Israel Uncensored Zoom Video: Ethiopian Israeli Heritage

[Music] josh haston here israel unscrewed on the land of israel network at the land of israel.com it is monday july 13th 2020 the 21st of tommy was 5 7 8 0. hope you're doing well in your part of the world i'm coming to you now from a beautiful day here in jerusalem the capital of the jewish people and the state of israel we have a lot of news to discuss in the second half of the show we're going to be talking of course about the coronavirus and all the latest information coming out of the government but first we are going to go to the zoom where we have a very special guest on the program her name is ashager araro she is the founder of bati the ethiopian israeli heritage center located in tel aviv that word if i pronounced it correctly i hope i did means my house how did i do so far did i say it correctly you said correctly my name okay if you can you know tell us we'll start with that tell us a little bit of about the uh the ethiopian israeli heritage center located in tel aviv the second capital of israel and the youngest capital israel tel aviv uh and we opened beta is the ethiopian israeli heritage center an interactive center that is uh dedicated to tell the story of ethiopian jews now a lot of people know about the fact there is ethiopian jews and the heritage of what they come from and we tell it in a very interactive way you come we eat ethiopian food listen to the music we have a dance session you have a lecture just teaching people about our culture from very uh positive space and where you're able to interact and create a one-to-one connection because we truly believe that by creating connection we're able to solve a lot of issues and problems that we have in our society i want to hear more about the center but first your own personal story i did a little bit of homework on you from what i understand you were actually born in the desert your mom was nine months pregnant when your family on foot came from ethiopia to israel and you yourself were born on the way on there which it's you know it's unimaginable the the travels um and all the uh the hardships that they were encountering literally walking towards a new life here in the state of israel you were born uh during during that period correct yes so actually my name is in america of course and it's a direct translation is going forward from something bad to something good like a pathway and even today if you ask my my father you would say she's my lucky charm she brought me here that's what he believes we are very religious people in our household and they when they start the journey i came in operation a salomon in 91 and they walked me to walk like for several days from gwanda where we live by the capital a capital city of ethiopia and they walked in like in the middle of the night as they were afraid of like the government find out they are trying to escape and my mom was nine months pregnant imagine that being nine months pregnant walking by foot to the unknown because was a lot of people don't understand when to uh people talk about courage and bravery what zionism is actually is i go to this story that there is no greater love and belief from people who walk literally in the desert to the unknown just because someone tells them they're going to go back to their homeland they're going to go back to the place they are praying three times a day they are going back to jerusalem just this notion that this might happen made them leave everything behind and walk in the desert having her own kid baby girl in the middle of the desert and then go right back up and continue the journey and i think that is something that not a lot of people would do that's an unbelievable story you know i was thinking about abraham when i was listening to the story who picked up and left everything behind and and came to israel from where he was but uh i don't know your mom uh abraham didn't have a baby in the desert on the way and your mom did that's uh that's pretty unbelievable um so you grew up here in in israel and um from what i know you have not only been a citizen and resident of the state of israel but you've been very very active in representing israel in the field of public diplomacy getting the truth out about israel if you can't talk about your experience and setting the record straight when it comes to israel hosting groups and all the other amazing amazing things that you've done i know working with the stand with us organization tell us a little bit about being on the front lines and the i don't like using the word husba as my audience knows but i call it more public diplomacy tell us a little bit about that um i think a lot of my background and where i come from uh put me in that fact i'm a proud zionist i'm proud zionist because i and because i understand i'm the first generation ethiopian jew who in my family that is able to live free as jewish i understand that and i don't take it for granted i don't like dismiss that and this and this is a very big thing and we cannot take it for granted and we have to fight for it and for me hearing people talk about my country in a certain way it just upset me and i always go across like whatever i need to do in order to talk about the issues i don't used to like the word arguing about stuff because in the end of the day i truly believe that if someone comes in a neutral perspective and just hear both sides of the conflict in the end of the day you cannot like the worst that you could be is be like okay there's like a lot of going on here you can be like a brilliant you could be like okay there's