Problems such as these - which are by no means uncommon in the field of charitable endeavour - together with the recognition that Bogale, no longer a young man, was becoming overwhelmed by the difficulties facing him convinced the Standing Conference that it had to send a non-Ethiopian administrator to help supervise its programme. Since there was no money to be saved from the exiguous budget, funds had to be raised for the purpose. Fortunately, a fairy godmother appeared in the unlikely shape of Lord Goodman, who, at the end of 1972, made himself responsible for providing £10,000 to enable the Falasha Welfare Association (as the successor organisation of the Standing Conference was called) to recruit a suitable representative. The choice fell on an Israeli who had spent some years in Ethiopia in a senior position with his country's military mission. He visited a number of Falasha villages at the beginning of 1973 but failed to complete his report and resigned his assignment without explanation. By now hopes had been raised and the gap had to be filled. Nearly a year passed before the Association was able to find a suitable replacement in Julian Kay, an English Jew who had taught for four years in the Wingate School in Addis Ababa. For the next fifteen months he worked devotedly, despite mounting difficulties, to bring educational and medical assistance to the remote and widely separated villages and to demonstrate that they were not forgotten.

In the disturbed conditions which followed the overthrow of the emperor and the establishment of the Provisional Revolutionary Government Kay remained at his post until March 1975, when the authorities refused to renew his temporary visa. He was never given a satisfactory explanation for the refusal though he knew that he had been falsely denounced for organising Jewish emigration to Israel. Possibly the views of the Falasha leaders may have had some influence with the authorities. Whereas the High Priest, Uri ben Baruch, had expressed the opinion that Kay had done 'a lot for the Falashas', Yona Bogale was saying that he was 'friendly with the English missionaries, the enemies of the Falashas, and is no longer welcome among us'.

In Israel, on the other hand, the picture was beginning to look brighter. Ovadiah Hazzi's constant appeals to the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, his spiritual leader, were bearing fruit. On 9 February 1973 the rabbi wrote him a letter which is of historic importance. Basing himself on the responsa of Rabbis David ben Abi Zimrah (the Radbaz) and his pupil Yaacov Castro he ruled categorically that the Falashas were Jews. He also mentioned 'a number of prominent sages', including Rabbis Hildesheimer, Kook