Yona Bogale

Yona Bogale
Born 1908
Wolleqa, Ethiopia
Died 1987
Petah Tikva, Israel
Nationality Israeli
Other names Yona Bogale (Naftali)
Known for Iconic Ethiopian Jewish Leader; Architect of Aliyah for Beta Israelis
Year of Aliyah 1979

Yona Bogale (Hebrew: יונה בוגלה‬; 1908–1987) was the first leader of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel.[1] He led the efforts to improve the living conditions of the Beta Israelis in Ethiopia, by expanding education, providing medical facilities, increasing agricultural production and promoting religious freedom. His persistence in the face of opposition enabled many thousands of his people to fulfill their lifelong dream of Aliyah, or return to the homeland of Israel.[2]

Biography

Yona Bogale was born in 1908 in the rural village of Wolleqa, near Gondar in Northern Ethiopia, The eldest of five children of Bogale Birru and Beletu Reda, he was raised in a family of farmers and goat and cattle herders, but showed an early aptitude for language and education. With the help of Dr. Jacob (Jacques) Faitlovitch and Professor Tamrat Emmanuel, he completed his primary studies, and at the age of 12, was one of several young people selected to study abroad. After attending elementary school in Jerusalem for four years, he spent two years in high school in Frankfurt, Germany and two years at the University of Heidelberg. He completed his international studies at the Asher Institute for Jewish Education in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Alliance Francaise Universelle in Paris, France. After returning to Addis Ababa in 1932, he taught in the teacher training and boarding school opened there by Dr. Faitlovitch. eventually becoming the principal.[3]




During the Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia(1935-1941), he served as a a translator for the Ethiopian Red Cross. Afterwards, he returned to work in several private businesses , before being appointed to a position in the Ethiopian government by King Hailie Selassie I. After Ethiopia gained it independence, Bogale worked as head of the translation department in the Ethiopian Ministry of Education for twelve years. Then, with the cooperation of the Jewish Agency, Sochnut Hayhudit, Bogale opened and supervised more than 20 Jewish schools in Ethiopia.[4] In the wake of Dr. Faitlovitch's death.[5]in 1955, Bogale and Tamrat Emmanuel became the lead advocates for the Beta Israel community. For the next two decades, he was the driving force in opening new schools, medical facilities, prayer houses and agricultural stations throughout Northern Ethiopia. His work drew the attention of religious leaders and government officials in Israel,as well as Jewish organizations worldwide, particularly with regard to his goal of aliyah for all Ethiopian Jews

In 1979, increasingly pressured by the Derg, the military coalition that had replaced the King, Bogale emigrated to Israel with help from the American Association for Ethiopian Jews and his own relatives. Later that same year, Bogale, his son, Zecarias, Rahamim Elazar and Baruch Tegegne traveled to Montreal, Canada,at the invitation of the Council of the Jewish Federations , to address that organization's General Assembly. [6] On November 19, Bogale spoke during the plenary session to the 2,500 North American Jewish leaders in attendance. Following his presentation, delegates passed a pro-Beta Israel resolution – becoming the first major Jewish organization to support saving the Ethiopian Jewish community.[7] Once back in Israel, with the support of President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Bogale began consolidating support for Beta Israelis to return to their homeland. During the next few years, many Jews fled Ethiopia, stopping at refugee camps in Sudan, before arriving in Israel, although thousands died along the way. Finally, in 1984,with the cooperation of the Israel Defense Forces, the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States embassy in Khartoum, mercenaries, and Sudanese state security forces., a covert initiative named Operation Moses, airlifted some 8,000 Beta Israelis to Israel. In 1991, Bogale's son, Zecarias , played a key role in Operation Solomon, an airlift by the Israeli military that brought more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews from Addis Ababa to Jerusalem.

Death

Yona Bogale died in 1987 in Petah Tikva. His funeral was attended by over 4,000 mourners, including the Speaker of the Knesset, Shlomo Hillel. He was buried in Har Hamenuhot, Jerusalem, near the grave of his teacher, Professor Tamrat Emmanuel.

