Good Afternoon everyone,
Liz and I had a great weekend. The weekends here are so relaxing. We sit outside on the porch and read in the sun. I am flying through books now. Just cracked Lord of the Flies. I haven't touched this book since maybe middle school but I remember how much I enjoyed it. I can't wait to read it again.
We drank some tej at a traditional tej beit on Saturday with one of our friends. Liz will have a tiny bit and leave me to drink the rest. Our friend always insists on having a full glass, which I love, but it gets to be a little too much after you drink a few carafes of homemade honey wine. We finally tried food at this place. I shared some beef tibs that was delicious. It's amazing; after eating so much lamb I can really taste the difference between lamb tibs and beef tibs even though they look and smell the exact same. Some places use more oil than others which Liz and I don't like. Our friend said that it is imported from the Middle East and used in Ethiopia to kill Christians.....a little too far there and I am not much for conspiracy theory. We all had a good laugh.
Liz ordered her favorite dish shiro, gave the waiter 20 birr, he returned 20 minutes later with a plastic bag full of injera and shiro.....he went somewhere else to get it for Liz......have you ever heard/seen that before....???
We had an amazing day yesterday and met some wonderful new people. The Jewish Federations of North America had a group in town. It was really nice having some Westerners to shoot the breeze with. We spent time at the JDC Clinic and handed out plumpynut to malnourished children. That is always a great experience no matter how many times you do it. It is kind of crazy - when you take pictures of Ethiopian children, not only do they pose perfectly, but after you take the picture they run up to you, grab your camera, turn it around and know exactly where to look for the picture. Children understand how to work a digital camera that you can't even buy in Gondar, but most of them can't say anything more than "money! money! money!". The children here are beautiful I have taken about 1000 pictures of them.
The best part of the day was our drive to Ambover, which is passed Teda. Ambover is the old Jewish community outside of Gondar. With us were two Ethiopian Jews that now live in Israel - both were from Ambover. We visited the elementary school there, which was amazing - I love visiting schools here it's my favorite thing to do. We also visited the old synagogue and listened to one of the visiting Ethiopian Jews tell her story of escaping from Ethiopia and getting to Israel through Operation Moses in the mid 80s (I believe she left in 1984). Her journey was mind blowing and really difficult for me to wrap my head around. They left Ambover, walked for two weeks with barely any food and water only traveling at night for fear of being discovered. Their guide left them on the last day and they got lost trying to find the border of Sudan. They finally made it to the border where they were approached by members of the Sudanese military and nearly killed. After waiting on the border for five days they were taken to a refugee camp. This family was lucky, they only stayed in the refugee camp for a month before they were flown to Israel.
The most unforgettable part of the day took place while speaking with this same Ethiopian Jewish woman. We were all standing around the elementary school casually talking. Micha Feldman, a legend in Ethiopian Jewry and an architect of Operation Solomon, was translating her Hebrew to English for all of us. After talking a bit she said: "I thank God that I am Jew". Now this didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. Everyone on that trip thanks God that they are Jewish. But Micha explained that this quote had an underlying meaning. What she really meant was: "I thank God that I am a Jew"......so that I could get out of Ethiopia, of Ambover, and go to Israel. This particular woman left in 1984 and this is the first time that she has seen her village in over 20 years. She had no intention of coming back. Now I am not saying that she is not proud to be a Jew because she is. All of us are proud to be Jewish. But being a Jew in Ethiopia has a little bit of a different meaning. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is not just religious. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is not just a way of life. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is a way out. Many Ethiopian Jews leave the places where they were born without a thought of ever returning. I believe in every Jew's right to make aliyah and move home to Israel, but she was thanking God that she had a way out of Ethiopia, a place where she didn't want to be and wouldn't ever return. Being Jewish got her a ticket to Israel. There is absolutely no fault in this. It is her birthright and she deserves the right to lead a different, and some would say better, life in Israel. This quote will stick with me for a long time and is a moment that I will always remember.
And now.....PICTURES!!!!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Have an awesome week!
