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GIDON AYEACH

MY STORY

My name is Gideon Aiyech. I am 43 years old and married to Ilana.

I am a father of five: Itay (12), Ofir (9), Elinoy (8), Itamar (6), and

Avishag (2). I live in the settlement of Nehora and I am an economist

by trade. I served as a budget officer in the IDF for twenty years,

and retired with the rank of major about six months ago.

I was born in Addis Ababa, the firstborn to my parents, the late

Mulualem Asras and Belinsh Mula Aiyech, may she live a long

life, and I am a brother to my four siblings (Avi, Genat, Masrat and

Einav). I lived in Addis until the age of 8 and I went to the Salasa

Regional School which was next to Arat Kilu. One fine day I had

the privilege of immigrating to Israel unexpectedly.

On the day of our immigration father notified my little brother and

me that on that day we would not be going to school but would go

shopping with him at Marketo, Addis’s large market. Father bought

us clothes, shoes, and everything he could think of but he didn’t buy

anything for my two sisters who went to school. This was puzzling

to me, but I didn’t ask my father about it. After that we returned

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home and father started packing our suitcases. Father hugged us

and happily announced that we are flying with relatives. At first

I was very happy and thought that we are flying to mother, who

has asthma and twice had to move to an area distant from Addis

called Dera-Deva where the climate was the best for people with

asthma, much like the Arad area in Israel. A branch of the central

bank operated at Dera-Deva in which she could continue working.

But my father said that we are going to Israel, and here is when I

was shocked. I realized that I am going to a country where white

Jews lived, where they talked in an unfamiliar language, and I had

quite a few concerns about making Aliyah without my father, my

mother and my sisters.

Mother didn’t know at all about the sudden Aliyah plan, and

when she was finally updated she fainted and was hospitalized

for three days.

The Message to the Next Generation

Unfortunately, I sometimes see sights of hopes lost and hear cries

of a great crisis. But, I wish to say to this generation that if our

forefathers took this enormous journey which lasted thousands

of years in the isolated exile in Ethiopia, in which we soared high

and had the privilege of establishing a royal dynasty that proudly

ruled vast areas of land; and then crashing into difficult times

when outlaws killed and robbed us from our land and property,

our sons and daughters; and finally facing the challenge to reach

Jerusalem. The challenges we face today are considerably easier,

and each and every one of us has a duty to make sure that his part

in his personal journey will be successful out of deep commitment

to his forefathers and mothers. The purpose of this journey wasn’t

to break at the very end of it. Even if the hardships are real, we have

the obligation to continue fighting them and to realize our main

goal: to build and be built in the Land of Israel, with the sweat

of our brow to buy our land and to erect on it a living, breathing

memory for those that through their sacrifice, we were redeemed.

And to leave behind an amended and healthy country, society,

community and family for the next generation.

The main identity of Beta Israel is neither colour nor a flag, but the

beliefs, the norms, the values, and the powerful customs it preserved:

family purity, grace, Bible and prayer, unity, and modesty... I think

340 • Documentation of Ethiopian Jewry and their Journey to the Land of Israel

that this is our calling. To preserve the deep inner identity of

Beta Israel. Unfortunately, I can see that this generation picks on

foods, music and especially on the challenges which derive from

our color as a result of the sickness of racism. I wanted to find the

inner spark of the Ethiopian community and to pass on to the next

generation a true and burning flame. I think that when we come

to present the community of Beta Israel, it would not be true to

focus on foods and music only.

I researched and documented my family’s tree, which slowly

developed into the genealogy of the whole community. Today this

genealogy is one of the largest at the Museum of the Jewish People

at Beit Hatfutsot, and describes the structure of the community

attempting to preserve the details pertaining to every person so

we can pass on to future generations a much more substantial

content. When each person returns and preserves sparks of his

ancestry and family, we will finally be able to light the complete

torch which will illuminate our path as individuals and as a whole.

Therefore, I believe, that if the previous generation succeeded,

without language or “healthy Israeli hutzpah,” or a western

education, I have no doubt that the younger generation will

eventually take hold of themselves. It will succeed in strengthening

its Beta Israel identity, the faith and sense of accomplishment,

shatter the glass ceilings and conquer the peaks that s

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