Since our founding, The Fellowship has been proud to help more than 780,000 Jews around the world make aliyah to Israel. However, this is only the first step that olim, immigrants, take when starting their new lives in their biblical homeland. Integrating into Israeli society is a whole process that takes time, resources, and support. This past week, The Fellowship visited Melkeye, Montobush, and their family in Tiberias after they made aliyah on Fellowship Freedom Flights two years ago.
Melkeye and Montobush, along with their two children, Vertiko and Haftamo, made aliyah after waiting nearly two decades in Ethiopia to do so. Since immigrating, they had a healthy baby boy, Yeshua, a year and a half ago, and are living in an absorption center in Tiberias. The family is well into the process of learning Hebrew, and the children started school this September.
This past week, The Fellowship’s U.S. Board Chair Bishop Paul Lanier visited Melkeye and Montobush’s family. The children instantly recognized him from the Freedom Flight and ran to hug him. He also accompanied the family to the Western Wall, the first time that Montobush and Vertiko had been there, and they prayed together
What little remains of the Jewish community in Ethiopia has been steadily making its way to Israel. Known as Beta Israel, they are the descendants of the lost tribe of Dan, who were run out of Jerusalem when the Holy Temple was destroyed during Bible times. Nowadays, Jewish identities and practices in Ethiopia are limited to small, remote villages. It’s important that these people return to the homeland of their ancestors, which The Fellowship and our supporters make possible, fulfilling biblical prophecy and providing an environment where these children of God can thrive.
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
