LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND

By Iris Kraemer

Supported by the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida, Iris Kraemer, Immediate Past President, & Haley Trager, President-Elect & Campaign Chair, participated in The Jewish Federations of North America’s mission that celebrated Ethiopian Olim arriving in Israel. For any questions, please reach out to Jill Metlin, Israel and Overseas Coordinator, at jillm@jewishjacksonville.org.

“We are all pieces of the same puzzle.” These words were spoken to a delegation of professional and lay leaders in Ethiopia this past June by one of our educators, Sigal Kanatopsky. Sigal describes herself as “a Jew and an Israeli born in Ethiopia.” Today, she is the director of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) in the Northeast Region of the United States. Haley Trager and I were among a group of 70 professional and lay leaders from Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and other Jewish philanthropies, who accompanied 179 Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.

As we stood on a mountain overlooking Sudan, we were told about the thousands who walked barefoot by night, and hid by day for three weeks until they reached refugee camps and waited to be taken to Israel. Many, like Sigal’s little brother, did not survive the trip and had to be buried along the way. We traveled to villages that they left either because they were fortunate enough to make Aliyah or because they are waiting in the city center in the hopes of one day joining their families who are already in Israel. Some of these people have been waiting more than TWENTY years! We heard the stories of some of the families who we would be accompanying to Israel. They have no running water or electricity. The homes are one-room mud huts and their kitchen is a communal arrangement of primitive cookware used over a fire. The toilet is little more than a hole in the ground. Flies are everywhere. Despite desperate living conditions, they continuously followed Jewish traditions passed down through generations with an unshakeable love of Israel and determination to one day live in the land of our ancestors. We prayed together at a shacharit service that was attended by more than 1,000 Ethiopian Jews of all ages. Towards the conclusion of the service we all stood and sang Am Yisrael Chai. We will carry the memory of those moments with us forever. During our last day in Israel, we visited an absorption center in Beersheva and met new Olim who had already achieved great success in just the span of 18 months. To visit an absorption center is to truly understand the resources that are offered by the Israelis to face challenges and solve problems in the most practical and productive ways. Today, Ethiopian Olim enrich Israel and communities around the world. They are succeeding and are serving as role models and mentors for the next generation.

Haley and I are grateful for the opportunity of helping to bring more Ethiopian Jews home to Israel. These trips are scheduled to continue until all of “the pieces of the puzzle” are assembled. No matter where we live on this planet, we are a global Jewish family, we are the Jewish People, caring for each other, raising each other up, and seeing that no one is left behind.