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Fallen IDF soldier Yesmao Yela'o (File)
Last update - 19:32 06/05/2008
Soldier killed in Lebanon War 'finally promoted to rank of Jew'
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Second Lebanon War 

Yesmao Yela'o was preparing to visit his mother in Ethiopia, whom he had not seen in five years, but the Second Lebanon War started and he was called up. "He told me that if he comes back from the war he would go then," says Moshe Aylim, a childhood friend from Ethiopia who immigrated with Yesmao to Israel. On August 6, 2006 Yesmao was killed in a pre-dawn clash with Hezbollah fighters in the western sector.

Yesmao was the youngest of 13 siblings fathered by Fentai, a Jew who moved to Israel 20 years ago with some of his children from a previous marriage. Yesmao remained in Ethiopia with his sister Azamara and their Christian mother. But he was raised Jewish in Ethiopia, where religion follows the father.

On reaching adulthood Yesmao could immigrate on his own, and he came with Azmara and her children. They lived at the absorption center on Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar. Yesmao was accepted to an intensive Jewish Agency program for Ethiopian immigrants in their teens and early 20s.
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"He had lived as a Jew in Ethiopia, immigrated to Israel as a Jew, and completed the conversion process successfully," says Rabbi Menachem Waldman, director of the Shvut Am organization, which has accompanied the process for 17 years on the Chief Rabbinate's behalf. "When he arrived at the rabbinic court for the final stage, they pulled the same trick on him as on other youngsters. The rabbinic judges demanded he furnish confirmation from the synagogue he prays at, but from what synagogue is a young guy like him, without a family, going to get confirmation?"

Yesmao enlisted in the IDF at 23 and served as a sniper with Battalion 12 of the Golani Brigade. Yaron Lipman, his squad commander throughout combat training, describes a shy soldier.

After the army he worked as a security guard for the Postal Authority, saving up for school while continuing to help support his sister and saving for the visit to his mother.

Then the war began and he was called up, his first reserve duty. "We set out for battle unprepared, unequipped and untrained," Hezki Shoham, a soldier in his platoon, says. Yesmao was killed by a direct hit to the head in a battle with Hezbollah.

Then the issue of his burial place arose. IDF records listed him as non-Jewish, but after special application to Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Yesmao was ruled to have completed the conversion process, and was buried in a regular plot.

"After his death he was promoted to the rank of Jew," a buddy from his platoon said with bitterness.

The Jewish Agency brought his mother, Gondria, to the funeral, where it was revealed that Yesmao had a 6-year-old son, born while he was in Gondar awaiting immigration. The boy came for the memorial service on the first anniversary of his father's death. The authorities said he and his grandmother could stay, "but there was no one here to support them," Azmara says.

