Finkelstein wrote of the extreme poverty he saw in a pre-Shabbat email he sent to the Pittsburgh Jewish community after his return to America. Finkelstein said the trip was different than ones he experienced with others making aliyah; for instance, he previously accompanied Soviet Jews to Israel. Five million dollars will go toward aliyah, Finkelstein said, and $4 million toward the SSEJ compound, specifically for nutrition and security. The importance of helping Ethiopian Jews make aliyah was highlighted during a trip to a Jewish cemetery in a village near Gonder. There is a memorial there dedicated to the Ethiopian Jews who attempted to escape to Sudan in the 1990s.

Source: Ethiopian News September 22, 2022 21:04 UTC