The Ministerial Committee on the Integration of Israeli Citizens of Ethiopian Descent into Israeli Society decided Feb. 19 to recognize kessim as spiritual leaders of Ethiopian Jews, and thus to formalize their status as part of the system of religious services in Israel. The decision also relates to the integration of rabbis with Ethiopian backgrounds in roles on religious councils.

The chairman of the committee, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said at the meeting, “The [Ethiopian] community has a special status because it has actually kept the heritage of Israel in complete isolation. It moves me, it’s close to my heart, and therefore the moment we mark today is also historic.”

In this instance, the use of the word “historic” is actually correct. This decision officially abolishes one aspect of discrimination suffered by Ethiopian immigrants in Israel.

The kessim were the spiritual leaders of the Jewish communities in Ethiopia and maintained Jewish customs in a unique form. With the community’s immigration to Israel, the status of the kessim diminished. The rabbinic establishment in Israel has not recognized them as keeping Jewish law or in their status as spiritual leaders, claiming that Ethiopian Jews were unfamiliar with the Jewish laws that developed after the biblical period. The rabbinate and Ministry of Religion required them to pass courses for ordination to the rabbinate, and those who passed these courses were authorized to serve as a rabbi only of Ethiopian communities, and not, heaven forbid, of any other community in Israel.