Source: The Depaulia, Feb 21, 2011
On Tuesday, Feb. 15th DePaul Hillel, the foundation for Jewish campus life, and University Ministries held an event with guest speaker Zion Uness in the Student Center.
Uness is an Ethiopian Rights Activist who spoke about the troubles he faced being a minority as an Ethiopian Jew, and his individual account of partaking in the remarkable movement in the mid '80s, when Ethiopian Jews were led into Israel.
"It was an honor and inspiration to have Uness tell us his story, it was fascinating how a young boy could have overcome all the struggles" said DePaul Hillel member Eli Taylor.
Uness divided his discussion into three sections; the history of Jews in Ethiopia, the establishment of Operation Moses, and his personal story of being a part of the unique and historic movement for Jewish rights across Africa.
For a long time, Ethiopian Jews, known as the Beta Israeli, were not accepted by Rabbis or the Israeli government as official Jews. It was not until 1975 that the Israeli government accepted them as Jews for the Law of Return, an Israeli act which grants all Jews across the globe the right to immigrate to Israel, the only Jewish-majority state.
Operation Moses was a covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews who longed to travel to Israel that took place from Nov. 1984 to Jan. 1985. Many of the refugees faced famine and health problems from their environment. The majority traveled by foot, vulnerable to robbers, illness, and violence along the way.
Operation Moses brought 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and 1,500 of them were children or young adults who arrived without parents. The maneuver was disbanded after it gained media attention and Arab nations pressured the Sudanese government to prevent any more Jews from using Sudan to go to Israel.
"4,500 Jews died during the walk or in the refugee camps, the ones who did not make it were seen as not strong enough to be a Jew in Israel, this gave us survivor's motivation to make it to the end," said Uness.
As a seven year old boy, Uness walked roughly 2,500 miles on his Aliyah, the Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel. Aliyah is seen a commitment of faith to the Holy Land for the Jewish community, although the journey is rarely taken by foot.
After making it into Sudan, the immigrants were placed in refugee camps, where they spent years before making it finally into Israel. Uness' mother began to work as a housekeeper in Khartoum, Sudan.
Her boss eventually helped his family move into Israel after being in Sudan for three years, "a country that hates Jews," said Uness.
Finally getting into Israel, there was a lot of culture shock, "We did not know there were other Jews in the world, and were scared to see white Jews everywhere, in Ethiopia we were not exposed to other Jews and we thought we were the only ones." said Uness.
He joined the military after high school. He called his time in the service "the best period in my life." It was where he found friends, acceptance, and strength in his faith, Uness said.
After completing his duty in Israeli military, Uness enrolled at the University of Haifa.
In college he initially planned to study nursing, before settling on getting a degree in developmental psychology.
After the speech many students approached Uness telling him about their planned trips to Israel. "After this I cannot wait until my trip to Israel this year" said Noam Zuckerman, a DePaul Hillel member who helped get Uness to speak, and introduced him before the discussion.
Uness stated numerous times in his speech and in the questionnaire that took place afterwards that "education is number one" in his mind of what is considered success.
Learning about the world has been his passion that has led him to making appearances at universities across the country.
On Tuesday, Feb. 15th DePaul Hillel, the foundation for Jewish campus life, and University Ministries held an event with guest speaker Zion Uness in the Student Center.
Uness is an Ethiopian Rights Activist who spoke about the troubles he faced being a minority as an Ethiopian Jew, and his individual account of partaking in the remarkable movement in the mid '80s, when Ethiopian Jews were led into Israel.
"It was an honor and inspiration to have Uness tell us his story, it was fascinating how a young boy could have overcome all the struggles" said DePaul Hillel member Eli Taylor.
Uness divided his discussion into three sections; the history of Jews in Ethiopia, the establishment of Operation Moses, and his personal story of being a part of the unique and historic movement for Jewish rights across Africa.
For a long time, Ethiopian Jews, known as the Beta Israeli, were not accepted by Rabbis or the Israeli government as official Jews. It was not until 1975 that the Israeli government accepted them as Jews for the Law of Return, an Israeli act which grants all Jews across the globe the right to immigrate to Israel, the only Jewish-majority state.
Operation Moses was a covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews who longed to travel to Israel that took place from Nov. 1984 to Jan. 1985. Many of the refugees faced famine and health problems from their environment. The majority traveled by foot, vulnerable to robbers, illness, and violence along the way.
Operation Moses brought 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and 1,500 of them were children or young adults who arrived without parents. The maneuver was disbanded after it gained media attention and Arab nations pressured the Sudanese government to prevent any more Jews from using Sudan to go to Israel.
"4,500 Jews died during the walk or in the refugee camps, the ones who did not make it were seen as not strong enough to be a Jew in Israel, this gave us survivor's motivation to make it to the end," said Uness.
As a seven year old boy, Uness walked roughly 2,500 miles on his Aliyah, the Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel. Aliyah is seen a commitment of faith to the Holy Land for the Jewish community, although the journey is rarely taken by foot.
After making it into Sudan, the immigrants were placed in refugee camps, where they spent years before making it finally into Israel. Uness' mother began to work as a housekeeper in Khartoum, Sudan.
Her boss eventually helped his family move into Israel after being in Sudan for three years, "a country that hates Jews," said Uness.
Finally getting into Israel, there was a lot of culture shock, "We did not know there were other Jews in the world, and were scared to see white Jews everywhere, in Ethiopia we were not exposed to other Jews and we thought we were the only ones." said Uness.
He joined the military after high school. He called his time in the service "the best period in my life." It was where he found friends, acceptance, and strength in his faith, Uness said.
After completing his duty in Israeli military, Uness enrolled at the University of Haifa.
In college he initially planned to study nursing, before settling on getting a degree in developmental psychology.
After the speech many students approached Uness telling him about their planned trips to Israel. "After this I cannot wait until my trip to Israel this year" said Noam Zuckerman, a DePaul Hillel member who helped get Uness to speak, and introduced him before the discussion.
Uness stated numerous times in his speech and in the questionnaire that took place afterwards that "education is number one" in his mind of what is considered success.
Learning about the world has been his passion that has led him to making appearances at universities across the country.
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