a lot of going on but you cannot be ignored to the fact that that there is something bigger from the songbite that you're hearing from the like the stories that you've been told and i believe in one-to-one connection and that's what we've been doing with talking to different aviators groups of jews and non-jews from all over the world from south africa the united states to europe going and telling my own personal story because just being an ethiopian jew who is a zionist and a feminist and so many other things for them it's just like unimaginable just my presence breaks so many barriers they they they were taught about israel that's not true i mean you only have to turn to twitter for a few minutes when you see some of the uh the rhetoric coming out of those who are uneducated and have this assumption of what a jew is supposed to look like and what a jew looks like or whatnot and you're certainly breaking those stereotypes which i think is so important and so appreciated by people like myself so i want to thank you for that and let's focus on uh the the center i'm going to try to pronounce it correctly this time right in tel aviv okay i got it yeah okay good and i understand i know that there's a campaign going on right now as a result i mean so many people are struggling now with the kova 19 the coronavirus here in israel and around the world but i i know people are struggling and you're doing your best to keep this center up and alive and functioning and really serving its purpose to teach the story of ethiopian israelis and sharing your heritage uh talk a little bit about the campaign going on now and how people can really get involved and make a difference so that you can continue the legacy of your of your parents and all those who made this crazy sacrifice and coming over here to israel by foot many of them yeah so i would say my grand grandfather came to israel in 1925 1925 he was one of the first european jews to come here he came to jerusalem he studied in tahwane school for a couple of years and then he went to europe to study more and then continue to addis ababa where he uh together with the community built the first jewish school in addis ababa and um create a safe space for jews to continue or be free as jews and he did that and while doing that everyone told him he is not capable to do it it's not going to work he's not going to go back it's not going to he had so many peoples telling them and but he believed in education he believed that through education we are able to break down barriers we are able to put ourselves in a better position and he worked very hard for what he believed in and he sacrificed a lot and what we do today and three generation after that imagine that uh his grand-grandchild isn't israel living in a jewish state a free state and saying i want to continue his work he taught ethiopian jews the meaning of judaism and what i want to tell israelis and non-israels and people from all over the world is the story of my community the story of his life and this is like the essence of what we do here a lot of people like there's i call it a positive protest like a there is protest that goes out to the street and holding a sign and like tell what they want their protest to go to position in government or business and want to change the system from the inside and there is protest of education and this is our positive process from education because we truly believe that once people know a lot comes from ignorance a lot comes from ignorance and when people actually knows what is going on they are less inclined to hate they are less than kai to assume stuff and that's what we have been doing and like in the center from december 2019 and we had this three amazing month when we had people all over the world coming and learning and we had phenomenal feedback from everyone coming and unfortunately like a lot of other businesses uh coronavirus really shut us down for three months and right now we're in danger and we're in danger that we might be have to close up because it's a family-owned business it's self-funded we put every everything on the line i i quit my job i put like everything on the line because i believe in this dream i believe in this importance of this dream and now it's on on that and the way and so we open a campaign because i'm not willing to give up of course i'm a fighter so we open a campaign and israel gives you can go to my facebook page you can go to my twitter follow me on twitter and you can give as much as you can every contribution matters a lot we want to continue this place open so i want to encourage all the listeners out there go to either the facebook page the twitter page sager arrow and if you have any trouble getting in touch with her you can get in touch with me of course and i will put you in touch with her uh education that's really what it's all about continuing the legacy what an amazing story that you have from your great great grandfather and your parents and you doing the amazing things you're doing on behalf of the jewish people uh here in israel sharing the zionist story from your family's perspective so i want to thank you for coming on today thank you for sharing and let's do what we can to keep the center going and flourishing and please god next time i come to tel aviv i'm getting back on the door i want to check it out i want to check it out and hopefully uh by then we'll be done with this corona stuff we'll bring groups there and we'll really keep it flourishing and thriving design the center here in israel so thank you for your time and all the best stay safe stay healthy you