My
Falasha Son (yes I know the term is not PC... but he had no problem
with it, so I'll go with that) The proper term'' for the Ethiopian born
Jews is 'Beit Yisrael'
I was doing that gig I wrote about
earlier today, and it was pretty lousy, one of those 'what am I doing
here' musical appearances. It was the opening act of a weekly hippie
gathering, folks tend to show up around 8, but I was to play for the
early birds at 6:30 or so. So it was not the best scenario, plus I was
sharing the stage with a new buddy who plays as well as he can, but is
limited, so it limited what I was able to do.. blah blah blah, I just
didn't feel too great about it. These things happen. Not a disaster,
simply a 'what am I doing here?'.
But there was one young guy
who was totally into it, laughing at the jokes, reacting strongly,
singing a bit, giving back a lot of energy. He's a young, tall, dark
skinned, handsome, funny extrovert, and we ended up talking after the
gig. At one point, I can't exactly remember the context, I said
something in Hebrew, and he goes, Áta m'daber ivrit? (You speak
Hebrew?) We start talking a bit in Hebrew and we're both kind of blown
away by that. Turns out this young man, Itai, was born in Israel to a
newly arrived 16 year old Falasha (Ethiopian Jew) who promptly gave him
up for adoption. She just wasn't ready to have a baby.
He
got adopted by a couple who was living there, Mom was Australian, Dad
was Yemenite Jew whose family had their own wild (and tragic) entrance
to Israel a generation before. Itai spent his first 6 years in Israel,
then the family moved to Australia where he grew the rest of the way up.
Now he's 20, quite optimistic, wants to do good things, work with
kids, teach, make a difference. Kind of reminded me of me, once upon a
time, and the more we talked about it, it got stranger and stranger. I
said, 'I'm your white daddy' and that's what he called me the rest of
the evening, getting a laugh each time.
His adoptive dad's
family is from Yemen, and I married Jamila from Yemen. When he spells
his name into the phone, it auto corrects as 'Itch' and that's his nick
name. Mine was Erch. They sometimes call him 'Itchy' I've been called
Erchie (hated it, by the way). He makes music, is very personable,
got a big streak of empathy for other people and I could relate to him
in so many ways... like family. Fun family, road family, real family,
one of those things that's hard to describe. He's about my height, but
built more like one of those Ethiopian distance runners you see running
the marathon... but beefier having grown up in the west. But he's got
that look.
I asked if he has tried to find his mother and he
said last year he was in Israel for an extended period and began the
process, but for one reason and another didn't follow through, 'I guess I
just wasn't ready' He says that when he sees her, even if it's from
across the lake, he'll break down and cry. Says that he will always be
grateful to her for carrying him inside her as a 15 year old, and for
giving him the life that he now enjoys. Do it man, find your mother,
give her that gift of knowing that you came out so great. You're ready.
I told him that he is like a history lesson of modern Israel. he is
personally connected to the two big movements that brought the dark
skinned Jews to a safe homeland. On his biological side and his adopted
side, the ancestors had to walk out of a country of origin in order to
get transport to Israel. And he's this vibrant Aussie, well adjusted,
charismatic and charming. He's got that spark. Highlight of the
night...
