Sharon Shalom

Rabbi Sharon Shalom (born in Ethiopia, 1973) is a lecturer and Jewish writer. He is a Rav of one of the Tzohar "Open Communities" in Kiryat Gat. He grew up with the name Zaude Tesfay in a Jewish community in the North of Ethiopia. He works as a Rabbi in Merkaz Shapira Or Meofir special program for Ethiopian emigrants. He's also a lecturer in Jewish ritual and tradition at Bar Ilan University in Israel,[1] and author of the book From Sinai to Ethiopia: the Halachic World and Ethiopian Jewish.[2]

Biography

Early life

Sharon Shalom grew up in a small Jewish village located in the North of Ethiopia. In the community, twenty Jewish families lived together and disconnected from the Christian population surrounding them.[3]

He listened from his grandfather that God would one day rejoin all Jews around the world. This biblical promise led him and a friend to leave the village for moving to Jerusalem at the age of seven years old. They got lost, and they came back home.

Civil War in Ethiopia

When the Ethiopian Civil War disrupted, he found another opportunity for moving to Jerusalem. Israel's parliament led by Menachem Begin passed a law committing Israel to give receive Jews of Ethiopia.[3]

When he was eight years old, his mother sent him to join a group of Jewish refugees leaving for Israel.

One year after arriving in Israel, Shalom was informed that his family died in Ethiopia. However, two years later he found that his family was alive and they arrived in Israel.[3]

Life in Israel

Shalom served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces before becoming a rabbi. After that, he enrolled at the Har Etzion Yeshiva. He was ordained in 2001. Then, he enrolled at Bar Ilan University where he completed a doctorate in Jewish philosophy.[3]

In 2012, he published his book From Sinai to Ethiopia: The Halachic World and Ethiopian Jewish Thought. He has called to stop racism against Ethiopian Jews in Israel.[4]

Personal life

Sharon Shalom married to a Swiss-born social worker and art therapist. They have five children.[3]

References
  1. "Rabbi Sharon Shalom". Torah In Motion. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  2. "Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom". Machshava - Forum of Ethiopian Israeli Experts. 2018-06-26. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  3. Ross, Adam (2019-11-09). "From Ethiopia to Israel: Sharon Shalom's Epic Story". aishcom. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  4. "Yerus, This is the Land of Israel: To a Disaffected Ethiopian-Israeli". Tel Aviv Review of Books. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
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