Getting a little more serious with Efrat- Lesson 2/3
Justine again! Now having finished my second session with Efrat.
I honestly find her fascinating. For someone who has been through such hardships as her parents passing at a young age to moving here, leaving everything behind at home to move to a new country, and now learning a new language, she is a very wise and positive woman.
Yesterday I came across an article about some of the Ethiopian protests around Israel. The articles I read touched on the police brutality and racism protests towards the Ethiopian communities around the country.
I asked her about what she thought of the issue. She personally said she sees racism all around her. She believes the Ethiopian community to be a very emotional and prideful community. They are very intense and real about their culture and their customs. She feels the people who left Ethiopia to come (not the israel-born ethiopian youth) have a guilt attached to them from leaving their home and everything behind for a new place. She feels it gives her low self esteem because she doesn't belong. When a people have a completely differnet culture, food, clothing, skin color, and home life, integrating into a new one could be almost traumatizing. They went from a place where everyone was pretty much the same, to a population of 140,000 in 8.192 million. Pretty crazy if you ask me.
What really surprised me was her not knowing about similar brutality and racism in the United States. Being someone who's from North America, its not hard to see all of the stories of racism among cops and citizens, and just in general. The #BlackLivesMatter campaign is at an all time high right now. She was so saddened to hear about some of the stories.
She then said something so naive, I could picture an innocent child say it: "Why does my skin color have to mean my self worth?".
And its true: why is it that there is only one Ethiopian doctor? Why is it that the majority end up being cleaners, or cooks, or "help"?
She said the world is such a complex place, and G-d created people so differnent to give us a chance to love and tolerate each other. To love and accept difference. To LOVE. She said every day G-d puts us to the test, to create a happy world. Through every experience we have, with every person. She then told me that her and I, a Canadian and an Ethiopian working together, is passing todays test.
It makes me so sad to hear her side, although she is so positive. When I see people I never see it as a test to accept, I always just did right away. When I met her, I didn't see her as an Ethiopian black woman who needed to be helped. I saw her as a peer, a Hebrew speaking woman who wanted to work with me. Why can't more people see it this way? Maybe I am the naive one.
I ended off by asking her if she would rather be in Ethiopia or in Israel. Without hesitation she laughed and said "Of course Israel!! It is my home!".
Efrat goes by the Torah, and the mitzvoh in the Torah. She said that every step you take in Israel is performing a mitzvoh because it is our holy land. She explained she could not live life as a proper practicing Jewish woman if she is not living in Israel with her family and practicing it to the fullest. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and great way to end our chat.
As I have much more to write about, I will be seeing her next week for our final chat and blogging about it then. I have much research to do in order to come up with an even better topic next week!
Looking forward to writing some more!
Justine Frankel
I honestly find her fascinating. For someone who has been through such hardships as her parents passing at a young age to moving here, leaving everything behind at home to move to a new country, and now learning a new language, she is a very wise and positive woman.
Yesterday I came across an article about some of the Ethiopian protests around Israel. The articles I read touched on the police brutality and racism protests towards the Ethiopian communities around the country.
I asked her about what she thought of the issue. She personally said she sees racism all around her. She believes the Ethiopian community to be a very emotional and prideful community. They are very intense and real about their culture and their customs. She feels the people who left Ethiopia to come (not the israel-born ethiopian youth) have a guilt attached to them from leaving their home and everything behind for a new place. She feels it gives her low self esteem because she doesn't belong. When a people have a completely differnet culture, food, clothing, skin color, and home life, integrating into a new one could be almost traumatizing. They went from a place where everyone was pretty much the same, to a population of 140,000 in 8.192 million. Pretty crazy if you ask me.
What really surprised me was her not knowing about similar brutality and racism in the United States. Being someone who's from North America, its not hard to see all of the stories of racism among cops and citizens, and just in general. The #BlackLivesMatter campaign is at an all time high right now. She was so saddened to hear about some of the stories.
She then said something so naive, I could picture an innocent child say it: "Why does my skin color have to mean my self worth?".
And its true: why is it that there is only one Ethiopian doctor? Why is it that the majority end up being cleaners, or cooks, or "help"?
She said the world is such a complex place, and G-d created people so differnent to give us a chance to love and tolerate each other. To love and accept difference. To LOVE. She said every day G-d puts us to the test, to create a happy world. Through every experience we have, with every person. She then told me that her and I, a Canadian and an Ethiopian working together, is passing todays test.
It makes me so sad to hear her side, although she is so positive. When I see people I never see it as a test to accept, I always just did right away. When I met her, I didn't see her as an Ethiopian black woman who needed to be helped. I saw her as a peer, a Hebrew speaking woman who wanted to work with me. Why can't more people see it this way? Maybe I am the naive one.
I ended off by asking her if she would rather be in Ethiopia or in Israel. Without hesitation she laughed and said "Of course Israel!! It is my home!".
Efrat goes by the Torah, and the mitzvoh in the Torah. She said that every step you take in Israel is performing a mitzvoh because it is our holy land. She explained she could not live life as a proper practicing Jewish woman if she is not living in Israel with her family and practicing it to the fullest. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and great way to end our chat.
As I have much more to write about, I will be seeing her next week for our final chat and blogging about it then. I have much research to do in order to come up with an even better topic next week!
Looking forward to writing some more!
Justine Frankel
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