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      1.   If this is how you treat your own people...imagine 09:57  |  Frank 06/05/08
      2.   Destroying the Ethiopian Jewish culture 10:13  |  Ulf 06/05/08
      3.   "Finally promoted to rank of Jew" 10:21  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/05/08
      4.   The price of a Jew becoming a Jew 10:38  |  Whiskey Rivers 06/05/08
      5.   Rank of Jew is Not much different than Rank of Aryan 11:06  |  Johan Odin 06/05/08
      6.   Rank of Jew eh? I`m not sure that is a good thing. 11:19  |  Lev Bronstein 06/05/08
      7.   Promoted?? 11:22  |  nielsen 06/05/08
      8.   Being Jewish must be a VIP Club 11:35  |  El-Birawi 06/05/08
      9.   no sarcasm in switzerland 11:38  |  jony 06/05/08
      10.   Not a `trick` 11:40  |  Motic 06/05/08
      11.   Disgraceful and racist 11:54  |  Jo 06/05/08
      12.   Jewish enough to die for the country but not the rabinutte 12:03  |  SJ 06/05/08
      13.   # 9 jony "Mea Culpa" 12:32  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/05/08
      14.   Read the article before commenting 12:48  |  JR 06/05/08
      15.   HE WAS NEVER WELCOMED IN ANY SYNAGOGUE IN HIS LIFE TIME IN ISRAEL 13:06  |  YITZAK BEN SHLOMO 06/05/08
      16.   RABBI SHLOMO AMAR 13:13  |  YITZAK BEN SHLOMO 06/05/08
      17.   # 14 JR, not so quickly...... 13:53  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/05/08
      18.   @14 14:12  |  pvdh 06/05/08
      19.   Swiss Dino Wonderful to see your apology! 14:16  |  petra 06/05/08
      20.   DIdn`t Israel pay $80,000.00 per each Ethiopian that left 14:25  |  petra 06/05/08
      21.   It`s so sad 14:28  |  The Northern Wind 06/05/08
      22.   #1 | @Frank: "how you treat your own people/how Pals are treated" 14:42  |  Catholic Israeli 06/05/08
      23.   # 19 petra 14:42  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/05/08
      24.   Swiss Dino 14:50  |  JR 06/05/08
      25.   # 24 JR 15:09  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/05/08
      26.   penguins prefer black and white to olive greens 15:17  |  Alon The Israeli 06/05/08
      27.   CAN MONEY BUT BEAUTIFUL SOULS LIKE YESMAO. 15:25  |  YITZAK BEN SHLOMO 06/05/08
      28.   Even the dead 15:29  |  David 06/05/08
      29.   @Lev Bronstein: A religion is a religion is a religion! 15:46  |  Catholic Israeli 06/05/08
      30.   Unlike the arabs who despise the Palestinian`s 15:46  |  * BEN JABO 06/05/08
      31.   #8 El Birawi--Want to be a Jew? CONVERT 15:47  |  * BEN JABO 06/05/08
      32.   @Nielsen: Feel promoted alright! 15:48  |  Catholic Israeli 06/05/08
      33.   # 6 Leva, ask your mama and stop talking rubbish... 16:01  |  17 06/05/08
      34.   Whats all the fuss about? 16:04  |  Plot 06/05/08
      35.   #1, 6, 7 16:04  |  Hizbullahi 06/05/08
      36.   Whats all the fuss about? 16:05  |  Plot 06/05/08
      37.   Thanks to Yeasmao´s Christian mother, who raised him Jewish! 16:26  |  AliciaYasmeen 06/05/08
      38.   @Hizbullahi: All shame with you! 16:38  |  A Life 06/05/08
      39.   #35 Arabs are not a human rights group 16:42  |  Ulf 06/05/08
      40.   #36 Happy logics... 16:46  |  Ulf 06/05/08
      41.   bring the whole world to palestine to kill arabs 16:49  |  sam i am 06/05/08
      42.   Not Exactly Typical 17:03  |  Michel 06/05/08
      43.   Promoted ? 17:20  |  passer by 06/05/08
      44.   Hibullyuki#35 re 1 6 7 17:21  |  Robert/Montreal 06/05/08
      45.   #38 17:23  |  Hizbullahi 06/05/08
      46.   This guy was worth more than all the rabbinic judges put together 17:24  |  McQueen 06/05/08
      47.   @Ulf: You don`t get it, don`t ya? 17:25  |  Plot 06/05/08
      48.   Michel #42 they all look at us as ferbissen 17:30  |  Robert/Montreal 06/05/08
      49.   zionists import mercenaries &when they`re killed "promote" them 17:33  |  Hizbullahi 06/05/08
      50.   #44 Yup, 17:36  |  Hizbullahi 06/05/08
      51.   Rank of Jew 17:37  |  Rank Outsider 06/05/08
      52.   Since when is "Jew" a rank? 17:41  |  John 06/05/08
      53.   @Hitzibulli: He defended on duty against Islamic terrorists! 17:42  |  A Life 06/05/08
      54.   Ya latif, toz w tozzayn kamen 17:46  |  Aounist 06/05/08
      55.   Hisbullyuki#50 Yup 17:49  |  Robert/Montreal 06/05/08
      56.   Israel; a work in progress 18:07  |  Danite 06/05/08
      57.   should have stayed in Ethiopia, don`t come to Isreal 18:08  |  US person 06/05/08
      58.   #57 uS pERSON HAS NOT SEEN THE DESERT bLOSSOM 18:17  |  ROBERT/MONTREAL 06/05/08
      59.   #57 US person 18:20  |  Yonatan 06/05/08
      60.   #32 To Catholic Israeli from Catholic American 18:42  |  Yaakov Sullivan 06/05/08
      61.   Rank o0f Jew 18:54  |  Steve Gure 06/05/08
      62.   #60 | @Catholic American brother Yaakov 18:59  |  Catholic Israeli 06/05/08
      63.   #60 Yaakov Sullivan - Unlike you, however; 19:02  |  Yonatan 06/05/08
      64.   a shame for all the jews, poor boy, great hero 19:03  |  michel 06/05/08
      65.   On making the desert bloom ` 58 19:06  |  Clickfool 06/05/08
      66.   Nationalism has nothing to do with race 19:07  |  Yonatan 06/05/08
      67.   60 Yaakov Sullivan,32 Catholic Israeli,not quite sure of your 19:11  |  lakshmi 06/05/08
      68.   #47 Mental conversion or mental pervertion 19:21  |  Ulf 06/05/08
      69.   Rank of Jew 19:48  |  Gerry Kane 06/05/08
      70.   Who is a Jew? 20:03  |  The Gent 06/05/08
      71.   Yesmao Yela`o 20:15  |