The exhibit, 400 Years in 4½ Hours: The Ethiopian-Israeli Experience, displays a collection of photographs and artifacts of Ethiopian-Israelis who have made aliyah to Israel through Operation Promise. The title of the exhibit refers to the tremendous leap from the ancient way of life the Ethiopians leave behind to the one they encounter in Israel after a brief four and a half hour flight.

Operation Promise was launched in 2006, when the government of Israel asked the Jewish communities of North America to help rescue the Jews of Ethiopia out of squalor so they could take their rightful place in the Jewish homeland. Since then, hundreds of families have left Ethiopia to make a new life in modern Israel.

The unique artifacts and striking photographs in the exhibit that depict images from the Ethiopian-Israelis’ daily lives come from the personal collections of contributors who have traveled to Ethiopia and Israel and worked firsthand with Ethiopian-Israeli families, including Nathan Hochman, Middie & Richard Giesberg, Mady & Arthur Jablon, and Peachy & Mark Levy.

400 Years in 4½ Hours: The Ethiopian-Israeli Experience was created so that, as a community, we can better understand the enormity of the transformation made by the Jewish families who have now become Ethiopian-Israelis.

Show Dates:
May 4 - June 8, 2008 

For more information on the current exhibit, please call the Finegood Art Gallery at 818-464-3218.