Jews have lived in Ethiopia for 3,000 years. These people are the Beta Yisrael, descendents of the Tribe of Dan. In Addis Ababa 100 year old shule in the city, called Succat Rahamim, was a single room, about 20 ft on each side. From the 1950s until the early 1970s, the shule was a center of activity but now has neither a rabbi nor a steady minyan. Currently, between 25-50 Jews live in Addis Ababa.

Operation Solomon was a covert Israeli military operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel from May 24 to May 25, 1991. Non-stop flights of 35 Israeli aircraft, including Israeli Air Force C-130s and El Al Boeing 747s, transported 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours.

Operation Solomon airlifted almost twice as many Ethiopian Jews to Israel as Operation Moses. The operation set a world record for single-flight passenger load on May 24, 1991, when an El Al 747 carried 1,122 passengers to Israel (1,087 passengers were registered, but dozens of children hid in their mothers’ robes).

Planners expected to fill the aircraft with 760 passengers. Because the passengers were so light, many more were squeezed in. Five babies were born aboard the planes. Between 1990 and 1999, over 39,000 Ethiopian Jews entered Israel.