israel"

When Dekel and Desta Yadin left their village in Ethiopia 15 years ago with their two children they had to travel light. Under the cover of darkness they, like thousands of other Ethiopian Jews who emigrated over a 30-hour period, boarded an El Al jet bound for Tel Aviv with a few bags of clothes, a coffee pot and the dream shared by almost all Jewish immigrants---education for their children and the chance to live Jewishly without feeling like outsiders.

"We had a lot of faith; that's what brought us," Dekel says, as he slices a ceremonial bread Desta has baked for the occasion of hosting a journalist. "We dreamed about coming here for many years, but we didn't have any expectations."

Even with few expectations, aliya has been a challenge for the Yadins and tens of thousands of Ethiopian Israeli families like them. Nearly 90 percent of all Ethiopian Israelis are facing financial hardship with close to 70 percent living below the poverty line. More than 30 percent of Ethiopian Israeli men and 60 percent of Ethiopian Israeli women between the ages of 22 and 44 are unemployed. A confluence of stark cultural differences, job-skills deficiencies and lack of education has created a widespread feeling of failure among what experts worry could become a black underclass in Israel.

For seven years, the Yadins raised their growing family in a small trailer in one of hundreds of caravans the Israeli government maintained for Ethiopian immigrants during the 90s. While their kids learned Hebrew in school, picking up the language was harder for them. They never attended school and could barely read and write. As a result employment has been fleeting, and, all the while, they've watched their children master Hebrew and integrate into Israeli society.

"It has been incredibly hard for us to try to learn Hebrew," Dekel says. "As parents, we've lost authority."

On top of their wounded pride, they feel a deep sting knowing that their brand of Judaism is not considered kosher by rabbinic standards. Ethiopian Jews descend from a tribe that was cut off from the rest of the Jewish world hundreds of years before oral law took hold. Because Ethiopian Jewish life evolved in a vacuum, certain traditions, customs and holidays are completely unique to the Ethiopian Jewish community, and certain historical holidays like Hanukah and Purim never existed for Ethiopian Jews.

"We experienced Judaism in a different way," Dekel says. "We stuck to our Jewishness for generations and then we got here and found out it was different."

While the religious issues and language barriers have been demoralizing, the most difficult hurdle is the one for which they were least prepared to confront: employment and financial security. The fast-paced, high-tech, western economy that defines life in today's Israel has baffled an entire generation of Ethiopian Israelis who immigrated as adults. In rural Ethiopia, most Jews were subsistence farmers; they ate what they raised, and what they didn't eat they used for currency to barter. It is unrealistic to expect any large-scale absorption to be a seamless process, much less when the population fast-forwards through 2,500 years of history. Even the most motivated immigrant needs tools.

"In Ethiopia work was very different," Dekel says. "I was a farmer and I had to get used to industrial work here. Once you find a job in Israel it’s hard to keep it if you don't speak Hebrew. Also the salaries are low."

In 2001, the Jewish Federation working with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) developed a pilot program to address absorption struggles using a family-based approach. The program, Operation Atzmaut, targets families in the Ramat Eliyahu section of Rishon L'tzion, Israel's third largest city. Each family is assigned an Ethiopian case manager who helps individual members confront specific issues preventing the family from achieving financial independence.

The assistance includes helping the husband understand the necessity of two incomes, helping both parents master "soft" employment skills such as professional dress and accountability, helping develop a household budget and arranging for tutors if the children need additional help in school. More than 80 families are involved with the program. Atzmaut families must meet certain criteria, namely the parents must demonstrate motivation to work.

"Because these are functioning families, this population is not usually reached," says Mr. Perry, JDC's Atzmaut program director. "But these families are not excelling. We are trying to find the families that have the potential to really thrive and give them the support services they need."

Perry says the benchmarks of success include steady employment for both parents, kids who are thriving and an eventual move out of government subsidized housing into mainstream Israeli communities. "We are seeing a willingness of some families to spend a little more money for an apartment that is not in Ramat Eliyahu, the Ethiopian section of Rishon L’tzion. Among families that have 'graduated' you see a conscious effort to move into stronger communities."

The Yadins are not there yet, but they are making significant strides. The oldest son Tomer recently completed his army service. Their daughter, Etana, 18, is in line to become an officer in her air force ordinance unit. Another son is in high school and will soon join his sister in the IDF. They also have a son in middle school and their 9-year-old twin daughters who dream of becoming police officers. Dekel, who had worked part-time before becoming involved with Atzmaut, is bringing home steady income as a full-time gardener and Desta, who suffers from sever asthsma, works part time cleaning an office.

"I just want us to succeed," Etana says. "I don't want my family to be different from others. Atzmaut has helped us in a lot of areas. In school, I got a tutor who helped me get used to the lessons. My father has participated in employment workshops and that has helped. I never thought my mom would actually go to work. My family has integrated into Israel."

February 2006