Falasha: Exile of the Black Jews

Starring:Falasha-Exile of the Black Jews
Studio: Wellspring Media
Product Type: DVD

Description

As seen on Discovery Channel - Emmy-award winning filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici documents the plight of Ethiopia's Jewish community, a minority group struggling to escape famine and persecution by immigrating to Israel.

Customer Reviews:

Ethiopian history.......2007-06-08

I have not read this yet, but have heard about it. We are glad to find any product that can help us understand our children's Ethiopian history and share with them as they get older.

Falasha: Exile of the Black Jews.......2006-10-31

I rented this DVD and liked it so much that I bought it from Amazon. It goes into the recent history of the Beta Israel in Ethiopia, and unmasks a "conspiracy of silence" which was ostensibly to protect rescue operations in progress. I am happy to say that since this DVD was made, more than 100,000 Beta Israel have been airlifted to Israel "On the Wings of Eagles" is how such airlifts to Israel were termed.

Fascinating, if dated, look at Beta Israel, the black Jews of Ethiopia.......2006-07-24

There is something uncanny about seeing a black man in traditional Ethiopian clothing wearing a tefilla on his forehead and praying at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. There is something uncanny in hearing that an isolated Jewish community in Ethiopia---which has been there for over two millennia, possibly since the destruction of the first temple---believed for the longest time that it was the sole surviving remnant of the Jewish people. Uncanniness haunts this film precisely because the very existence of the protaganists, the falasha or "exiles"---the black Jews of Ethiopia---violates many of the viewer's unconscious conceptual categories. As one speaker in the film notes, the falasha are "Jewish, black, Zionist, and third-world," which does not make them too many easy friends in the polarized global climate of the late Cold War.

Alas, the film is saturated in dated Cold War imagery and geopolitics. That said, the main thrust of the film, asking why the world Jewish community seemed to ignore their plight as exiles in Ethiopia and refugees in the Sudan, is still fascinating and challenging. In the twenty-plus years since the film was made, and in some part due to the impact of this film, most of the falasha have left Ethiopia for Israel. How they fit in there would be the subject of a fascinating follow-up documentary.

This film is definitely worth seeing, if only because of its effects on our over-simplified concepts and its sparking of interest in learning more about Ethiopian Jewry.

Move over, Lenny K. and Sammy D.!.......2005-05-20

This film showed a unique side of the Black Jewish world. One may think all Black Jews are converts or the biracial children of white Jews, but there we see a Black, Jewish culture that has survived for millenia. It was interesting see Black men wearing yarmulkes. Stars of David rested around Black necks, rather than crosses or crescent moons. Still, like other Ethiopians, the Falasha wore all white garb. I love seeing ebony-rich people veted in Arab-inspired, desert-needed, white garb. Fascinating!

I strongly believe that East Africans are beautiful. Iman, the supermodel is just one conspicuous example of this truth. Here you can see many beautiful East Africans. Further, you get to see beautiful Ethiopian art as well. It's as beautiful as the people.

This was a deep look into intersectionality, lying between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, Ethiopian leaders denied that there was any anti-Jewish sentiment in their country. On the other hand, Euro-American Jews minimized the difficulties that these African Jews faced. All those concerned with double minorities, refugees, and asylees should see this work.

There is one problem. This film premiered in 1984. It is INCREDIBLY dated now. The Soviet Union has fallen; Euro-Americans made Live AID and "We Are the World," Eritrea has broken from its neighboring country. In fact, I think many Falasha live in Isreal now. Thus, this is a powerful work, but possibly pass'e.

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