BINA MOURN THE PASSING OF RABBI HAILU PARIS

Rabbi Hailu Paris died on November 3rd,2014 at the age of 81.

Eudora Paris adopted him when she migrated to Ethiopia with Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford in 1935. When Mussolini and the fascists invaded Ethiopia in the prelude to World War II, many of the Israelites who were attempting to settle there were forced to return to the United States. On the return voyage in September of 1936, their ship was stop in Germany by Nazis looking for Jewish passengers. The Nazis did no suspect that the Black passengers with the Ethiopian child and a tightly wrapped bundle containing a Torah scroll were, in fact, Jews. Years later when Rabbi Paris related this story to me he joked, This was one time when we didn’t complain when people assumed we could not be Jewish because of the color of our skin. Rabbi Paris was raised in Harlem, New York. Eudora Paris, who had been active in the Universal Negro Improvement Association led by Marcus Garvey, became the leader of the Ethiopian World Federation. They worshipped at Commandment Keepers E.H. Congregation with Chief Rabbi W.A. Matthew (1892-1973). In 1947 he received his Bar Mitzvah by Rabbi Yirmeyahu Yisrael, the founder of Bnai Adath. After graduating from Dewitt Clinton High School, he enrolled at Yeshiva University where in 1963 he received a B.A. degree in Hebrew Literature and in 1970 a M. Ed in Jewish Studies. While working as a teacher for the New York City Board of Education, Rabbi Paris also served as the Spiritual Leader of Mount Horeb congregation in the Bronx, New York, and taught Talmud at the Israelite Academy, where he was one of the founding members and remains a professor emeritus. Although he never married, Rabbi Paris has always considered the Israelite community to be his family. As a child they raised him; as an adult he raised us up to love the study of Torah. He remains a vital link to Beta Israel and one of our most important goodwill ambassadors to the rest of the Jewish world. His prodigious knowledge was only surpassed by his compassion, his dedication, and his endless love.

The levayah will take place on

Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 11:00 a.m.

at the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel,

630 Amsterdam Avenue (at 91st Street

May Rabbi Moshe Hailu' s memory be a source of inspiration and strength to us all.