Pesach in Ethiopia

Newly-arrived Falashas, Ethiopian Jews, dance and sing April 14, 1985 in Jerusalem during the open-air festival of Mimouna to celebrate the end of Passover. After the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Israel had smuggled Falashas out of Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Jews’ history is strikingly similar to that of their Israelite ancestors. The Jewish community there underwent an exodus of their own in 1985, when Operation Moses and Joshua took almost 8,000 Jews from Sudan to a safe-haven in Israel. In commemoration of Passover and their own past, Ethiopian Jews break all of their dishes and make new ones to symbolize a complete break from the past and a new start.


haggadah Section: Shulchan Oreich