Liz and I had a great weekend. The weekends here are so relaxing. We sit outside on the porch and read in the sun. I am flying through books now. Just cracked Lord of the Flies. I haven't touched this book since maybe middle school but I remember how much I enjoyed it. I can't wait to read it again.
We drank some tej at a traditional tej beit on Saturday with one of our friends. Liz will have a tiny bit and leave me to drink the rest. Our friend always insists on having a full glass, which I love, but it gets to be a little too much after you drink a few carafes of homemade honey wine. We finally tried food at this place. I shared some beef tibs that was delicious. It's amazing; after eating so much lamb I can really taste the difference between lamb tibs and beef tibs even though they look and smell the exact same. Some places use more oil than others which Liz and I don't like. Our friend said that it is imported from the Middle East and used in Ethiopia to kill Christians.....a little too far there and I am not much for conspiracy theory. We all had a good laugh.
Liz ordered her favorite dish shiro, gave the waiter 20 birr, he returned 20 minutes later with a plastic bag full of injera and shiro.....he went somewhere else to get it for Liz......have you ever heard/seen that before....???
We had an amazing day yesterday and met some wonderful new people. The Jewish Federations of North America had a group in town. It was really nice having some Westerners to shoot the breeze with. We spent time at the JDC Clinic and handed out plumpynut to malnourished children. That is always a great experience no matter how many times you do it. It is kind of crazy - when you take pictures of Ethiopian children, not only do they pose perfectly, but after you take the picture they run up to you, grab your camera, turn it around and know exactly where to look for the picture. Children understand how to work a digital camera that you can't even buy in Gondar, but most of them can't say anything more than "money! money! money!". The children here are beautiful I have taken about 1000 pictures of them.
The best part of the day was our drive to Ambover, which is passed Teda. Ambover is the old Jewish community outside of Gondar. With us were two Ethiopian Jews that now live in Israel - both were from Ambover. We visited the elementary school there, which was amazing - I love visiting schools here it's my favorite thing to do. We also visited the old synagogue and listened to one of the visiting Ethiopian Jews tell her story of escaping from Ethiopia and getting to Israel through Operation Moses in the mid 80s (I believe she left in 1984). Her journey was mind blowing and really difficult for me to wrap my head around. They left Ambover, walked for two weeks with barely any food and water only traveling at night for fear of being discovered. Their guide left them on the last day and they got lost trying to find the border of Sudan. They finally made it to the border where they were approached by members of the Sudanese military and nearly killed. After waiting on the border for five days they were taken to a refugee camp. This family was lucky, they only stayed in the refugee camp for a month before they were flown to Israel.
The most unforgettable part of the day took place while speaking with this same Ethiopian Jewish woman. We were all standing around the elementary school casually talking. Micha Feldman, a legend in Ethiopian Jewry and an architect of Operation Solomon, was translating her Hebrew to English for all of us. After talking a bit she said: "I thank God that I am Jew". Now this didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. Everyone on that trip thanks God that they are Jewish. But Micha explained that this quote had an underlying meaning. What she really meant was: "I thank God that I am a Jew"......so that I could get out of Ethiopia, of Ambover, and go to Israel. This particular woman left in 1984 and this is the first time that she has seen her village in over 20 years. She had no intention of coming back. Now I am not saying that she is not proud to be a Jew because she is. All of us are proud to be Jewish. But being a Jew in Ethiopia has a little bit of a different meaning. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is not just religious. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is not just a way of life. Being a Jew in Ethiopia is a way out. Many Ethiopian Jews leave the places where they were born without a thought of ever returning. I believe in every Jew's right to make aliyah and move home to Israel, but she was thanking God that she had a way out of Ethiopia, a place where she didn't want to be and wouldn't ever return. Being Jewish got her a ticket to Israel. There is absolutely no fault in this. It is her birthright and she deserves the right to lead a different, and some would say better, life in Israel. This quote will stick with me for a long time and is a moment that I will always remember.
And now.....PICTURES!!!!
Happy Tuesday everyone! Have an awesome week!
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