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Author: Prof. Emanuela Trevisan Semi

Prof. Emanuela Trevisan Semi teaches modern Hebrew and Jewish studies at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Her research focuses mainly on marginal groups in contemporary Jewry (Karaites, Ethiopian Jews, Oriental Jews). She has published (with T. Parfitt) Judaic Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002).
Hazkarah: A Symbolic Day for the Reconstituting of the Jewish-Ethiopian Community

Hazkarah: A Symbolic Day for the Reconstituting of the Jewish-Ethiopian Community

March 21, 2005 | Prof. Emanuela Trevisan Semi
This article analyzes the invention of the Hazkarah (memory), a new holiday of Ethiopian Jews in Israel that commemorates those Ethiopian Jews who perished while trying to reach Israel from Ethiopia before and during Operation Moses (1984-1985), and is held concurrently with the national holiday of Jerusalem Day. The process of establishing this day is considered in light of this community's current sense of marginalization in Israeli society.