Legacy

Because of his devotion to his people and his persistence in freeing them from oppression, Bogale has often been compared to Theodor Herzl;, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.[1] [2] In addition to his life’s work of returning the Beta Israelis to their homeland in Israel, he was a prolific author, editor and translator. Among other works, he published A "Falasha" Book of Jewish Festivals, an Amharic translation of portions of Pirke Avot, and other prayer books, a Hebrew-Amharic dictionary, and translations of two 16th Century history books,--all intended to give those Ethiopian Jews who were not proficient in Hebrew, access to books in their native tongue, as well as the means to learn the language of their religion. Fluent in Hebrew, English, French, Italian, German, Tigrinya as well as Amharic.,[8] he introduced the Beta Israel community to the first Hebrew- English- Amharic calendar, published every year from 1954 to 1978.[9] Bogale was an early proponent of Ethiopian Jewish praying in Hebrew instead of the ancient Semitic language, Ge'ez, as he felt that it was no longer appropriate for those seeking to be a part of the broader Jewish community. However, he did think that Hebrew prayers could be set to Ethiopian Jewish melodies to preserve some liturgical traditions of the Beta Israel community.

Bogale's work is depicted in a 2009 Israeli documentary "I had a Dream - The Story of Yona Bogale" by Teztee Germay.[10][11] He is the subject of many articles, essays and other publications, including two biographies by his son, Zecarias Yona: Yona Bogale and the Case of the Beta Israelis (Amharic), and Yona Bogale: Hero and Savior of the Ethiopian Jews (English)[2]

Honors

  • 1985 recipient of the Oat Hanegid , Israel's highest award for service to that country;
  • 2005 plaque from the Israel Association for Jewish Ethiopia, inscribed, "To Yona Bogale, R.I.P., with gratitude and appreciation for his Zionist life work for the Jews of Ethiopia;
  • 2020 proclamation, dedicating streets named for Yona Bogale in Rishon LeZion, Israel.
  • 2007, the Rehovot City Council voted to name a local school after Bogale.[12][13];
  • During the celebration of Israel’s 60th Anniversary in 2008, a special tribute paid by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Yona Bogale and the Ethiopian community.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 "The 'Ethiopian Herzl' finally receives recognition 20 years after death". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Yona, Zecarias (2018). Yona Bogale: Hero and Savior to The Ethiopian Jews. Yonaze1. ISBN 978-1-7321284-0-8.
  3. ↑ "Yona Bogale Dead at 79". JTA Jewish News Archive. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Yona Bogale Dead at 79". JTA Jewish News Archive. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Kaplan, Ruth Westheimer ; Steven (1992). Surviving salvation : the Ethiopian Jewish family in transition. New York u.a.: New York Univ. Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0814792537.
  6. ↑ "Yona Bogale Dead at 79". JTA Jewish News Archive. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Lenhoff, Howard M. (2007). Black Jews, Jews, and other heroes : how grassroots activism led to the rescue of the Ethiopian Jews. Jerusalem: Gefen Pub. House. p. 116. ISBN 978-9652293657.
  8. ↑ Wagaw, Teshome G. (1993). For our soul : Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0814324585.
  9. ↑ Bohlman, Philip V. (2008). Jewish musical modernism, old and new ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 117. ISBN 0226063267.
  10. ↑ "7th Annual Sheba Film Festival".
  11. ↑ "I Had a Dream". Jewish Motifs.
  12. ↑ "The 'Ethiopian Herzl' finally receives recognition 20 years after death". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Ethiopian Israelis take their education - and fate - into their own hands". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  14. ↑ Olmert, Ehud. “Address at Event Honoring the Ethiopian               Community in the Framework of Israel's 60th Anniversary. October 8, 2008.”  http://yona-bogale.blogspot.com/
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