Three members of the local Jewish community recently took a step back in time as they journeyed to Ethiopia and, days after their arrival, accompanied a group making aliya.

As debate swirled around the numbers of Ethiopian Jews who will be permitted to immigrate to Israel, the local leaders joined 175 United Jewish Communities campaign chairs and directors as they traveled between Addis Ababa and Tel Aviv with a contingent of 90 Africans who are now adjusting to new lives in Israel.

Joining the trip were Janet Light, assistant director of financial resource development for the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County; Albert Bloomfield, campaign cochair of the federation's eastern Monmouth County division; and Holly Weiss, campaign chair, Women's Philanthropy.

Jewish Agency officials told the group that the 90 Ethiopians were among the last 4,000 Falash Mura (Ethiopians whose Jewish ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity) who have received clearance from the Ethiopian and Israeli governments to make aliya through 2008, Light said.

Nevertheless, Ethiopian Jewry groups say that thousands more are eligible to make aliya as either Falash Mura or as relatives of Israelis or Ethiopians already in Israel.

"The purpose of the mission was to observe, firsthand, the living conditions of the Ethiopian Jews who have yet to emigrate," said Light. "There is extreme poverty — they are the poorest of the poor."

Mission participants also witnessed the actual aliya process, which included medical exams at JDC-sponsored clinics in Addis Ababa and Gondar, inoculations, and classes about hygiene and proper nutrition. Many had never experienced the conveniences of electricity, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, and paved roads, and needed to learn how to adjust to these changes when they reached their new home, according to Bloomfield.

"The sponsoring agencies wanted us to observe the aliya process so we would have a better understanding of the services that are needed by the Ethiopian Jews as they get ready to emigrate," he said. "It was clear that their orientation needs to begin before they leave Ethiopia, and it must continue when they reach absorption centers in Israel. The changes in societal conditions make this absolutely necessary."

Mission participants also observed life in transit homes near the Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa, where the Ethiopian Jews are housed for up to 10 days before their departure. The mission group then boarded planes to Tel Aviv to await the arrival of the newest segment of Israeli society, Weiss said.

"In the airport terminal where the olim arrived, there were signs that said, ‘Welcome home,'" said Weiss. "The signs were printed in Hebrew, English, Amharic, and a variety of other languages. But despite the warm welcome, there is a lot of hard work ahead. When this mission began, I thought getting the Ethiopian Jews to Israel would be the hardest part of the aliya process. Now I realize it was the easiest."