The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land

This is a wonderful book which shows some of the heterogeneity which exists in Israel!!! Having lived & visited Israel over 8 times in the last 20 years, I am very familiar with this group in Israel, and other ethnic groups (Jewish & non-Jewish) which make Israel their home. Not withstanding the semi-psychotic & libelous rant against the Beta-Yisrael by one of the earlier reviewers(who shows himself to also be ignorant of the emic & etic cultural & religious anthropology of the Beta-Yisrael), this book accurately & with great respect tries to impart basic knowledge of the Beta Yisrael on a personal level to readers generally unfamiliar with this segment of the Israeli public. As a photographic biography, I feel that its style should be replicated in additional books by the author in my opinion. I for one would like to see similar books covering the various ethnic groups of Israel such as Yemenite Jews, Iraqi Jews, Syrian Jews,Druze, Circassians, and Israeli Arabs, as well as others. I for one am very happy that this book has been published, since at present there are many people in the world who sadly & mistakenly enough only perceive of Israel as an apartheid war mongering state, rather than the multi-ethnic (Jewishly & non-Jewishly) & multi-religious (just ask the Israeli Jews, Druze, Circassians, Beduoin, and Israeli Arabs) state which actually exists. Sure there are problems of various sorts in Israel. But in Israel there are also very promising peoples, technologies, and inventions (Pentium chips were designed & created there, CAT scan technology originated there, etc) there, just as there are both problems & promise in North America, Europe, and other many other global locales. In short, I love the focus of this book on one fascinating & particularly noble group of people who have decided to make Israel a daily part of their lives.

Profusely illustrated with the full color photography of Ilan Ossendryver and featuring an informative foreword by Alan M. Dershowitz, "The Ethiopian Jews Of Israel: Personal Stories of Life In The Promised Land" by Len Lyons reveals through candid interviews and personal accounts the struggles and accomplishments of Ethiopian Jews who migrated to Israel and became Ethiopian Israelis. Among the more than fifty men and women included in this fascinating account are religious leaders, soldiers, lawyers, students, actors, musicians, and even a member of the Israeli Knesset. Each succinct biographical synopsis is illustrated with a full page photographic portrait. "The Ethiopian Jews Of Israel" is an impressive and welcome treatise that is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library Judaic Studies and Israeli Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.