I DETROIT
YOU'RE COVERED
With Our New T•Shirt!
Professor Has Insight
On Ethiopian Jews
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
s
Subscribe Today To The Jewish News
And Receive A T-Shirt
With Our Compliments!
From the West Bank to West Bloomfield — and all points in between — The Jewish News covers
your world. And with our T-shirt, we cover new subscribers, too.
The T-shirt is durable, comfortable, easy to care for and attractive. And it comes in an array
of adults' and children's sizes. But most important, your new subscription will mean 52 information-
packed weeks of The Jewish News, plus our special supplements, delivered every Friday to your
mailbox. A $56.70 value for only $31.
A great newspaper and a complimentary T-shirt await you for our low subscription rates. Just
fill out the coupon below and return it to us. We'll fit you to a T!
Jewish News T-Shirt Offer
Please clup coupon and mail to:
Yes! Start me on a subscription to The Jewish
New:: for the period and amount circled below.
Please send me the T-shirt.
JEWISH NEWS T-SHIRT
27676 Franklin Road
Southfield, Mich. 48034
NAME
This offer is for new subscriptions only.
Current subscribers may order the T-shirt for
$4.75. Allow four weeks for delivery.
(Circle
One) 1
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE
year: '31 2 years: '52 Out of State: '41 enclosed $
(circle
One) ADULT EX. LG. ADULT LARGE, ADULT MED. CHILD LARGE CHILD MED. CHILD SMALL
12
FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1991
itting on a bench in
Kiryat Arba, a group
of Ethiopian boys
discussed a broken lock.
Across the street, a 10-year-
old Ethiopian immigrant
stepped down from an Egged
bus. He knew just a few
words in Hebrew.
In the middle of it all was a
University of Michigan in-
structor. Though neither an
oleh nor Jewish, he felt at
home. Ethiopian Jews, he
says, "are part and parcel of
me."
A native of Ethiopia,
Teshome Wagaw is a pro-
fessor in the U-M School of
Education and the Afro-
American and African
Studies Center. He also is a
frequent visitor to Israel and
the author of a new book,
For Our Souls: The So-
cialization of Ethiopian Jews
in Israel.
The title comes from an
Amharic expression, "We
came for our souls." Ethio-
pian Jews, Professor Wagaw
explained, immigrated to
Israel for their souls. "They
came for religious reasons
and no other."
Professor Wagaw was born
in the Gondar region of E-
thiopia, where many of his
neighbors were Jewish.
After finishing high school,
he taught both high school
and college psychology and
education for 13 years. He
completed an undergraduate
degree in Australia, then
moved to the United States
where he received a doc-
torate from U-M. He began
teaching at U-M in 1974,
and has served as visiting
professor at Hebrew Univer-
sity and research fellow at
the Truman Institute in
Israel.
Professor Wagaw feels
bound to the Ethiopian
Jews. "I am from a similar
condition," he said. "To see
Ethiopian Jews responding
to a different set of cir-
cumstances is seeing my-
self."
How he did respond when
he first left Ethiopia, and
how he believes Ethiopian
Jews are responding, are in
a flood of confusion. Every-
thing is new. Nothing is
predictable.
"First is the problem of
language," he said. "Then
there is the misunderstan-
ding of intentions. Many E-
thiopian Jews believed all
Teshome Wagaw:
"Ethiopian Jews are part and
parcel of me."
education in Israel was free.
And some who finished 12th
grade came thinking they
could immediately enter the
university. That's the
African influence — the im-
portance of education."
And even when they do
enter Israeli schools, Ethio-
pian immigrants often find
themselves bewildered by
concepts that are second na-
ture to Jews from Western
and European homes, Pro-
fessor Wagaw said. "If they
have to write a paper on
Beethoven's Ninth Sym-
phony, that's completely out
of their repertoire."
Even the simple things,
like cool weather and food,
require adjustment. Israeli
staples of tehina and falafel
bear little resemblance to
the Ethiopian standards, in-
jera a flat bread, and woot a
spicy sauce Professor
Wagaw described as "very
addictive."
One hardship the Ethiopi-
ans will not face is racism.
"Of course there are in-
dividual racists," he said.
"But the society as a whole
is not racist."
Many in the West have
mistaken notions about the
kind of prejudice Jews in E-
thiopia experienced, Pro-
fessor Wagaw said. Jews
were not discriminated
against because they are
Jewish, but because they are
not part of the mainline
Eastern Orthodox Church of
Ethiopia. Thus, they are
perceived as threatening to
the unity of the nation in a
country whose history is rife
with civil and military un-
rest, he said.
Ethiopian Muslims,
Catholics and Protestants
are mistreated much the
same as Jews, he added.
Professor Wagaw, who is
in Israel this week to present