A Family Reunited

The Fellowship  |  July 25, 2022

“I am alive again.”

These are the words of 86-year-old Rabbo after seeing five of her children for the first time in nearly 20 years. Rabbo’s children are just a few of the 150 Ethiopian Jews who have made aliyah (immigrated to Israel)this month and have been reunited with family. And such reunions are both times of rejoicing and of bittersweet memories, like those of Rabbo’s daughter, Azanu.

When Azanu at last made Aliyah this month, with her husband and two of their children, they tearfully reunited with her elderly mother, Rabbo. But when they at last set foot on the Holy Land of Israel and embraced loved ones they hadn’t seen in almost two decades, their entire family wasn’t there to share in the joy.

“I had four children,” Azanu says, “but my eldest son was killed a year ago in the Ethiopian civil war. He had become a volunteer in the local army—then the civil war began…”

Azanu’s voice trails off. “Only people who experienced the loss of their child can understand what an unbearable pain it is. My son was married and they had a daughter. But then he was killed. When this awful thing happened, I was very lonely.”

But Azanu’s faith helped her carry on. “My only wish was to get to the Holy Land and start a new life. I believe the sacredness of this place will help me overcome my sorrow.”

And it is only because of Fellowship friends around the world that this family, albeit a family still in mourning, has at last come together again on holy soil. “Good people helped me and my mother,” Azanu says. In Israel, The Fellowship helps my mother with food. It is like an international circle of brotherhood and help—The Fellowship helps my mother in Israel, and now the same Fellowship helps me get to Israel and see my mother. I am grateful to The Fellowship—that my mother was able to survive and for this day when we can meet altogether.”

Amen, Azanu. It is because of God—and because of his faithful followers around the world, who believe in helping His children, and of working to bring His prophecies to fruition—that families like Rabbo’s and Azanu’s not only survive, but thrive in the land promised to them in the Bible. As Azanu says, “It is so important to help one another in this world. We are so grateful to the good people of The Fellowship that have made this dream become real.”

You can bless families like Rabbo’s and Azanu’s with hope in the Holy Land.