Ethiopia Day – Sigd
Today in ulpan was Ethiopia day, its the Sigd holiday where they celebrate returning to Jerusalem. We learned about Operation Moses, the 1984 airlift of Ethiopian Jewry. They had to walk from Ethiopia to Sudan and were only airlifted from there. About 4,000 people died on the way during that long trek. An Ethiopian soldier spoke to us in Hebrew at our ulpan and we watched a short documentary film. She told us she came from a very rich family in Ethiopia. They had no phones, no television, no computer, no toilets, no running water. But they had a lot of land and a large herd of sheep and goats. They were considered very wealthy. And our teacher, who was a teacher at that time as well, told us about how they had to develop a new system of teaching in order to teach them Hebrew, since there was no Hebrew-Ethiopian dictionary or even any person who spoke both languages. They would use pictures to explain what words meant.
Also, best commute ever on way to ulpan (and school) today! Me and my boys 😁😁😁
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t show you at least one picture of the local kosher McDonalds.
You’ll notice that the window nearest you, with the red wall, says on the back wall (the white wall) “chalavi” or “dairy.” That whole area is completely separate from the counter just beyond it (which says “basari” or “meat,” but you can’t see it in the picture.) The red-walled counter in front is only for ice cream cones and blizzards. The white-walled counter beyond is for the entire rest of the menu; hamburgers, french fries, etc. (no cheeseburgers.)