Len Lyons
By Len Lyons
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News Black Jews Gain Wider Acceptance
The ordination took place on a sun-drenched Sabbath, in a synagogue used many decades ago by Lithuanian Jews. But on June 23, it was 200 mostly black worshippers, many in brightly colored African dress, who were on their feet, eyes fixed on a procession of eight white-robed rabbis with ceremonial miters crowning their heads as…
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News Colorful Dress and Preaching Mark Diversity
Sabbath morning services at the synagogues of black congregations are unique because of their African-American cultural elements. But they are by no means uniform. ?We distinctly avoid trying to standardize our services,? Rabbi Yeshurun ben Levy of Beth Shalom Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Brooklyn said. ?Every community can follow its own preferences.? Read the Forward?s…
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News Falash Mura Must Wait Another Year
Backtracking on an earlier commitment, Israel will delay by at least one year completion of its admission of some 4,000 Ethiopian Jews already approved for entry, some of whom have been waiting since 1991 to immigrate there. The government has instructed the Jewish Agency for Israel to reduce the flow of Ethiopian immigrants to only…
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News Last Ethiopian Jews Finally Make Exodus to Israel
In the half-light of dawn, 16 families huddle on benches in the early morning chill, waiting patiently for their journey to a new and unimaginable life. They sit in a courtyard, hidden from the view of friends and relatives who have come to say farewell, behind the modest local offices of the Jewish Agency for…
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