The AMIT Florin Taman Junior and Senior High School for Boys in Tzfat has recently welcomed a large group of newly arrived Ethiopian immigrants. Some 45 immigrants, ages 13 to 17, joined the student body. The new students and their families made aliyah in March, as part of Operation Rock of Israel, which brought 2,000 Ethiopians to Israel since this past December.
Some 80 families were placed in Tzfat’s two immigrant absorption centers. After two weeks of coronavirus-mandated isolation, the boys began their studies at AMIT.
The school dived them into two ulpan classes and hired two new staff members who are themselves members of the Ethiopian community—a teacher and a teaching assistant. Right now, the new students are studying Hebrew intensively. Once they reach a basic proficiently level, they will begin studying together with the other students. Their teachers are full of praise for their enthusiasm and desire to learn.
In addition to helping them overcome the language issue, the school is dedicated to facilitating their integration through programs to connect them to their Israeli identity while retaining their Ethiopian Jewish heritage and culture. Outings and special evenings at the school with their parents help them get familiar with their new home. After-school activities and trips with the whole student body, such as a visit to Jerusalem, foster social interaction among the students.
A model seder was held for the boys prior to Pesach. It featured an Amharic Haggadah, and other students who made aliyah from Ethiopia in past years joined in, helping with translations and welcoming their new classmates. The school prepared a special siddur for them, half in Amharic and half in Hebrew, and purchased tefillin for them.
Principal Nedavya Na’eh says of their arrival, “It is a big zchut (privilege) for us to participate in this effort to bring Am Yisrael from all corners of the diaspora, and to be the face of Israel that welcomes these boys.”
