Operation Solomon, when more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews were transported to Israel over an intense 36-hour period in May 1991, was one of the most dramatic rescues of modern times. On August 27 at 7 p.m., the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center will host a panel discussion featuring two women with firsthand knowledge of that fraught, but ultimately successful effort to fulfill the longing of Ethiopian Jews to “return to Jerusalem” after thousands of years of separation from mainstream Judaism.

Susan Pollack is a fierce advocate for that community. She was cited in Stephen Spector’s Operation Solomon: The Daring Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews as “the person more than any other person who created the crisis that necessitated Operation Solomon.” The Israeli government official in charge of Operation Solomon acknowledged her grassroots activism by saying “Operation Solomon could not have happened without the contribution that Pollack made. This white woman with an American accent did what no state could do.”

Susan Weijel, now director of development and outreach for Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village near Haifa, worked in Israel for Operation Solomon while Susan Pollack was in Addis Ababa. Yemin Orde is a cosponsor of the event that will also include two young Ethiopian Israeli graduates of the lauded residential community for immigrant, refugee and at-risk youth.

All are welcome. For more information, please call 508-693-0745.