I am happy announce that Ethiopia Judaica is now partnering with ESCO, described below. Any donations received through this site will go directly to assisting with their projects, which directly affect the Bete Israel people that this site was started to help.

The products that we sell here will still benefit individuals and their families of the Bete Israel community. A small purchase here can have a big impact in Ethiopia. For example, the sale of a $25 tapestry provides rent for a family for one month!  

El-Shaddai Charity Organization (ESCO) is a registered non-government and non-profit organization established to implement social projects that benefit the impoverished community in Ethiopia. The living standard of most people is beyond imagination. As was mentioned in previous blog articles, Ethiopia Judaica's mission is to assist those Ethiopians of Jewish descent. Many of their leaders and rabbis left for Israel in the first and second Exodus (1984 & 1991), so it is wonderful to have a trusted partner in Ethiopia to share our work with.The biggest threat to the Ethiopian Jews is disease. In the Gondar region, most diseases are caused or complicated by the scarcity of clean, safe drinking water. People of all ages can get very sick from water borne diseases, but children under 5 years old are at the highest risk of death.

Scarcity of clean water also causes other hardships. Women do not have the chance to go to school because they are the collectors of water for their family and they spend much of the day walking to distant rivers and springs. Time and energy spent hauling water from great distances could be used much more productively farming or creating products such as what you see on this website. The availability of clean and safe water could bring more life opportunities to these people.

ESCO has made it a priority to provide clean, safe, water to people in rural Ethiopia; they have already implemented five water projects. Sponsoring water projects is saving the lives of people while also improving the quality of their lives! Apart from this project ESCO also provides free training programs to Ethiopian Jews. There are different fields of short term training that can change the life of these people in a positive manner. Many girls dropout of school, and are forced into prostitution just to survive or support their family. They risk unwanted pregnancies and many are exposed to HIV/AIDS. ESCO's programs provide the Ethiopian Jews with life skills, technical and vocational training. This means that they can make healthy, moral decisions and achieve employment in the fast growing private and social sectors of the economy.

Please consider making a donation to either of these ESCO projects with the donate button. Please include a message specifying which project you want to support through the PayPal page.

Tags: judaica, compassion, education, water

All of the tallits and shawls that are sold on this web site are handwoven by Ethiopian Jews.

Weaving is a trade that has been passed down for many generations. The weavers pictured here are full time weavers, but a number of people also weave at night in their homes after working all day (most jobs don’t pay enough to live on).

In several cases we saw homes that just held the loom and the weaver’s bed,
as pictured here:  
They also weave many other items such as dresses, table cloths, bed spreads, curtains etc. We will soon be offering table clothes, bed spreads and scarves on this site.

The Process of Weaving

The weaving in this community starts with obtaining cotton as picked from the plant (except for the shawls, which require a specially purchased thread).

It is then spun by hand into thread, washed and hung out to dry, and then spun onto spools used to weave with the loom.
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Tags: weaving, tallit, shawl, loom, skill, trade, judaica