Last Thursday night our Ben Gurion Society (BGS) hosted its second annual Night at the Gallery at the Third Degree Glass Factory on Delmar in St. Louis City. We had a great crowd of young BGS’ers show up to hear about some of our work with the Ethiopian Jewish Community and see the fantastic work of blown glass at the gallery. Many thanks to Billy Rubinstein and his sister-in-law, Jodi Rubenstein, who spoke about the work that the Jewish Agency for Israel (an overseas partner of Federation) has done on behalf of the Ethiopian exodus. And to our staff–Rachel Pereles and Emilie Docter–for making this event so successful.
The presentations were lead by Julie Stern, a member of Federation’s Board of Directors. Julie just returned from witnessing a transport of Ethiopian Jews immigrating to Israel. Her trip was organized by the American jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), one of our main overseas partners. Julie showed this video about her trip and provided the succinct overview below.
Federation assesses our community’s needs and distributes our collective resources to agencies and individuals who make a difference in people’s lives. We are grateful for the work that the BGS enables to support individuals living lives of basic decency anywhere they are in need.
Julie’s comments follow below.
Shavua tov,
Andrew
From Julie Stern, member of the JDC mission to Ethiopia:
“I participated in the very last mission through JFNA so it was different and unique than the previous missions. We traveled with Micah Feldman, the Israeli Ambassador, and Asher, among others who retold their stories and traveled alongside us. Our mission focused on completing the journey and retelling and reliving the 30 plus year story of the Ethiopian Jews. Bringing the Olim over was done but far from the focus/highlight.
“Tonight, I want to share a short video that a friend of mine made about completing the journey, which I believe sums up our mission very well: https://vimeo.com/70501373
“Now, I would like to tell you a short story about a woman we travelled with. This woman, Baleynish Zevadia, grew up in a small village outside Gondor, Ethiopia with her parents, and her father was the chief rabbi of their town and the surrounding towns. Baleynish was the youngest of 11 children, whose parents held education with the upmost importance. At 17, she made aliyah for an education program in Israel. As she told our group this story, she began to tear up.
“She traveled to the village synagogue; this is the first time she had been back since 17. As we were walking, past trees, mud huts and children, an old woman emerged from her hut that was set back on the path…Now, I know it sounds like I am making this up, but it really did happen. The old women mistook Baleynish for her sister and called out her name. Baleynish clarified to the women who she was, the Israeli’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, and the two women embraced.”
