Not As Different As We Think

Israel is seen around the world as a home for Jews. That picture of a country of Jews typically paints itself in a way that is far from the truth. In America the majority of Jews are Ashkenazi, meaning Jews that descended from Eastern European countries. I personally can count on my hands how many Jews I know in America that has a family history not deriving from one of these countries. When in the United States I live in the metropolitan city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, have always attended school in the city and therefore live a life full of diversity. However, my Jewish community was not as internally diverse and therefore I, as well as most of the United States, applied the same expectation of diversity in the Minneapolis/St Paul Jewish community unto Israel. This is my second visit to Israel and I continue to be amazed by the diversity of people living in this country.

Last week, I began my internship at the Ethiopian National Project with a mission where around ninety Jewish women from North America came to Israel for only five days on a philanthropic focused trip. One of their stops was an Ethiopian-Israeli youth center in Kiryat Motzkin that ENP runs and funds. This youth center facilitates after school activities for Ethiopian-Israeli teenage youth with the intention of raising graduation rates among this community. Some of these activities are structured but also the center serves as a safe-haven for these youth. When first entering the center I could immediately see that for many of these youth this was home. They felt totally comfortable there either hanging out around the computers or just sitting around chatting and laughing. It was easy to tell that the center was an extremely positive environment for them to spend their days after school. It was so interesting for me to witness the youth speaking Hebrew and speak about their experiences in the synagogue and as a Jew. Even though I know these youth are Jewish, I am still getting over my previous narrow view of what a Jew looks like and still pleasantly surprised and amazed by all the religious and cultural similarities Ethiopian Jews have to Ashkenazi Jews in the United States. It was very interesting at one point when the North American women were interacting with the youth; I overheard one of the women say to one of the youth. "Well we are all Jewish" and gave the young man a big hug. It is so incredible that people from such incredibly different cultures are able to connect so quickly because of the fact they share a common bond as Jews.

During the time the women were visiting we led an activity between the youth and women where they split into groups and walked around the immediate area both inside and outside of the youth center looking to take pictures of representations of different themes such as Zionism, Judaism, something inspirational, colorful and a picture of the group.  Photography was chosen as the activity because the youth have been working with real cameras and learning to master camera skills.

I loved starting out my experience with The Ethiopian National Project actually working directly with the youth because I was able to see the amazing things that ENP does. Initially when walking in it was a little intimidating because I am only in level Bet in Hebrew and therefore there was a bit of a language barrier. However, as I got the confidence to speak Hebrew I was able to communicate with they better than I had expected. Their English is worlds better than my Hebrew and so we spoke our own combination of Hebr-ish through out the evening. I learned one thing remains constant no matter the culture; people love to make fun of my Minnesotan accent. As one of the youth asked where I was from and I responded Minnesota, he mocked me saying "Minesooota." We shared a laugh and I asked how he even knew to make fun of me and he responded through the popular television show "How I Met Your Mother." We not only as Jews but as human beings relate to all others no matter the cultural and language differences. I am extremely excited to continue my internship at ENP this semester and continue to learn more about this community, their culture, and their fairly new lives in Israel.