Barbara Gaffin
Barbara Gaffin brought international attention to the desperate circumstances of Ethiopian Jews and helped whole communities flee to Israel. Gaffin began her work by joining a group of North American Jews on a risky mission to Ethiopia. Posing as non-Jewish tourists, they traveled to the closed Jewish villages and documented government violence towards Jews. Gaffin returned to the US and began giving speeches, writing articles, and lobbying Congress to address the plight of Ethiopian Jews. Her work with the refugees has been ongoing since their relocation to Israel, drawing attention to serious problems in the absorption process and advocating for their rights. Barbara Gaffin was honored at the 2000 Women Who Dared event in Boston.
Barbara was raised in Dorchester and Newton by parents who were very active in the Jewish community and spent a lot of time volunteering. After describing her involvement in the Conservative Jewish community during her youth, Barbara discusses her career working at Jewish organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). Barbara expands on her perspective regarding the changing relationship between American Jews and Israel during the late 1970s. This perspective caused her to move away from Israel in her work and to focus instead on other groups of Jews who needed aid. In 1981, she began her work in Ethiopia, where she entered a closed Ethiopian village undercover and learned about the injustices the Ethiopian government committed against its Jewish population. Throughout the interview, Barbara reflects on how American and Israeli Jews can still be the perpetrators of discrimination and ignorance against other Jewish groups—she concludes that "Jews are no different than any other people...we have our prejudices along with everybody else." She describes the contradictions she faces in her work—while Barbara is incredibly passionate about helping others and appreciates seeing the good that comes from her work, she is also discouraged by the prejudice in her field and the world. Finally, she discusses her family life and comments on some of the women she found supportive and brave during her career.
