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
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
