After decades of public activism, demonstrations on behalf of Soviet Jewry, tireless advocacy for Israel, and his name being known by so many American Jews, Rabbi Avi Weiss of Riverdale had decided to make aliyah to Israel. Rabbi Weiss had recently shared a post about his aliyah process to Israel, which many found to be very moving, as it described the following scene:

When he arrived before the official responsible for verifying his Jewish status, Rabbi Weiss was asked as part of the Aliya process to provide a letter from a rabbi recognized by the State of Israel confirming that he was in fact Jewish and, as rabbi Weiss writes, the following took place:

My wife Toby and I are in  @Israel becoming citizens. At the Interior Ministry, the official reviewing our papers – a Jew who came from Ethiopia in 1991 – asked me for proof that I was Jewish. I showed him letters from our rabbi. As I did so, tears began to flow. I told him: “I remember the 1970s and ’80s, when we marched and protested so Ethiopian Jews could come home to Israel. Back then, many questioned whether Ethiopian Jews were Jewish at all. We insisted our Black brothers and sisters were as Jewish as any of us.” And now, 35 years later, here was a holy Ethiopian Jew confirming my Judaism. We had come full circle. Holding his hand, I sang: “Zeh hayom asah Hashem, nagilah ve’nismechah bo” – This is the day God has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Jews from East and West have returned home together. (9) 

My wife Toby and I are in  @Israel becoming citizens. At the Interior Ministry, the official reviewing our papers – a Jew who came from Ethiopia in 1991 – asked me for proof that I was Jewish. I showed him letters from our rabbi. As I did........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)