Leah Avuno, who was born in Ethiopia, delivered a message about the importance of self-acceptance and the diversity that exists in Israel, where she now lives, in an address hosted Jan. 25 at the Hillel Jewish Student Center on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.
Avuno’s address came after a screening of “Mekonen: The Journey of an African Jew,” a documentary that chronicles a young soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces as he visits his home country of Ethiopia. The event was co-hosted by several different Jewish groups on campus, including Chabad at ASU, Jewish Arizonans on Campus (JAC), ASU Mishelanu and the AEPi fraternity.
Avuno was only in kindergarten when she realized that she was not exactly like everybody else. She had questioned a classmate for using the Hebrew word Ima to refer to her mother, confused as to why the classmate had not used the word for mother from Ethiopia’s native Amharic language. The girl replied by scolding Avuno that she wasn’t in Ethiopia anymore. She was in Israel. “That was the day I realized that my whole world was upside down,” Avuno said in her talk. “Everything was destroyed.”
Avuno had been born in Ethiopia a few years prior, into an environment she described as apprehensive about Jews. Due to several aliyah operations beginning in the late 1970s, much of Ethiopia’s Jewish community had already left for Israel, including a large amount of her extended family. “Honestly, we were the only Jews in the neighborhood,” Avuno said. “All of the community just left.”
So when her family had a chance to immigrate to Israel, Avuno’s mother quickly took it out of her concern for her young daughter. She also did not know when she would get the opportunity again.
As she grew up, Avuno had issues coming to terms with her intersectional identity, especially in a society where she often stood out from others. She said it made her feel insecure about herself.
“I was trying to realize who I am. ‘Am I Ethiopian? Am I Israeli? I’m Jewish, why would they say that I’m not Jewish? Is it just because I’m black?’”
However, Avuno says that she was able to find her “safe place” in local youth group programs that brought native Israelis and those born in Ethiopia together as equals. She called the best decision she ever made and eventually became involved in 10 different local organizations and became president of her local youth council.
Avuno says that she came to America partially to show people the diversity of Israeli society, which she says is often lost on people.
“Israel is so diverse, so beautiful. So many colors, so many cultures,” Avuno said. “The whole world in one country.”
In emphasizing Israel’s diversity, she spoke about going on the bus to school, and hearing chatter from students in multiple different languages, from Amharic to Russian to English, as well as the city of Haifa, where Christmas, Hanukah and Islamic holidays are celebrated concurrently.
Andrew Gibbs, Israel Education Coordinator at ASU Hillel, says that one of the main purposes of the event was to show the diversity of Israeli culture.
“I think that a lot of people hear Israeli, hear Jew, and they think of someone who has either European roots, or someone who’s American and moved to Israel,” Gibbs said. “I don’t think they think about the Jews from all over the world that make up Israeli society and culture.”
Mara Friedman is a sophomore at ASU who is currently a fashion major, but plans on going into photojournalism. Friedman said that both the film and Avuno’s speech reminded her of the diversity that she saw when she spent her freshman year of college in Israel.
“She came from a different background being an Ethiopian Jew,” she said. “But Israel’s just such a melting pot and it’s such a beautiful thing.” Read more here
David Marino, Jr., is a student journalist at Arizona State University.
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