Stories and Pathways

By: Jessica Crowell Each Thursday, I travel to the youth outreach center in Beit Shemesh with fellow volunteer, Nisha Khorasi, to spend time with the Ethiopian-Israeli youth. During our first two visits, Nisha and I enjoyed meeting the kids and becoming familiar with the setup. On our third visit to Beit Shemesh, we were hoping to liven up the youth outreach center by incorporating our own activities and games to create a fun learning environment. We arrived with a plan. It was going to be an exciting and enriching experience. Contrary to our expectations, the third Beit Shemesh visit did not go exactly according to plan. While we expected a dozen or so kids to be waiting at the Youth Outreach Center, we only found one. Thursdays, equivalent to Friday afternoons in the United States, are slower than most days. When students are released from school on Thursdays, their weekends begin. Since our activities were meant for a larger group, we had to change our game plan a bit. We di...

- Diane Samuels It has been three years since I last was a volunteer at the Ethiopian National Project! Back in 2010, I was on a year-long study abroad program in Israel and decided to spend my Spring semester interning at ENP, where I learned about the rich culture and story of Ethiopians living in Israel. I am now a graduate student, studying in Jerusalem, and am very excited to start volunteering again for ENP. Not only was today my first day back at ENP, but it was the first time that I have ever tried Ethiopian food (and I recommend trying it to those who have not yet tasted it!) At the ENP office, we ordered two vegetarian plates that came with injera . The food was delicious and after eating I was interested in researching more about the kinds of traditional foods eaten in Ethiopia. Injera is a national dish in Ethiopia and eaten daily in almost every household. It is a flat bread with a spongy texture and a distinct sour-dough like taste and is made out of teff, a gra...

Written by:  Leoni Groot Before 1967 Jerusalem was a divided city: Jordanian forces controlled the eastern part and the Old City, Israeli forces the western part. Like it is today, the Old City was important back then for strategic and religious reasons, yet Jewish citizens of Israel were prohibited from entering this area. During the Six Day war, Israeli forces captured the Old City, which resulted in a reunification of Jerusalem as part of the state of Israel. Nowadays, citizens of Jerusalem and the rest of the country commemorate the reunification of the city every year on Jerusalem Day. During this day, memorials are held for those who died in the Six Day War. Every year, thousands of people come to the Old City to celebrate this important national day. This year, Jerusalem Day was held on May 8 th (the date changes every year, due to the Jewish Calendar) and I had the opportunity to experience this day--a day that has so much meaning to many Jews a...

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I arrived at the Rechavia Gymnasia school on Tuesday, especially since I didn’t know who I was going to be working with or what we would be working on. When I met my first student, however, Rivka (pseudonym), my anxieties disappeared. Rivka is a 7th grade Ethiopian-Israeli girl who greeted me with a smile and almost immediately started asking me questions about myself. I could tell that she was fascinated from the moment that I told her I was from the United States, and that I went to school in New York. The Israeli kids have a fascination (as do kids around the world) with American pop culture—the celebrities, the music, the movies, etc, etc, etc. She basically tested my pop culture knowledge until she realized that I really don’t know much about it all…I am not a big fan of TV or movies (mostly because I just don’t have time to watch them), and most of the music that I like is definitely not what kids today consider “popular” music. However, ...

This blog was originally published to the Jewish Federations Of America website in honor of Jerusalem Day on May 8 . Read it on their website »  -Amber Massey I, like many other Jews in the Diaspora, had heard about the famed Israeli Independence Day, with its numerous fireworks, and barbecues. In fact, it sounded very similar to Independence Day celebrations in America. However, it wasn't until I arrived to Jerusalem for the first time almost two months ago that I learned about another national holiday – Jerusalem Day. What's even more unknown about this day, even in Israel, is the Ethiopian Jewish cultural significance of the day, as it is the date chosen to remember Ethiopian Jews who perished during their journey from the heart of East Africa to Israel during the mid-1980’s. This memorial day was given yet greater significance when it was bestowed as a formal, national day of remembrance by the Knesset. The day is marked by a somber ceremony at the Memor...

This blog was originally published to the Jewish Federations Of America  website in honor of Jerusalem Day on May 8. Read it on their website » - Violet Baron    Ethiopians on their way to Israel during a rescue operation    The popular Israeli band Hadag Nahash has a song called “Hine Ani Ba” or “Here I Come,” which gives a sense of the contrast between Israel’s cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  Starting out in Jerusalem, the song’s protagonist aches to get out of the ancient, religious city that he finds stifling, and to start a new life in the individualist Tel Aviv.  The catch is that once he’s there, he yearns to return to the eternal city from which he left, which he notes is more wholesome and pleasant to him than Tel Aviv.  Ultimately, he leaves again for Tel Aviv, because of its stress on happiness over piety—but the decision is not a simple one.  This struggle is accurate—Jerusalem is a city ...

Written by: Leoni Groot It has been a long time since I last wrote for ENP’s blog, but this is because I went to China for 3 weeks! It was a great experience and I had a really good time. I am so happy that ENP gave me the freedom and opportunity to take a break and travel somewhere else in the world. Now I am back with even more energy and enthusiasm! So what has been going on since I came back? The day after I got back I immediately went to the office to resume my everyday routine again. Even though I “suffered” from jetlag, coming back to ENP that day was a good choice: it was great to see Grace after more than a month (she went to the States before I went to China) and to be involved with ENP again. In the office, I continued working on the website. I am collecting all the data about the cities where ENP is operating in that I will put, eventually, on this webpage. It can be time consuming because I have to gather information from different sources (the Int...