by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

November 18, 2008

An award-winning screenwriter/actor’s tale of his Ethiopian family’s rescue and resettlement via Israel’s Operation Solomon in 1991 was the centerpiece of the 2009 campaign kickoff of United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks on Oct. 5.

Sirak Sabahat was the keynote speaker at the Greenacres Country Club in Lawrenceville, where he thanked his audience for supporting the Ethiopian aliya and told a reporter about the continuing challenges that still remain for his fellow Ethiopian immigrants.

More than 200 community members gathered at the event, which included a presentation on overseas needs by Toni Young, a vice chair of the United Jewish Communities’ board of trustees and chair of its Global Operations: Israel and Overseas Coordinating Council.

Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, the mood at the annual event was a mingling of cautious optimism and strong determination.

“The people we serve have no fewer needs. The dollar, especially abroad, buys far less than it did,” observed federation president Daniel Brent. “The true measure of who we are is how we act in a crisis. Those of us who can have to step up and do more. We really don’t have a choice.”

Campaign vice president Lisa Smukler stressed the need to broaden federation’s base.

“I’m hoping people can dig a little deeper this year, because we’re going to have more needs,” said Smukler, who cochaired the kickoff dinner with her husband, Andrew, and Barry and Stacey Wasserman.

“We have to get some of the young people involved and continue our outreach,” she said.

The global economic crisis is hitting close to home, noted Stacey Wasserman, campaign chair for federation’s Women’s Campaign.

“We live in a community where a lot of people are tied to the financial markets,” she said. “Obviously, it’s a concern. Those of us who can help need to do more.”

Faced with these challenges, federation is doing everything it can to expand its base, said executive director Andrew Frank — embarking on a strategic planning initiative, expanding its program of parlor meetings, and inviting the presidents of the six major synagogues in the area to serve on the federation board.

“We’re really taking a hard look at ourselves with the goal of enhancing federation’s effectiveness and our ability to reach out,” he said. “We want to make federation more accessible to people.”

Despite the gravity of the economic crisis, Frank expressed optimism.

“Based on the attendance tonight, based on the excitement the speaker has generated, based on the early indications of the people who have already given to our campaign, we expect this to be a challenging but very productive year in fund-raising,” he said. “Am I a little bit scared? Sure. But I’m excited, because every New Year brings with it possibilities.”

‘One dream’

Sabahat, who wrote and starred in the 2005 Israeli film Live and Become, told the gathering that it was the possibility of reaching the Holy Land that drove his family forward on their yearlong walk from their village in southern Ethiopia to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, in 1991.

“For 2,000 years, we had one dream — to return one day to the land that was promised to Abraham,” he said. “We would walk thousands of miles to reach that dream. We had to walk in small groups. We had nothing beside the strength of our family and the protection of God. We buried so many souls in the unknown desert.”

When he and his family first met Israelis in Addis Ababa, they were shocked, Sabahat said. “When we did this journey, we didn’t know about white Jews,” he said. “We were in shock to discover you. We did this journey in order to save and protect our faith.”

When they finally arrived in Israel, Sabahat said, he was just 11 years old. “Fourteen years later, I graduated from the university and came to write a screenplay and came to be the proof of your investment. So what I have to say to you here is: Thank you for saving my people.… The journey continues.”

In a separate interview, Sabahat spoke of the continuing challenges facing Ethiopians in Israel.

Only a tiny fraction of the 100,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel have been integrated into Israeli society, the 26-year-old Sabahat said as he waited to address the dinner.

“In Israel, 90 percent of Ethiopian Jews live under the poverty line, and students at the university are not climbing up very well. Only 2 percent will be engaged in society — integrated and doing mainstream work,” he told NJJN.

“It’s very hard — the economy, the social, and even the spirituality,” he said. “Integration is a process of 60, 70 years — two generations — and right now I can’t even start talking about integration. We haven’t found it yet, but I am trying to do that through my work as an artist. For me, I’m going to lead by educating people through the movies and plays I do.

“So my focus is education and education and education,” he said, striking the palm of one hand with the edge of the other. “This is what I do. I am educating people about Ethiopian Jewry. My purpose is to go back home and empower my people.”

Sabahat told NJJN that he has just completed his second screenplay about Ethiopian Jewry’s journey to Israel — a love story called Fifty-one Stars. Asked what prompted him to become a filmmaker, he said, “The idea came to me when I was reading about the Holocaust. I never knew about it. It changed my life completely.”

As he learned about the Holocaust, Sabahat said, he realized that films documenting the death camps were an irrefutable retort to the Holocaust deniers.

“You document it,” he said. “That’s my purpose. It’s not about me. It’s about who I can save, and to use my past for something better.”

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