Yona Bogale

Yona Bogale was the first leader of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel. In the 1920s, Yona Bogale was sponsored by Jacques Faitlovitch to study abroad. He spent two years in British Mandate Palestine, four in Germany, one in Switzerland, and one in France. After returning to Addis Ababa around 1930, he taught in the Faitlovitch school there. During the Italian occupation he went into hiding and worked as a farmer in Wolleka. After the war Yona Bogale worked for the Ethiopian Ministry of Education for twelve years and then for the Jewish Agency.

Yona Bogale was fluent in Hebrew, English, and German as well as Amharic. He was also an author of an early Hebrew-Amharic dictionary. He left Ethiopia in late 1979 and immigrated to Israel. Yona was an early proponent of Ethiopian Jewish praying in Hebrew instead of Ge'ez since he felt that it was no longer appropriate for those seeking to be a part of the broader Jewish community. He did feel though that the Ethiopian Jews should set Hebrew prayers to the Ethiopian Jewish melodies to preserve some liturgical traditions of the Beta Israel community.