Youth Opinion : Jewish, African and Israeli in L.A.

Six teen-age Ethiopian Jews who recently immigrated to Israel spent several days this month with students at nine Los Angeles area high schools as part of an Anti-Defamation League program to foster understanding. ERIN AUBRY asked some participants about their impressions of each other’s experiences and the visit’s effect on their feelings about religion, race, discrimination and freedom.

The American View

MARTINIQUE MAYS

18, Gardena High School

Teen-agers are universal: The Ethiopians dress the same way we dress here. Israel is usually portrayed to be such an ancient country, but the teens come here wearing Nike shoes, Levi jeans, listening to rap music.

I learned that being Jewish is not only a religion, it’s a culture too, with food, history and a lot of other things. Here in America, our culture and religion are separate. But in Israel, they seem the same. The most ironic thing is that the Ethiopians didn’t seem to realize there were white Jews--that was inconceivable to them. They said they liked Israel, though they hadn’t been there that long and didn’t feel too integrated. Because they’re African, their rituals are different from the Israelis. Yet they have a desperate desire to conform to Israeli life--it was their dream to go there. I was amazed to learn there was so much in-fighting in Africa. I know about apartheid, but not about Ethiopia. But I think (black people) are all fighting against the powers that be for fairness.

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PAUL MCDONALD

17, Hollywood Performing Arts Magnet

Ethiopians are part of the Jewish life in Israel. They’re not judged by race at all; they all look on each other as Jewish people. I found out there are so many different cultures in Israel--Ethiopian, Latino. It’s not just a Caucasian thing. But some Ethiopians told me that there was some conflict between Russians and themselves, that the Russians didn’t want to live in the same area as the Ethiopians.

The concept of really fighting for something is foreign to me. I was really impressed that the Ethiopians walked through the desert for days so they could get religious freedom. That was very courageous. The Ethiopians told me when they got there, they had reached their own piece of heaven. They felt free. Here in the U.S., we’ve been struggling a long time, and we’re not really free. The Ethiopians knew exactly what they wanted. Here, the energy among black people is scattered.

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LILIAN MIRANDA

18, Downtown Business Magnet

The teens were not as religious as I would have thought. The older people seemed more into it: For example, the teen-agers didn’t wear the yarmulkes. The kids seem different than kids here: more friendly, not so critical. They had a lot of hope and positivity and seemed to be working hard to make things good in their new country. They’re not as affected by the history of conflict between countries as the older people. Talking to them made me feel like everything’s so easy here. One girl said she had to leave behind some family in Ethiopia and hope they made it out to Israel. My mother had to go through something like that when she left El Salvador, but not that bad, so I can relate.

The Ethiopian View

BELAYNESH YSHAK,18

I feel good because I think the Americans learned from us as we learned from them. Many, many things are different here. In the classrooms, there seems to be no distance between the teacher and student--the students make the class, not the other way around. American students think black and Jewish people are completely different. They couldn’t understand that we wear the same clothes, watch the same TV, have the same fashions. Even so, I feel very comfortable here.

I was sad to leave Ethiopia, but the reason why is explained in the Torah. It says that one day we will live to see a dream come true. I hear the words of my grandfather, who was a very religious man, when I think about that. I decided that we are all Jews, even though Israel is not my country.

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TUVIA HISKIYA,18

I learned new words in Spanish and new dances. One student told me I was the first black Jew he had ever met.

Everyone I met was very surprised when we told them we only ate kosher food. “What is kosher?” they asked.

The black students called us “the lost tribe” and said they felt we were one of them. I felt connections with both blacks and Jews here.

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LEEOLA ISAC,17

Learning about Jewish history here was very interesting. We had lessons about American Jews and what happened in Israel, as well as what happened in Ethiopia. I visited synagogues and told my story. People had lots of questions about life in Ethiopia, about how we crossed Sudan and came to Israel. I felt something special when I talked to other Jews about that.

All the food we ate was kosher. The American students kept asking, “Why don’t you eat?” They really wanted to know. I felt a kinship with both Jews and blacks, but in different ways. The kinship with black Americans is clear: On the outside, we have the same texture hair, same eyes, same skin color. In a lot of ways, we are all the same as people.