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Extra Curricular Lesson: Operation Solomon
Lesson Plan  | Grades 7–12 | by Zion Ozeri, Edited by Joshua Feinberg and Dara Unterberg

Backpack, Ben Gurion Airport, Israel, 1991
All images © Zion Ozeri. All Rights Reserved.

Opening

Project the photograph without its title, location, date, or background.

Ask: If you knew nothing about this photograph, what could you figure out from the image alone? What would you still want to know? 

After students offer possibilities, reveal the caption, and ask: What does the caption change about the way you understand the photograph? What new questions does it raise?

Part 1: Reading the Photograph

Look closely at this photograph and discuss:

• What thoughts and emotions does the photograph evoke for you?
   
• What do you imagine to be the relationship between these two people? What clues do you see in the picture?
   
• What do you notice about the expressions on their faces? How do you interpret their expressions? What might they be feeling?
   
• Why do you think the photographer titled this picture Backpack?

Background Reading

About Ethiopian Jewry — Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center
Operation Solomon — The Jewish Agency
Ethiopian Jews Reflect on Their Exodus to Israel — BBC News

• How does your description compare with the descriptions of the event in these links?
• How do you think Operation Solomon changed how Ethiopian Jews tell their own story?

Learn More

Today in History: IDF Airlifts 14,500 Ethiopian Jews to Israel — IDF
Video of Operation Solomon — JDC Archives
From Ethiopian Jews to Ethiopian Israelis — The Jewish Museum London

Part 2: The Text

Read the following passage from the Prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 16:14-15

(14) Assuredly, a time is coming declares GOD when it shall no more be said, As GOD lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, (15) but rather, As GOD lives who brought the Israelites out of the northland, and out of all the lands to which they had been banished. For I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

Discuss:

• Paraphrase this text. What does it mean?
   
• What is the importance of Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) in this text?
   
• What is the relationship between the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael in this text?
   
• What lesson does this text teach us about our relationship with Eretz Yisrael and our responsibilities to it?
   
• How does the photograph above relate to this text?

Part 3: Synthesis

• Jeremiah describes a future ingathering that will rival the Exodus as a story of redemption. How does Operation Solomon bring his words to life? 
   
• Do you think Operation Solomon changed how Ethiopian Jews tell their own story?
   

Follow-Up Activities

A Photograph of Family Connection

Take a photograph that reflects a particular relationship between two family members. How will you capture their dynamic visually? Find a text that speaks to this relationship and image.

Journeys Home

Choose another group that made aliyah, such as Yemenite Jews in Operation Magic Carpet, Iraqi Jews in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, Jews from North Africa, Jews from the former Soviet Union, or Jews from India.

Find one photograph of their arrival or early life in Israel. Write a short caption identifying who they are, where they came from, and when they arrived. In a few sentences, explain what the photograph reveals about their story and how it connects to Jeremiah’s vision of bringing the Jewish people back “out of all the lands.”