Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

July 20, 2018

Until Their Return to Israel, Ethiopian Jews Did Not Know the Temple Had Been Destroyed

“Jerusalem was the force that provided us with stamina during the arduous trek through the desert.”

This Sunday, Jews around the world will observe Tisha b’Av, the ancient day of mourning over the destruction of the two Temples. While Ethiopian Jews also observed the month of Av as a time of mourning, due to their centuries-long isolation from the rest of world Jewry they had never learned that the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, was no longer standing. Michal Avera Samuel, who came to Israel from Ethiopia at the age of nine, recounts making this discovery:

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